ENGINEERINGNET.EU – After Intel and TSMC, now Samsung has joined the Customer Co-Investment Program for Innovation of ASML, one of the world's leading providers of lithography systems for the semiconductor industry. The Korean company will invest 276 millios euros in the program.
'This completes our program",' states ASML in a press release, 'as the target for aggregate R&D funding commitments of EUR 1.38 billion has now been met.'
Samsung has also committed to invest EUR 503 million in a 3 percent ASML equity stake under the same general terms as the other program participants.
Under the Co-Investment Program, which was announced on July 9, 2012, ASML will accelerate the development of key lithography technologies needed to extend Moore’s Law, notably Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography.
These technologies are intended to benefit the entire industry, and will 'enable smarter, more powerful, more energy-efficient and cheaper electronic devices for consumers'.
BACKGROUND
ASML is one of the world's leading providers of lithography systems for the semiconductor industry, manufacturing complex machines that are critical to the production of integrated circuits or chips. Headquartered in Veldhoven, the Netherlands, ASML has almost 8,000 employees on payroll (expressed in full time equivalents), serving chip manufacturers in more than 55 locations in 16 countries.
