ASML warns of shortages of chip machines

ASML director Peter Wennink warns that the chip industry will have to deal with shortages of machines for chip production for at least the next two years. According to the CEO, it takes time to significantly increase the capacity.

Wennink reports to the Financial Times that ASML is supplying more chip machines this year than last year and more next year than this year, but that this will still be insufficient to meet rising demand. “It won’t be enough if we look at the demand curve. We need to increase capacity well beyond 50 percent. That takes time.” Last year, ASML delivered 43 euv systems, the company’s latest generation of chip machines. The goal for this year is to deliver 55.

The CEO mentions the lenses that ASML obtains from Carl Zeiss as an example. That German manufacturer has to build cleanrooms before it can increase production and they need permits for that. “When the factory is ready, they have to order production facility, hire people. And then it takes more than 12 months to make the lens.”

Intel, among others, needs many chip machines to realize its IDM 2.0 strategy. Intel will build new chip factories, including in Germany, and expand existing ones. To help ASML meet demand, ASML employs manufacturing experts from Intel. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger reports in the Financial Times that there is still time for the company: “It takes two years to build the base of the chip factory. In year three or four you fill it with equipment.”