ASML Holding’s (ASML) shares edged lower early Tuesday. This is even though the Dutch chipmaking equipment giant stated that it expects logic and memory chips made with its most advanced chipmaking machines to be available over the coming few months.
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According to Reuters, CEO Christophe Fouquet stated this on Tuesday while speaking at the ITF World 2026 technology forum held in Antwerp, Belgium, and organized by research firm Imec.
The machines are the High Numerical Aperture (High-NA) extreme ultraviolet lithography systems used to print the tiniest and most advanced circuit patterns on chips. They cost about $400 million each and are expected to enable chipmakers to pack billions more transistors into silicon wafers, producing faster, more powerful, and energy-efficient chips.
This production boost is seen as providing the advantage of lower patterning cost, or the process of printing fine circuitry. However, contract chipmakers, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) (TSM), the world’s biggest chip foundry, are wary of the prohibitive price tag on the machines.
Last month, TSMC pulled the curtain on two new chip-making technologies it expects to help produce smaller and faster chips without using the expensive High-NA machines. The company is betting that this will help it to significantly slash the cost of production, with plans to begin production on one of them — the A13 — starting in 2029.