AI hardware · Layer

Lithography and fab equipment

The machines that pattern circuits onto silicon. Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography is required for the most advanced nodes, and the tools come from a tiny set of suppliers.

Key facts

ASML in the Netherlands is the sole maker of EUV lithography systems, the machines needed for leading-edge chips.
An EUV scanner costs well over a hundred million dollars and is one of the most complex machines ever built.
Other critical equipment makers include Applied Materials, Lam Research, KLA, and Tokyo Electron.
Because EUV has a single supplier, it is a strategic chokepoint and a focus of export controls.

Where it bottlenecks

EUV is a single-supplier dependency (ASML); the broader equipment market is concentrated among a few firms and subject to export restrictions.

Who dominates it

ASMLApplied MaterialsLam ResearchTokyo Electron

Companies in this layer

Applied Materials

United States

Materials engineering and process equipment for advanced packaging and memory

ASML

Netherlands

Sole maker of EUV lithography machines required to fabricate leading-edge chips.

Carl Zeiss SMT

Germany

Maker of the precision optics inside EUV lithography systems.

Tokyo Electron

Japan

Semiconductor manufacturing equipment (coater/developer, etching, deposition)

All companies across the chain

Explore other layers

GPUs and AI accelerators High-bandwidth memory (HBM)Chip foundries and fabrication Advanced packaging Networking and interconnect AI servers and systems Data centers Cooling and thermal management Supply constraints and bottlenecks

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