Japan's Canon says interest in new chipmaking tools exceed expectations

Canon Electronics

30/01/2024 08:12

TOKYO, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Japan's Canon  7739.T  said on
Tuesday that early interest in its new lithography chipmaking
machines is exceeding expectations as it makes a major push to
close the gap with Dutch company ASML  ASML.AS . 
    ASML has become Europe's most valuable tech company with its
extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines, which use beams
of light to create circuitry and are employed by TSMC  2330.TW 
and Intel  INTC.O  to create cutting-edge chips. 
    In October, Canon unveiled its new nanoimprint lithography
machines, which stamp circuit patterns directly onto wafers. The
company emphasises the low cost and low power consumption of the
tools, with their prospects a topic of industry debate.
    While it is too early to say when the machines will
contribute to Canon sales, "there has been a bigger response
than we expected," Minoru Asada, head of Canon's finance and
accounting headquarters, told reporters. 
    The company aims to roll out the machines for production of
memory chips before expanding to other areas, Asada said. 
    Canon expects to sell 247 of its existing lithography
machines in the financial year ending December compared to 187
units a year earlier, boosted by demand for power chips and
graphics processing units (GPU) for artificial intelligence
tasks.   

 (Reporting by Sam Nussey and Miho Uranaka, Editing by Kylie
MacLellan)
 ((sam.nussey@tr.com;))