By Kim Hyun-bin

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong is reportedly scheduled to visit Europe from June 7 to 18 to seek the cooperation of ASML of the Netherlands, one of the world's leading manufacturers of chip-making equipment.

ASML is the only company in the world that produces extreme ultraviolet (EUV) exposure equipment, which is needed for ultra-fine semiconductor processing. Other leading semiconductor manufacturers are also lining up to get their hands on the equipment.

"Vice Chairman Lee is scheduled to visit the Netherlands next week, there is a high possibility of him visiting ASML," an industry official familiar with the matter told The Korea Times.

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong

From Samsung Electronics' point of view, securing ASML's EUV exposure equipment is critical to expanding its semiconductor plant in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, and also for the construction of a foundry plant in Texas, U.S.

In October 2020, Lee visited ASML's headquarters in the Netherlands to discuss cooperation in EUV equipment supply, technology advancement plans and collaboration in the development of next-generation semiconductor manufacturing technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI).

ASML produces about 40 EUV exposure equipment units a year. In its 2021 annual performance report released in February this year, ASML announced that it had delivered 31 EUV equipment units to clients in 2020 and 42 in 2021.

About 50 units are scheduled to be produced this year, but the output has reportedly been delayed a bit due to a shortage in the supply of semiconductors used to manufacture exposure equipment.

Orders have been delayed and clients have to wait more than a year to receive the equipment, which takes five months to produce. It took ASML 20 years to develop and commercialize EUV equipment, making it difficult for other companies to mass-produce EUV equipment in the short run. The price per unit is known to be 150 billion to 200 billion won, and it reportedly rose to 300 billion won recently.

There is also the possibility of corporate acquisition deals being discussed during Lee's trip. In the Netherlands, there is NXP, a vehicle semiconductor company that has been mentioned as a strong candidate to be acquired by Samsung Electronics. At the Samsung Ho-Am Prize ceremony held at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul on May 31, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Han Jong-hee told reporters that the company is preparing to conduct a large-scale corporate acquisition.