Samsung, ASML expand partnership to introduce next-gen lithography by 2028

Samsung Electronics and ASML announced Tuesday that they will expand their strategic partnership on High NA EUV lithography, with Samsung planning to introduce it into DRAM mass production by 2028 for the first time in the industry. The companies said they will work together to accelerate advanced semiconductor manufacturing technologies. Samsung also said it will join an industry initiative on next-generation 12-inch photomask technology to improve productivity and reduce stitching constraints. Separately, Samsung co-led a Series D funding round for Mistral AI, which raised 3 billion euros.

Samsung said High NA EUV is expected to extend the DRAM scaling road map through improved resolution, process simplification and increased efficiency.

High NA EUV exposes a smaller area of the wafer at a time, which can require larger chips to be stitched together in multiple sections.

Samsung said 12-inch masks used with High-NA EUV are expected to improve fab productivity, reduce chipmaking costs and eliminate stitching constraints.

Mistral AI said the Series D round raised 3 billion euros and valued the company at more than 21 billion euros after the investment.

Mistral AI said the round was led by Samsung Electronics, Scaleup Europe Fund and existing investor PSG Equity, while Samsung did not disclose its investment amount.

Published Sep 8, 2026 4:24 pm KST

Chipmaker leads Series C fundraising round of France's Mistral AI

Samsung Electronics' Hwaseong plant in Gyeonggi Province / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics and semiconductor equipment giant ASML announced Tuesday that they will expand their strategic partnership on High NA extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, with Samsung planning to introduce the technology into DRAM mass production by 2028 for the first time in the industry.

The two companies said they will work together to accelerate the development and deployment of technologies that support the increasing performance and efficiency requirements of advanced semiconductor manufacturing.

Under their new agreement, Samsung said it plans to introduce ASML’s High NA EUV lithography into future DRAM by 2028.

ASML’s EXE:5000 in the High NA Lab in Veldhoven, the Netherlands / Courtesy of ASML

Semiconductors are made by projecting geometric circuit patterns onto a silicon wafer using light, in this case EUV. In EUV lithography, the circuit pattern is formed on a photomask, EUV light reflects off the mask and an optical system reduces the image and projects it onto the wafer.

As semiconductor technology advances, circuit patterns need to become increasingly fine. One way to achieve this is by increasing the numerical aperture (NA) of the optical system, a measure of how wide an angle of light the optical system can collect.

Like a larger camera lens capturing a sharper image, a higher NA lets the system collect light from wider angles and produce finer details in the projected pattern. Conventional lithography may require multiple exposures to create extremely fine lines, while High NA can achieve the same pattern in a single exposure, simplifying the manufacturing process.

Samsung said the introduction plan demonstrates its readiness for High NA technology to support advanced memory and logic chip applications. The company noted that High NA EUV is expected to extend the DRAM scaling road map, with improved resolution enabling process simplification and increased efficiency.

The logo of ASML is displayed at the company's booth at the 8th China International Import Expo in Shanghai, Nov. 5, 2025. Reuters-Yonhap

One drawback of High-NA EUV is that it exposes a smaller area of the wafer at a time. As a result, larger chips may need to be exposed in multiple sections and then stitched together on the wafer, adding an extra process called stitching.

To address this limitation, Samsung will join an industry initiative to advance next-generation 12-inch photomask technology, up from the current 6-inch standard.

Samsung said 12-inch masks used with High-NA EUV are expected to further improve fab productivity, reduce chipmaking costs and eliminate stitching constraints. The company added that it will work closely with industry partners to develop the required mask technologies and supporting infrastructure.

"Samsung is committed to maintaining leadership in advanced semiconductor manufacturing, including memory and foundry, through breakthrough technologies and strong partnerships,” said Young Hyun Jun, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman and Head of Device Solutions Division. “By further strengthening our collaboration with ASML, we are helping lay the foundation for the next generation of AI and semiconductor innovation.”

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics co-led a Series D funding round for Mistral AI, a leading European artificial intelligence model developer based in France.

Mistral AI said on its website that it has raised 3 billion euros ($3.49 billion) through the round, the largest equity fundraising ever completed by a private European tech company, leading to a company valuation of more than 21 billion euros after the investment.

Along with Samsung Electronics, Scaleup Europe Fund, and existing investor PSG Equity joined as co-leads of the round. Samsung Electronics did not disclose the amount it invested, but foreign news outlets suggested that the Korean company’s investment may reach 1 billion euros.

Mistral AI said the round will expand Mistral's frontier research by scaling its compute capacity for training powerful models, building out infrastructure and accelerating its commercial growth.

Mistral AI now operates across 20 countries and supports over 125 global enterprises’ AI transformation, including Airbus, ASML and HSBC. Its previous Series C funding round was led by ASML, whose 1.3 billion euro investment made the Dutch semiconductor equipment maker Mistral AI’s largest shareholder.

三星电子和ASML周二宣布，双方将扩大在高数值孔径EUV光刻技术方面的战略合作。三星计划在2028年之前，率先将该技术应用于DRAM的量产。两家公司表示，将携手加速先进半导体制造技术的发展。三星还表示，将加入一项关于下一代12英寸光掩模技术的行业倡议，以提高生产效率并减少拼接限制。此外，三星还共同领投了Mistral AI的D轮融资，该公司共筹集了30亿欧元。

三星表示，高数值孔径 EUV 有望通过提高分辨率、简化工艺和提高效率来扩展 DRAM 的扩展路线图。

高数值孔径 EUV 光刻技术一次只能曝光晶圆上较小的区域，因此需要将较大的芯片分成多个部分拼接在一起。

三星表示，与高数值孔径 EUV 光刻技术配合使用的 12 英寸掩模有望提高晶圆厂的生产效率，降低芯片制造成本，并消除拼接限制。

Mistral AI 表示，D 轮融资筹集了 30 亿欧元，投资后公司估值超过 210 亿欧元。

Mistral AI 表示，本轮融资由三星电子、Scaleup Europe Fund 和现有投资者 PSG Equity 领投，但三星并未透露其投资金额。

发布于2026年9月8日下午4:24（韩国标准时间）

芯片制造商领投法国Mistral AI的C轮融资

三星电子位于京畿道华城的工厂 / 图片由三星电子提供

三星电子和半导体设备巨头ASML周二宣布，他们将扩大在高数值孔径极紫外（EUV）光刻技术方面的战略合作伙伴关系，三星计划在2028年之前首次将该技术引入DRAM大规模生产，这将是业内首次实现这一目标。

两家公司表示，他们将共同努力，加速开发和部署能够满足先进半导体制造日益增长的性能和效率要求的技术。

根据双方达成的新协议，三星表示计划在 2028 年前将 ASML 的高数值孔径 EUV 光刻技术引入未来的 DRAM 产品中。

ASML位于荷兰费尔德霍芬高数值孔径实验室的EXE:5000打印机 / 图片由ASML提供

半导体制造的方法是利用光（在本例中为极紫外光）将几何电路图案投射到硅晶圆上。在极紫外光刻技术中，电路图案形成在光掩模上，极紫外光从掩模反射，然后光学系统将图像缩小并投射到晶圆上。

随着半导体技术的进步，电路图案需要变得越来越精细。实现这一目标的一种方法是提高光学系统的数值孔径（NA），数值孔径衡量的是光学系统能够收集到的光线角度的宽广程度。

就像更大的相机镜头能捕捉到更清晰的图像一样，更高的数值孔径（NA）可以让系统从更广的角度收集光线，并在投影图案中呈现更精细的细节。传统的微影技术可能需要多次曝光才能形成极其精细的线条，而高数值孔径技术只需一次曝光即可实现相同的图案，从而简化了制造工艺。

三星表示，推出这项计划表明其已做好充分准备，利用高数值孔径 (High NA) 技术支持先进的存储器和逻辑芯片应用。该公司指出，高数值孔径极紫外光刻 (High NA EUV) 技术有望扩展 DRAM 的微缩路线图，更高的分辨率将简化工艺流程并提高效率。

2025年11月5日，在上海举行的第八届中国国际进口博览会上，ASML公司展位上展示了该公司的标志。（路透社-韩联社）

高数值孔径极紫外光刻 (High-NA EUV) 的一个缺点是每次曝光的晶圆面积较小。因此，较大的芯片可能需要分多个区域曝光，然后再拼接在一起，这就增加了一个称为拼接的额外工序。

为了解决这一限制，三星将加入一项行业倡议，推进下一代 12 英寸光掩模技术的发展，取代目前的 6 英寸标准。

三星表示，采用高数值孔径极紫外光刻技术的12英寸光掩模有望进一步提高晶圆厂的生产效率，降低芯片制造成本，并消除拼接限制。该公司还补充说，将与行业合作伙伴紧密合作，共同开发所需的光掩模技术和配套基础设施。

三星电子副董事长兼器件解决方案事业部负责人杨铉俊表示：“三星致力于通过突破性技术和强大的合作伙伴关系，保持在包括存储器和晶圆代工在内的先进半导体制造领域的领先地位。通过进一步加强与ASML的合作，我们正在为下一代人工智能和半导体创新奠定基础。”

与此同时，三星电子领投了 Mistral AI 的 D 轮融资，Mistral AI 是一家总部位于法国的欧洲领先的人工智能模型开发商。

Mistral AI 在其网站上表示，该公司通过此轮融资筹集了 30 亿欧元（34.9 亿美元），这是欧洲私人科技公司完成的最大规模股权融资，投资后公司估值超过 210 亿欧元。

除三星电子外，Scaleup Europe Fund 和现有投资者 PSG Equity 也参与了本轮融资，并担任联合领投方。三星电子并未披露具体投资金额，但有外媒报道称，这家韩国公司的投资额可能达到 10 亿欧元。

Mistral AI 表示，此轮融资将扩大 Mistral 的前沿研究，通过扩大其计算能力来训练强大的模型，构建基础设施并加速其商业增长。

Mistral AI 目前业务遍及 20 个国家，为包括空客、ASML 和汇丰银行在内的 125 多家全球企业提供人工智能转型支持。其上一轮 C 轮融资由 ASML 领投，ASML 的 13 亿欧元投资使其成为 Mistral AI 的最大股东。