In the middle of several financial and operational troubles, Intel’s CEO revealed a second acquisition of a €350 million High NA tool from ASML, eyeing to leverage it by 2027.
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger announced during the company’s August 1 earnings call last week that it is acquiring its second €350 million ($383 million) ‘High Numerical Aperture (NA)’ extreme ultraviolet (EUV) tool from Advanced Semiconductor Materials Lithography (ASML).
According to Gelsinger’s statement, Intel began receiving its first large machines in December. These machines take several months to install and are anticipated to facilitate the development of more advanced computer chips.
During the call, the CEO mentioned that the second high NA tool was arriving at their Oregon facility and added that the company’s technology investments were showing promising early results.
Intel aims to deploy the technology in commercial production by 2027.
The comment went unnoticed amid Intel’s broader issues, including a $1.6 billion loss for Q2 2024, a 1% revenue drop, and 15,000 layoffs.
These troubles and a sharp stock decline led to a class action lawsuit against Intel, CEO Patrick Gelsinger, and CFO David Zinsner. Shareholders alleged that Intel misrepresented its financial health and operations, causing a $32 billion market value drop and significant investor losses.
ASML, a prominent chip equipment supplier, refrained from commenting on specific customer orders.
Yet, last month, ASML executives noted they had started shipping a second High NA tool to an undisclosed client and would recognise revenue for the first and potentially the second tool this year.
According to the Economic Times, a successful rollout of High NA tools is crucial for ASML’s future as Europe’s top tech firm. However, the exact adoption timeline by customers remains uncertain.
The company has received orders for over a dozen High NA machines from major chipmakers, including TSMC, Samsung, Intel, SK Hynix, and Micron. TSMC, which produces chips for Nvidia and Apple, is set to receive a tool this year but has not specified when it will begin using it in production.
