ASML has reportedly achieved a critical breakthrough in its EUV lithography technology, boosting the power of its light source to 1000W. This leap from the current 600W standard is projected to increase per-machine chip output by 50% by the end of the decade, enabling foundries to process approximately 330 wafers per hour, up from the 220-wafer limit of today's systems.

Generating EUV light remains one of the most complex engineering feats in modern manufacturing. In ASML's laser-produced plasma (LPP) system, microscopic droplets of molten tin are fired through a vacuum and struck by a CO₂ laser. According to Reuters, to achieve the 1,000W threshold, ASML implemented two significant architectural changes: droplet acceleration, which enables the system to fire roughly 100,000 droplets per second (twice the current rate), and two-pulse laser shaping, which uses two smaller laser bursts instead of the single pulse currently in use.

ASML's roadmap suggests this is just the beginning, with internal targets already set for 1500W and, eventually, 2000W. Assuming the same ratio, that would triple the current production rate.

By scaling the power of the 13.5 nm light beam, ASML aims to directly lower the cost-per-chip for advanced AI and logic processors while extending the economic viability of the sub-2 nm era.

KitGuru says: The “photon bottleneck” has long been the primary limiter for EUV economics. By hitting the 1000W mark, ASML is effectively telling the world that it can keep Moore's Law alive through raw power scaling. For companies like TSMC, a 50% increase in wafer production without expanding their footprint is certainly welcome news.