According to three insiders, Samsung Electronics has postponed the delivery of chip manufacturing equipment from Dutch lithography giant ASML. This part of the equipment was originally planned to be used in Samsung Electronics' $17 billion factory in Taylor, Texas, but Samsung has not yet won any important customers for the project.
Three other insiders said that Samsung has also postponed orders placed with other suppliers, which has prompted these suppliers to seek new customers and have staff deployed at the factory return home.
The delay in equipment delivery is another setback for Samsung Electronics' Taylor project. This project is the core goal of Samsung Chairman Lee Jae yong, who hopes to expand the business from basic storage chips to OEM chip manufacturing to challenge TSMC's dominant position in this field.
This highlights the widening gap between Samsung Electronics and competitors such as TSMC or SK Hynix. At present, these competitors are increasing the production of high-end chips to meet the booming demand in the field of artificial intelligence applications.
Asma was implicated
On Tuesday (October 15th), ASML, the world's largest chip manufacturing equipment supplier, experienced a sharp decline in performance and lowered its sales forecast for 2025, citing market weakness outside of artificial intelligence, and pointing out that the construction of some wafer fabs has been postponed.
Although ASML did not disclose the names of the customers who postponed the construction of the factory, some media outlets reported that Samsung had delayed the delivery of some ASML equipment.
Two sources pointed out that the equipment requested by Samsung to delay shipment involves ASML's advanced chip manufacturing equipment extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. This batch of machines was originally scheduled to be delivered earlier this year, but it has not been shipped yet.
EUV machines cost approximately $200 million each to create design patterns on silicon wafers using a beam of light, and are widely used to manufacture advanced chips in smartphones, electronic devices, and artificial intelligence servers.
It is currently unclear how many EUV machines Samsung has ordered and what payment terms it has signed. Some sources also claim that Samsung has issued a postponement order, but has not yet provided a detailed explanation of the revised delivery schedule.