Gudeng flags EUV supply constraints as advanced-chip expansion accelerates - digitimes

Gudeng Chairman and CEO Bill Chiu highlighted that global AI demand is driving expansion in 2nm and 3nm advanced-node capacity, yet the primary constraint isn't fab construction but securing extreme u... Read original →

The AI compute arms race has shifted semiconductor manufacturing into an 'equipment-defined capacity' era. EUV scarcity is no longer just a supply chain hiccup—it’s triggering cascading tech effects: upstream materials suppliers must fast-track high-purity masks and resists, while chip designers face extended tape-out timelines due to allocation uncertainty. Geopolitical export controls on ASML tools are inflating compliance costs and delivery risks for fabs in Taiwan, China, and South Korea. TSMC and Samsung will likely prioritize NVIDIA and AMD for 3nm/2nm slots, squeezing smaller clients; Intel may accelerate High-NA EUV localization to shorten its supply chain. Over the next 18 months, this bottleneck will force a pivot from brute-force capacity expansion to precision allocation, spurring secondary equipment markets and MPW sharing—but also raising barriers to entry and deepening ecosystem stratification.