Following Intel and contract chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), Samsung Electronics will invest US$976 million in Dutch chip manufacturing equipment maker ASML to further development of next-generation lithography technology that should enable faster and more power-efficient chips.
Samsung will also buy a 3% stake in the company, ASML said in a news release.
ASML is one of the world's largest providers of tools used for chip manufacturing and provides equipment to Samsung as well as Intel, TSMC and GlobalFoundries.A
Developing EUV lithography will eventually enable smarter, more powerful, more energy-efficient and cheaper electronic devices for consumers, said ASML.
Samsung's investment in ASML "makes perfect sense," said Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. "Samsung cannot afford to lag behind Intel and TSMC," he said.
"This is also very good for ASML," he added, as the investments will prompt other chip manufacturers' interest in the company's technology.
The way ASML decided to attract investors and sell a minority stake in the company is a novel approach in the industry, said Moorhead, who added that he couldn't remember the last time that "three-quarter" of the semiconductor industry bought stakes in the same company. "It shows that even companies like Intel (one of the investors) cannot invent everything on their own," he said.
