Intel begins shipping chips made with ASML’s High NA EUV tools

ASML ↘ 2.55% announced on Tuesday that Intel ↘ 7.89% Foundry has begun high-volume manufacturing of select Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors, code-named Panther Lake, using ASML's next-generation High NA EUV lithography technology on the Intel 18A process node. The milestone marks the first time the advanced tooling, which costs roughly $400 million per unit, has been used to produce chips at commercial scale.asml+2

Specific Intel 18A layers are now dual-qualified on High NA EUV at Intel's Oregon facility, with product shipping to customers at yields matched to ASML's existing NXE platform, according to the announcement. The development validates months of preparation after ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet said in May that the first chips made with the machines would arrive "within months."globenewswire+2

A Long Road to Production

Intel has been the most aggressive adopter of ASML's High NA EUV equipment. The company installed its first EXE:5000 research tools in Oregon in 2024 and had processed 30,000 wafers by early 2025. In December 2025, Intel installed the EXE:5200B — the first High NA tool designed for commercial chip production — capable of printing features at 8nm resolution and processing 175 wafers per hour.tomshardware+2

By March 2026, ASML reported that its High NA tools had collectively processed 500,000 wafers and achieved 80 percent uptime, a key threshold for volume manufacturing readiness. Yet skeptics remained. A May 2026 analysis noted that TSMC had opted to delay large-scale High NA adoption over cost concerns, questioning whether the technology's economics justified deployment at current nodes.semiwiki+1

What It Means for Intel and ASML

The announcement arrives alongside ASML's second-quarter 2026 earnings, in which the company reported €9.3 billion in net sales. For Intel, it reinforces the company's strategy of using its 18A process — featuring RibbonFET transistors and PowerVia backside power delivery — to reclaim manufacturing leadership.thomasnet+2

Panther Lake processors deliver up to 50 percent faster performance than Intel's previous Lunar Lake generation, with up to 180 trillion operations per second for on-device AI workloads. Intel began shipping initial Panther Lake SKUs in late 2025, with broader market availability following in 2026.newsroom.intel+3

Reuters reported that Intel chose to route select Panther Lake production through the High NA tool to build manufacturing experience ahead of its 14A node, which will rely more heavily on the technology for critical layers.tomshardware+1