SAN FRANCISCO—Intel Corp. agreed to acquire a stake of about 15 percent in leading lithography tool vendor ASML Holding NV as part of a $4.1 billion deal to accelerate the development of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography and technology needed for the looming transition to 450-mm wafers, Intel said Monday (July 9).
The $4.1 billion includes about $2.1 billion in equity investment in ASML, good for 10 percent of ASML's shares, Intel said. The company said it also committed to buy another 5 percent of ASML's shares for about $1 billion following the initial transaction.
Intel also committed to provide about $1 billion to ASML's R&D programs for EUV and 450-mm. The company said the investment would accelerate the deployment of these technologies y as much as two years.
As part of the deal, Intel also committed to advanced purchase orders for 450-mm and EUV development and production tools from ASML, the company said. The first phase of the agreement calls for Intel to invest about $680 million to help ASML develop 450-mm lithography tools. The second phase of the deal, which requires ASML shareholder approval, includes about $340 million in R&D funding for ASML's EUV lithography development and the $1 billion equity purchase of the additional 5 percent of ASML's outstanding shares, Intel said.
EUV lithography—long seen as the inevitable successor to optical immersion lithography, the current state of the art—was to have been put in production prior to now, but has been delayed several times by development hiccups. Current tools do not have the throughput required for economical volume chip production. ASML has pledged to work with suppliers to develop better power sources to make EUV production tools available in 2013 or 2014.
Intel wants to deploy EUV lithography at the 10-nm node in the second half of 2015. But the company has also said it would be prepared to extend optical immersion lithography to that node in the event that EUV is not ready. Many chip industry observers believe the technology will not be commercially viable by that time.
Intel as well as other leading edge chip vendors like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. want to transition to 450-mm wafers from 300-mm wafers to increase die and profitability per wafer. Though several development programs are underway, it is uncertain when all of the necessary tools would be ready to support 450-mm wafers.
"The transition from one wafer size to the next has historically delivered a 30 to 40 percent reduction in die cost and we expect the shift from today’s standard 300-mm wafers to larger 450-mm wafers to offer similar benefits," said Brian Krzanich, Intel senior vice president and chief operating officer, in a statement. "The faster we do this, the sooner we can gain the benefit of productivity improvements, which creates tremendous value for customers and shareholders."
ASML has said it would sell up to 25 percent of the company to Intel and other chip vendors that wish to participate in its EUV and 450-mm development programs. ASML is currently in discussions with other customers and has publicly indicated it expects others in the industry to participate in the R&D and equity program, Intel said.. Regardless of the outcome of ASML’s discussions with other customers, Intel's ownership stake in ASML will not exceed 15 percent of ASML's shares and will be subject to lock-up and voting restrictions, according to Intel's statement.
Intel said it would fund its R&D and equity investments in ASML from cash on hand at its offshore subsidiaries.