Lithography Equipment

Scanners and steppers · ASML, Canon, Nikon, SMEE · tracks and mask tools

Lithography is the costliest tool category in the fab and the most concentrated by value. Canon ships about a third of the world's lithography tools but earns about 3% of the money; ASML took 94% of lithography shipment value in 2024, because it alone builds the immersion and EUV scanners that cost $80 million to $380 million each.

Lithography tools shipped in 2024, industry tally reported by 36Kr: by units, ASML about 55 to 60%, Canon about a third, Nikon about 5%. By shipment value, ASML 94.1%, Canon 3.4%, Nikon 2.5%. Approximate price per tool: i-line about $7 million, KrF about $14 million, dry ArF about $34 million, ArF immersion about $80 million, EUV about 230 million euros, High-NA EUV about $380 million. LITHOGRAPHY TOOLS SHIPPED, 2024: SHARE OF UNITS VS SHARE OF VALUE Units ASML 63% Canon 33% Value ASML 94% CANON 3.4%, NIKON 2.5% OF VALUE UNIT SPLIT APPROXIMATE PRICE PER TOOL BY CLASS, APPROX. $M (LOG SCALE) i-line ~7 CANON, NIKON, ASML, SMEE KrF ~14 ASML, CANON, NIKON, SMEE ArF dry ~34 ASML, NIKON, SMEE ArF immersion ~80 ASML, NIKON EUV ~265 ASML ONLY High-NA EUV ~380 ASML ONLY EUV: ASML AVERAGE PRICE €230M, 2Q 2026. DUV: 36KR UNIT PRICES IN YEN, CONVERTED.
ASML share of value, 2024
94.1%
Canon share of units
~1/3
ASML systems sold, 2025
327 new
EUV average price
€230M
China litho localization
~18%
Hub
Equipment

Units and value

Canon Leads in Units, ASML in Value

Lithography tools shipped in 2024, by type and maker (industry tally, approximate)
Tool typeASMLCanonNikonApprox. price each
EUV4400¥30.8B (about $205M at the time)
ArF immersion12904¥12.1B (about $80M)
ArF dry2907¥5.1B (about $34M)
KrF129513¥2.1B (about $14M)
i-line4418218¥1.1B (about $7M)

Counted by units, lithography is a three-company market: Canon shipped about a third of all tools in 2024, mostly i-line and KrF for mature-node, power and packaging lines. Counted by money it is ASML's: 94.1% of shipment value, because ASML alone makes the EUV and immersion tools that cost $80 million and up. The tally (reported by 36Kr from company disclosures) does not fully reconcile by type, so treat the unit split as approximate. ASML itself sold 327 new lithography systems in 2025, 48 of them EUV.

Canon's unit count keeps rising: it sold 233 tools in 2024 and built a new lithography plant in Utsunomiya sized for more than 300 a year. Nikon now sells mainly ArF immersion and dry ArF scanners, plus i-line tools for packaging.

Prices

A Scanner Costs From About $7 Million to $380 Million

Light path in an ArF immersion scanner. An argon fluoride excimer laser, made by Cymer in San Diego or Gigaphoton in Japan, sends 193 nm pulses through beam delivery optics to the illuminator, which shapes the light. The light passes through the reticle on a scanning stage, then a Zeiss projection lens of many glass elements shrinks the image four times through a film of water onto the wafer. Two wafer stages work in parallel: one measures the next wafer while the other is exposed. INSIDE A DUV IMMERSION SCANNER Excimer laser 193 NM ARF Illuminator SHAPES THE BEAM Reticle stage MASK SCANS Projection lens ZEISS GLASS ELEMENTS, 4X REDUCTION WATER FILM UNDER THE LENS RAISES NA TO 1.35 Stage 1: expose Stage 2: measure next NXT:2100i: 295 WAFERS AN HOUR, 1.3 NM OVERLAY (ASML) EUV REPLACES ALL OF THIS WITH MIRRORS IN VACUUM; SEE ASML EUV SCANNER.
Current scanner models
MakerModelClassThroughput and notes
ASMLEXE:5200BHigh-NA EUV, 0.55 NA175 wafers an hour at 50 mJ/cm2 (spec); about $380M; Intel accepted the first in December 2025
ASMLNXE:3800EEUV, 0.33 NA195 to 220 wafers an hour; about $180M list; shipping since March 2024
ASMLNXE:3800FEUV, 0.33 NAAt least 260 wafers an hour; first units early 2027
ASMLNXT:2100iArF immersion295 wafers an hour; 1.3 nm overlay
ASMLXT:1460K, XT:860Dry ArF and KrFMature-node layers
NikonNSR-S6 seriesArF immersion and dry ArFThe only immersion scanner not made by ASML
CanonFPA-6300 and FPA-5550 seriesKrF and i-lineHighest-unit-volume tools in the market
CanonFPA-1200NZ2CNanoimprintMold-based patterning; first system to the Texas Institute for Electronics, Austin, 2024
SMEESSA600 seriesDry ArF, KrF, i-line90nm-class; immersion in development

Price climbs about tenfold from an i-line stepper to an immersion scanner and another threefold to EUV. Throughput matters as much as price: an immersion scanner exposes nearly 300 wafers an hour, so a fab needs fewer of them per wafer start than EUV tools. ASML's average EUV selling price was about €230 million in the second quarter of 2026, above the NXE:3800E's list because of options and upgrades.

ASML platforms

Four ASML Platforms Cover Every Layer

ASML lithography platforms
PlatformLight2025 roleNext step
TWINSCAN EXE13.5 nm EUV, 0.55 NA10 systems running at four customers by September 2026; more than 1.35 million wafers exposedEXE:5400E, at least 180 wafers an hour, end of the decade
TWINSCAN NXE13.5 nm EUV, 0.33 NA48 EUV systems sold in 2025 (NXE and EXE); €11.6B of sales, up 39%NXE:3800F in 2027; 1,000 W source demonstrated February 2026
TWINSCAN NXT193 nm ArF immersionLargest share of ASML's 279 DUV units in 2025 (47% immersion)Capacity up about 30% for 2027
TWINSCAN XTDry ArF, KrF, i-lineMature-node and specialty fabs; large China demandSteady

DUV still sells more units for ASML than EUV and brought in €12.0 billion in 2025 against €11.6 billion for EUV, but EUV is the growth line: ASML expects EUV sales up more than 45% in 2026. Scanner technology and the High-NA roadmap are covered on ASML EUV Scanner.

Supply and demand

Demand Outruns Scanner Supply Through 2028

Scanner supply is the constraint on new leading-edge capacity, and ASML says it will stay that way:

  • 2026: sales guided to €44 billion to €45 billion, up from €32.7 billion in 2025. In the third quarter ASML sold 113 new and 8 used systems for €11.7 billion of total sales at a 57.5% gross margin.
  • Where they go: third-quarter system sales split Taiwan 32%, Korea 31%, China 23% and the United States 13%.
  • 2027 and 2028: ASML is raising low-NA EUV and immersion capacity about 30% for 2027 and studying another 30% for 2028, and says planned supply still will not meet customer demand in either year.

Lead times for an EUV scanner run 18 to 24 months from order to qualified tool, and each tool takes months to install. When a fab announcement slips, scanner delivery is often the reason.

Tracks and mask tools

Tracks and Mask Tools Sit Beside Every Scanner

Tools that work beside the scanner
ToolLeadersChina's makersRole
Coater-developer trackTokyo Electron (CLEAN TRACK LITHIUS Pro Z), SCREENKingsemiCoats, bakes and develops resist; linked inline to every scanner
Mask writersNuFlare, IMS Nanofabrication (multi-beam, owned by Intel and partners)None at the leading edgeWrite each photomask pattern with an electron beam
Mask inspectionKLA, Lasertec (actinic EUV), Applied MaterialsNone at the leading edgeFind defects on masks before they print on every die
Overlay and CD metrologyKLA, ASML (YieldStar), Hitachi High-TechSkyverseMeasure each exposure and feed corrections back to the scanner

Every scanner runs inline with a coater-developer track, and Tokyo Electron supplies most of them, including nearly all the tracks paired with EUV scanners (reported). Masks are made in captive and merchant mask shops; see Photomasks and Reticles. Metrology tools are covered on Metrology and Inspection.

US-built content

The Light Source and Reticle Stage Are Built in the US

  • Made in US
  • Made abroad
Lithography equipment built in the United States
SiteLocationWhat is builtUS status
ASML CymerSan Diego, CaliforniaEUV light sources and DUV excimer lasers; the largest US-made piece of an EUV scannerMade in US
ASML WiltonWilton, ConnecticutReticle stages and handling modules for EUV and DUV scannersMade in US
KLAMilpitas, CaliforniaReticle inspection and overlay metrologyMade in US
ASML VeldhovenVeldhoven, NetherlandsFinal scanner integration and testMade abroad
Carl Zeiss SMTOberkochen, GermanyAll EUV mirrors and DUV lensesMade abroad
Nikon and CanonKumagaya and Utsunomiya, JapanComplete DUV scannersMade abroad
Placeholder: other US subsystem suppliers to the scanner makers

No complete scanner is built in the United States, but two of the most critical EUV modules are: the light source in San Diego and the reticle stage in Wilton. Both sit inside ASML, which is why US export rules reach ASML's scanners. The rest of the scanner's single-source chain (Zeiss optics, Trumpf drive lasers) is in Germany.

One US startup is trying to replace the scanner outright. Substrate Inc. of San Francisco came out of stealth in October 2025 with more than $100 million from Founders Fund, General Catalyst, Valor and In-Q-Tel. Its lithography system uses a compact particle accelerator as an X-ray light source in place of EUV, and it says it has printed features matching 2nm-class logic; that has not been shown at volume. Substrate plans to run its own fabs, and its first, Project Factory One, is proposed for 288 acres of the Texas A&M RELLIS campus in Bryan at a minimum of $10 billion, with no construction start announced.

China

China's Scanners Stop at Mature Nodes

China's own scanners stop at mature nodes. SMEE in Shanghai ships dry ArF, KrF and i-line tools for 90nm-class layers; its immersion scanner is in development, and Chinese reports of a 28nm-capable SSA/800 have not been matched by volume shipments. Lithography is the least localized tool category in Chinese fabs, about 18% domestic in 2025, against near-parity for etch and deposition.

  • Imports: China was 23% of ASML's system sales in the third quarter of 2026, almost all DUV for mature-node and memory fabs, and ASML expects China at about 20% of 2026 sales.
  • Limits: no EUV tool has ever shipped to China, and the most advanced immersion models need Dutch licenses. Nikon and Canon i-line and KrF tools sell freely.
  • Workaround: SMIC's 7nm-class lines print critical layers with ArF immersion multi-patterning; see Photolithography.

Record

Page Record

Covers
Lithography tool shipments by maker and type, scanner prices and models, ASML platforms, supply and demand, coater-developer and mask tools, US-built lithography content, China's scanners
Sources
36Kr industry tally of 2024 lithography shipments; ASML 2025 results presentation (January 28, 2026) and third-quarter 2026 results (October 14, 2026); ASML second-quarter 2026 call via 36Kr (EUV average price); Tom's Hardware on ASML's roadmap (May 2026); TechNews on High-NA at SEMICON Taiwan (September 2026); Canon investor materials (March 2025); Tom's Hardware on Chinese localization (DigiTimes figures); TEL track share is reported. Folded in: Photolithography Equipment and U.S. Suppliers
Last verified
October 2026