Samsung to Deploy ASML High‑NA EUV in DRAM by 2028, Joins 12‑Inch Photomask Initiative

Samsung Electronics said Tuesday it is expanding its partnership with Dutch chip equipment supplier ASML and plans to bring ASML’s next-generation High-NA EUV lithography into high-volume DRAM manufacturing by 2028. Samsung also said it will join an industry effort to develop larger 12-inch photomasks for future semiconductor production.

The plans were announced in a Samsung press release dated Sept. 8, 2026, titled “Samsung Electronics and ASML Expand Strategic Collaboration for Next-Generation Semiconductor Manufacturing.” Samsung said the companies are deepening collaboration on “High NA EUV lithography and advanced semiconductor manufacturing technologies.” Samsung also said its target would mark a first for High-NA use in DRAM high-volume manufacturing if achieved.

High-NA EUV is the next step in extreme ultraviolet lithography, a chipmaking process that uses very short-wavelength light to print tiny circuit patterns. Compared with today’s mainstream EUV systems, High-NA tools are designed to deliver sharper resolution for more advanced chips.

The photomask announcement points to another piece of the manufacturing chain. Photomasks are the templates used to transfer chip patterns onto silicon wafers, and the industry has long relied on smaller mask formats. Moving to 12-inch masks is part of a broader effort to make High-NA practical for large-scale production in future generations of semiconductors.

Samsung said it will “join the industry initiative to advance next-generation 12-inch photomask technology for future manufacturing.” That follows separate announcements from ASML and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. on Sept. 7 and 8 about an industry initiative to transition to 12-inch photomasks for High-NA EUV. ASML and TSMC said that effort is targeting a 12-inch mask pilot line by 2031 and full lithography system readiness for advanced-node production by 2033.

Samsung’s announcement adds a memory-focused milestone to a broader industry rollout that has already started in logic chips. ASML said on July 15 that Intel Foundry had entered high-volume manufacturing using ASML High-NA EUV on selected layers of Intel’s Panther Lake products, which ASML described as the first high-volume logic product using High-NA. Samsung’s statement, by contrast, concerns DRAM, a type of memory chip, not the first use of High-NA in chip production overall.

“The AI era is transforming the semiconductor industry and increasing the importance of technological innovation across the entire value chain,” Young Hyun Jun, Samsung Electronics vice chairman and CEO, said in the company’s release. “By further strengthening our collaboration with ASML, we are helping lay the foundation for the next generation of AI and semiconductor innovation.”

Samsung did not say how many High-NA tools it plans to install, which fabrication plants would receive them, or which DRAM manufacturing layers would use the technology. The company’s statement framed the 2028 timing as a plan for future high-volume manufacturing, not a completed deployment.