Samsung pushes adoption of most advanced chipmaking machines to 1nm

Samsung is one of the world's most advanced chipmaking companies and the first to launch chips made using a 3nm-class node. It was expected to adopt the world's most advanced chipmaking machines for its 2nm node, but the company has decided to postpone that move.

Park Chang-min, Master of the Foundry Process Development Team at Samsung's Semiconductor R&D Center, revealed (via @Jukan05) at the Next Generation Lithography + Patterning Conference (NGL 2026) that the company will delay the full-scale commercial use of High-NA EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet) lithography equipment to its 1nm process node (A10). Chips fabricated on this node are expected to start shipping around 2030.

The company initially planned to use High-NA EUV equipment for its 2nm and 1.4nm process nodes. However, it found the supporting ecosystem immature. Essential components such as masks, pellicles, and specialized materials required to fully utilize High-NA EUV equipment are still lacking and require further joint development.

Each High-NA EUV machine is estimated to cost between $350 million and $400 million, making the equipment extremely expensive even for leading foundries like Samsung.

Samsung Foundry is now planning to use standard 0.33 NA EUV equipment combined with multi-patterning techniques for its next-generation 2nm and 1.4nm process nodes.

High-NA EUV lithography increases the numerical aperture from 0.33 to 0.55, gathering more light to improve resolution. This enables single-patterning of ultra-fine circuits, cuts down production steps, and improves design flexibility.

In comparison, Intel has started using High-NA EUV machines for select layers of chips built on its 2nm-class node (Intel 18A), such as Panther Lake and Core Ultra Series 3 processors. Similar to Samsung Foundry, TSMC has acquired High-NA EUV tools primarily for research and development, with plans to deploy them commercially around 2029 or 2030.