How advanced lithography shapes chip power, sovereignty, and new markets

EUV Tools at Geopolitical Center

How Advanced Lithography Shapes Chip Power, Sovereignty, and New Markets: The Latest Developments

The relentless march toward smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient semiconductor chips continues to redefine technological capabilities, geopolitical power, and commercial opportunities worldwide. At the core of this evolution lies advanced lithography, a suite of cutting-edge techniques that enable the patterning of features approaching atomic scales. Recent breakthroughs, strategic industry investments, and geopolitical maneuvers are accelerating progress, shaping the global semiconductor landscape, and unlocking pathways into transformative sectors such as biomedical devices, photonics, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence (AI).

Breakthroughs in Lithography: From EUV to Atomic-Scale Fabrication

Advanced lithography remains pivotal in extending Moore’s Law, with recent milestones marking significant progress:

The industry’s transition from Deep Ultraviolet (DUV) to Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography has enabled the fabrication of sub-3nm nodes. Now, efforts are underway to develop High Numerical Aperture (High-NA) EUV systems, aiming for resolutions approaching ~0.2 nm, nearing fundamental physical limits. These advancements are critical for maintaining the trajectory of scaling.
ASML, the exclusive provider of state-of-the-art EUV tools, continues to innovate aggressively. A notable breakthrough involves ASML unveiling a new EUV light source designed to increase throughput by approximately 50%. This enhancement significantly boosts manufacturing efficiency, allowing more chips per wafer, reducing costs, and making atomic-scale patterning more commercially viable—an essential step toward atomic-level fabrication.
Industry giants are investing heavily:
- Intel announced a $380 million expansion of High-NA EUV capacity, targeting sub-3nm chips with higher transistor densities and improved energy efficiency.
- TSMC achieved mass production at the 2nm (N2) node, leveraging next-generation EUV and High-NA tools to sustain its leadership in atomic-scale manufacturing.
- Samsung Electronics committed $22 billion to its Pyeongtaek P5 fab, deploying cutting-edge patterning technologies tailored for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) markets.

Technological innovations are also accelerating:

ASML’s prototypes of High-NA EUV systems are approaching full atomic-scale patterning, with ongoing development of more powerful, reliable light sources.
Techniques such as inverse lithography are being refined to push patterning capabilities beyond traditional limits, improving yield and reducing complexity at advanced nodes.

Recent reports highlight ASML’s demonstration of a new light source technology capable of boosting chip production throughput by approximately 50%, which could significantly lower manufacturing costs and accelerate the scaling of atomic-scale patterning.

Geopolitical Tensions and the Race for Technological Sovereignty

The race to master atomic-scale patterning is deeply intertwined with geopolitical rivalries, particularly amid the US-China strategic competition:

The US has enacted export restrictions aimed at limiting China’s access to High-NA EUV systems and other advanced lithography equipment, citing concerns over military applications and technological sovereignty.
ASML’s CEO, Peter Wennink, publicly acknowledged that China’s EUV technology remains around 8 generations behind the most advanced E7 systems, emphasizing the technology gap created by export controls.
In response, China is aggressively developing domestic lithography solutions—with prototypes like E2, E4, and E5—aiming to emulate EUV and High-NA capabilities. While these efforts face scientific and engineering hurdles, they underscore a strategic push toward self-sufficiency and supply chain resilience.

China’s Breakthrough in 3nm Chips Without EUV

A remarkable recent development is China's successful fabrication of 3nm chips without EUV technology. Industry analysts suggest that Chinese firms are employing innovative process techniques, including self-developed optical systems, advanced materials, and alternative mask technologies. These methods have enabled 3nm chip production without EUV, challenging the long-held notion that EUV is indispensable at such scales.

This achievement undermines Western export restrictions, accelerates China’s pursuit of technological independence, and reshapes the global supply chain by bringing China closer to self-sufficiency in critical semiconductor manufacturing.
While scientific and engineering challenges persist, these advances highlight the strategic importance of innovation in mitigating restrictions and driving progress.

Materials and Process Innovations: Unlocking New Markets

As feature sizes approach atomic dimensions (~0.2 nm), technical challenges multiply. Recent breakthroughs are creating new pathways:

2D Nanoribbons: Researchers from Purdue University and the National University of Singapore (NUS) are pioneering ultra-thin 2D nanoribbons with exceptional electronic properties. These structures enable atomic-scale transistors and high-performance devices via bottom-up atomic assembly, opening possibilities for next-generation electronics.
Ferroelectric Silicon Photonics: Advances by UPV and iPronics involve integrating ferroelectric materials with silicon photonics, creating heat-free, energy-efficient platforms for high-speed optical computing. These innovations are vital for next-generation interconnects and quantum architectures.
New Material Methods: Progress in high-k dielectrics, atomic-layer deposition (ALD), and the incorporation of 2D materials like graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are critical for atomic-scale transistors and quantum devices.

Industry Innovation Highlights

The Veeco-imec collaboration has pioneered a 300mm-compatible process for epitaxial growth of BaTiO₃ (barium titanate) thin films, enabling integration of ferroelectric materials into mainstream fabrication—offering new functionalities for high-speed, low-power electronics and photonic systems.
A recent partnership between Gelest, Inc. (a Mitsubishi Chemical Group company) and IBM aims to advance resist materials, especially dry resist EUV lithography precursors, to enhance lithography at atomic scales and reduce complexity and cost.
Applied Materials has unveiled transistor and interconnect innovations that significantly accelerate AI chip performance. Their latest transistor architecture incorporates ultra-fine gate control and low-k interconnects, enabling faster switching speeds and lower power consumption, critical for AI workloads.

Unlocking New Markets Enabled by Atomic-Scale Patterning

Atomic-scale patterning is catalyzing entirely new industries:

Silicon Photonics: Facilitates ultra-high-speed optical interconnects, reducing latency and energy consumption in data centers and high-performance computing systems.
Biomedical Applications: EUV lithography machines are increasingly used to mass produce nanopores vital for DNA sequencing and molecular sensing. A recent breakthrough demonstrated EUV’s utility in scaling nanopore production, potentially revolutionizing genomics and personalized medicine.

Surprisingly, EUV lithography machines are now being utilized to mass produce nanopores for molecular sensing, opening new avenues in genomics and biomedical research.

Quantum and Neuromorphic Computing: Precise atomic patterning is essential for qubit fabrication and brain-inspired architectures, promising revolutionary leaps in computational power.
Chiplet and Interconnect Ecosystems: Standards such as UCIe PHY are facilitating high-bandwidth, low-cost chiplet interconnects. Companies like YorChip and Sofics are developing interoperability solutions for AI accelerators, sensor arrays, and edge computing, enabling scalable, flexible system architectures.
Photonic Computing and Optical AI: Advances in silicon photonics and laser integration are paving the way for light-powered AI systems, promising scaling beyond electronic limitations.

Photonic computing is emerging as a transformative frontier—leveraging light for data processing and transmission—offering exponential increases in speed and energy efficiency, potentially redefining data centers and sustainable AI deployment.

AI Accelerators and Inference: The New Competitive Arena

Advances in atomic-scale patterning are fueling specialized AI chips that outperform traditional architectures:

The KAIST GNN (Graph Neural Network) accelerator recently outperformed an Nvidia RTX 3090 in GNN inference tasks by 2.1 times, demonstrating how tailored architectures built on advanced nodes maximize performance and efficiency.
The AI inference chip market continues to expand rapidly, with companies designing optimized architectures for AI inference workloads, providing cost-effective alternatives to general-purpose GPUs.
The focus on inference workloads—where AI models are deployed at scale—has become the next battleground in AI chip development, leveraging atomic patterning to deliver power-efficient and high-performance solutions.

Power, Testing, and Manufacturing Challenges

As device complexity escalates, innovations in power delivery and early testing are critical:

Backside Power Delivery: New research highlights challenges associated with delivering power from beneath the wafer, a technique offering improved efficiency but introducing fabrication and thermal barriers. Title: Backside Power Delivery Creates Fab Tool, Thermal Dissipation Barriers discusses ongoing efforts to address these issues.
Power Delivery Solutions: Companies like AmberSemi have introduced PowerTile™ silicon tape-outs, enabling vertical power delivery tailored for AI processors, enhancing scalability and efficiency.
Design-for-Test (DFT): The rise of multi-die systems demands early and robust testing strategies to reduce yield loss and enhance reliability.

AI-Driven Design Automation

The integration of Artificial Intelligence in Electronic Design Automation (EDA) is revolutionizing chip development:

Cadence’s ChipStack AI Super Agent now autonomously analyzes design data, predicts issues, and accelerates verification, significantly reducing time-to-market.
Keysight Technologies has upgraded its data platform with AI-driven analysis tools, enabling predictive modeling and optimization for robust, high-performance chips.
Emerging Webinars, such as "SECDA-DSE: Automated Design Space Exploration of FPGA based Accelerators using LLMs," highlight how large language models (LLMs) are transforming design exploration, enabling efficient optimization of complex FPGA architectures.

The Future of Computing: Photonics, Quantum, and Beyond

Photonic computing is emerging as a revolutionary frontier—using light for data processing and transmission:

Breakthrough: Light-powered AI systems promise to defuse the industry’s looming energy crisis by enabling exponential speedups and energy efficiencies beyond electronic limits. This paradigm shift could transform data centers and scale AI deployment sustainably.

Quantum and neuromorphic computing stand to benefit significantly from atomic patterning and material innovations, paving the way for revolutionary leaps in computational power.

Current Status and Broader Implications

While scientific and engineering hurdles—such as atomic wafer inspection, material dependencies, and fabrication complexity—remain, recent breakthroughs demonstrate robust momentum toward atomic-scale manufacturing and integrated photonics.

Control over advanced lithography tools and critical material supply chains remains a geopolitical priority:

Control of EUV and High-NA systems is vital for maintaining technological sovereignty.
China’s progress in 3nm chips without EUV exemplifies scientific resilience and self-sufficiency ambitions, but underscores the importance of continued innovation in materials science and atomic assembly.

As feature sizes approach sub-1 nm, multidisciplinary advances in materials science, atomic manipulation, and photonic technologies will be vital. Mastery over these tools will shape global leadership, military capabilities, and economic influence for decades.

Strategic Outlook: Implications for Global Leadership

Control over next-generation lithography and supply chains will be decisive in preserving technological sovereignty.
International collaboration and strategic investments are essential to stay ahead in AI, quantum computing, biotech, and defense.
Recent developments—such as Apple’s multibillion-dollar U.S. chip manufacturing initiative and ASML’s productivity breakthroughs—highlight a competitive and resilient global landscape driven by scientific ingenuity and industrial ambition.

Recent Industry Highlights

Samsung has achieved mass production of HBM4 memory optimized for Nvidia GPUs, supporting the next generation of high-performance graphics and computing workloads. This scaling of high-bandwidth memory is critical for AI, HPC, and data center applications.
The webinar on "Automated Design Space Exploration of FPGA Accelerators using LLMs" underscores the transformative role of LLMs in automating complex hardware design, dramatically accelerating development cycles and enabling more efficient use of advanced nodes.

In Summary

The ongoing evolution of advanced lithography—driven by scientific breakthroughs, industry investments, and geopolitical strategies—is fundamentally shaping the future of technology and society. Achieving mastery over atomic-scale manufacturing and securing supply chains will determine global leadership in the coming decades. As feature sizes shrink toward sub-1 nm, innovations across materials science, atomic assembly, and photonic computing will be paramount. The nations and corporations that harness these frontiers will lead the next era of digital innovation, ultimately defining the technological landscape for generations to come.

Additional Noteworthy Development: Imec’s EUV Dose-Reduction Leverage

In a significant stride toward more efficient lithography, Imec announced a breakthrough in EUV dose reduction. During the 2026 SPIE Advanced Lithography + Patterning Conference, imec showcased a novel approach that reduces EUV exposure doses by approximately 30% while maintaining patterning fidelity. This advancement lowers operational costs, reduces wear on equipment, and enhances throughput, making atomic-scale fabrication more sustainable and scalable. Such innovations are critical as the industry aims to maximize productivity while pushing the boundaries of feature size.

In conclusion, the rapid pace of advanced lithography development, coupled with geopolitical strategies, materials innovation, and emerging markets, underscores a pivotal era of technological transformation. The mastery of atomic-scale manufacturing will not only determine industry leadership but also influence global power dynamics and economic resilience for decades to come.

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