By Jane Lanhee Lee and Stephen Nellis

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (Reuters) – SANTA CLARA, Calif. A Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co executive said at a conference on Thursday that the world’s biggest chipmaker will have the next version of ASML’s most advanced lithography tool in 2024.

“Looking ahead, TSMC will bring in high-NA EUV scanners in 2024 to develop the associated infrastructure and patterning solution needed for customers to fuel innovation,” said Y.J. Mii, senior vice president of research & development, during TSMC’s technology symposium in Silicon Valley.

Mii did not say when the device, the second generation of extreme ultraviolet lithography tools needed to make smaller and faster chips, would be used for mass production. TSMC rival Intel Corp has said it will use the machines in production by 2025 and has said it would be the first to receive the machine.

As Intel enters into the business of making chips that other companies design, it will be competing with TSMC for those customers. So the industry is watching closely on which company has the edge on the next generation of chip technology.

Kevin Zhange, TSMC senior vice president of business development, later clarified that TSMC wouldn’t be ready for production with the new high-NA EUV tool in 2024 but that it would be mostly used for research purposes with partners.

“The importance of TSMC having it in 2024 means they get to the most advanced technology faster,” said TechInsights’ chip economist Dan Hutcheson, who was at the symposium. “EUV technology has become so critical to being on the leading edge … high-NA EUV is the next major innovation in the technology that will put the chip technology at the lead.”

(Reporting by Jane Lanhee Lee in Santa Clara, California; Editing by Mark Porter)

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