ASML, the Dutch maker of advanced chip manufacturing equipment, is planning to work with its biggest customers to develop tools capable of producing larger, more complex processors designed for AI data centres, according to a report by Reuters.

The company's current extreme ultraviolet lithography machines can print chips up to about 800 square millimetres, a limit that chip designers such as Nvidia and Google already reach, states the Reuters report. ASML's next-generation "High NA" EUV tools can create finer features, but their smaller mask size restricts the maximum chip area they can print.

To solve this, ASML is moving to a larger mask size, allowing its newest machines to produce chips as large as today's biggest data centre processors. The company plans to show a pilot line using the larger masks by 2031, with high-volume production targeted for 2033.

"If we're going to pull it off as an industry, then you'll actually see that the productivity of those systems will go up by 40%," Marco Pieters, ASML's chief technology officer, told Reuters.

Intel is already using the High NA tools for laptop chips, but Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Samsung have not yet adopted them for high-volume work. TSMC said this week it plans to use High NA technology in advanced high-volume production from 2030. Samsung aims to introduce High NA EUV into DRAM memory chip production by 2028. SK Hynix is also evaluating participation in the programme, targeting 2028 for applying High NA EUV processes to DRAM mass production.