Intel has recently crowed about securing the world's first high-NA (numerical aperture) lithography machine from the Dutch company ASML. These highly complex machines will give Intel access to a key instrument in creating next-generation processor designs. A new report states that Intel has purchased all of ASML's high-NA machines for 2024, seemingly in an effort to prevent this technology from falling into the hands of its biggest rivals anytime soon.

The report on Intel's audacious capital outlay comes from The Elec, which was paywalled and flagged by Wccftech. It states Intel is pushing a sizable stack of chips across the table to secure all of ASML's high-NA production in 2024, which is reportedly around five or six machines. With each machine allegedly costing around $400 million or so, that would mean Intel is dropping around $2 billion to lock up the high-NA capacity for 2024. Despite its generous outlay, it's unclear where Intel would even install this many machines as they would replace some of the company's existing extreme ultraviolet (EUV) gear.

Intel is getting its first high-NA machine up and running at its Oregon facility, but it's not expected to be fully operational until 2025. Once it's firing on all cylinders, Intel has stated it will be used to produce the company's 14A process, which isn't due until 2026 or thereabouts. Given the timelines involved, it remains to be seen what Intel would do with five high-NA machines, as it doesn't use them for the entirety of a chip's production. Instead, it uses regular EUV lithography for most of the production process, while the high-NA machine is used only for specific parts of the chip where it provides the most benefit.

The quoted article states that in 2025, ASML will likely sell high-NA equipment to both Samsung and SK Hynix, but not until the end of the year. This theoretically will give Intel about a year's head start on both companies.

One has to wonder when TSMC will hop aboard this bandwagon. So far, the company has stated it doesn't see the benefit of high-NA to its customers, so it's sticking with EUV for the foreseeable future. It might not be a bad move for TSMC, though, as it has no shortage of high-dollar clients. Tech stalwarts, including Nvidia, AMD, Apple, and even Intel, are ready and willing to pay whatever it costs for the company's most advanced products, so we'll have to wait a few years to see whether Intel's gamble will pay off.