Intel begins using ASML's High NA tool for Panther Lake chips

Intel has started using ASML’s next-generation High NA extreme ultraviolet tool to make part of its Panther Lake laptop chips, moving the technology from a research milestone into a live production flow. ASML said Intel Foundry has entered high-volume manufacturing for a subset of Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors, code-named Panther Lake, using the EXE High NA EUV platform.

The chips are built on Intel’s 18A process, and Intel is using the High NA machine for specific layers rather than the entire chip. ASML said those Intel 18A layers are now dual-qualified on High NA EUV in Oregon, with products shipping to customers at yields matched to the NXE platform, Intel’s existing standard EUV system. That makes the deployment a practical test of whether the newest lithography can deliver enough precision and repeatability to justify its cost and complexity.

Intel’s first High NA tool was installed at Fab D1X in Hillsboro, Oregon, in April 2024, when calibration began in a clean room at the site. Intel described the 165-ton machine as built by ASML and the first commercial lithography system of its kind. The move into production on Panther Lake follows that initial setup phase and shows Intel is willing to use the tool in a manufacturing flow, not just in experimentation.

The stakes are financial as much as technical. The machine costs around $400 million, about twice the price of a standard EUV system, and semiconductor makers have been debating when the economics of High NA justify scale deployment. Intel already uses ASML’s standard EUV lithography tools in 18A production, but High NA is intended to push patterning precision further as chipmakers keep shrinking features measured at the atomic scale.

For Intel, Panther Lake is the first client SoC family built on 18A, and the company has said it plans high-volume production at its Arizona fab later in 2025. The Oregon deployment now gives Intel and ASML a live manufacturing case to refine setup, uptime and implementation. Intel declined to comment on the announcement. If the process proves stable, it could strengthen Intel’s attempt to re-establish manufacturing credibility against TSMC and Samsung; if it remains costly or difficult to scale, High NA may stay a promising but still early step on the path to mass production.