Canon bets on "nano imprint" technology, the price is "one digit less" than ASML EUV lithography machine

According to reports, Canon announced on November 6 that it has been investing in the emerging chip manufacturing technology Nano-imprint Lithography (NIL) and plans to set the price of the new chip manufacturing equipment at ASML’s highest price. Making progress in the field of lithography machines within a fraction of the best lithography machines

Nanoimprint technology is a low-cost alternative to extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) technology. Canon CEO Fujio Mitarai said the company's latest nanoimprint technology will open a way for small chipmakers to produce advanced chips.

"The price of this product will be one digit less than ASML's EUV," said 88-year-old Mitarai Fujio. This is his third term as president of Canon, having last stepped away from day-to-day operations in 2016. Mitarai Fujio also said that the final pricing has not been finalized yet.

ASML is a company headquartered in Veldhoven, the Netherlands, and is the only supplier of extreme ultraviolet lithography machines. Extreme ultraviolet lithography machines are the most advanced chip manufacturing equipment in the world, each worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The equipment, the culmination of decades of intense research and investment, is critical to mass-producing advanced chips that are fast and energy-efficient. But only a handful of cash-rich companies can afford to buy extreme ultraviolet light. Engraving machine. This brings hope to Canon's latest nanoimprint chip manufacturing equipment.

Canon’s share price has risen 27% since the beginning of this year, while the share price of rival Nikon has also risen 24%

Canon and Japanese printing conglomerate Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (Dai Nippon Printing Co. and memory chip maker Kioxia Holdings Corp. have been working together on nanoimprint technology for nearly a decade. Unlike extreme ultraviolet lithography, which works by reflecting light, the nanoimprint technology being studied by Canon prints circuit patterns directly onto wafers, creating chips that are said to have geometries comparable to those of the most advanced nodes, but at a slower speed. Much more.

This new equipment is expected to allow chip manufacturers to reduce their reliance on chip foundries, while also making it more possible for chip foundries such as TSMC and Samsung Electronics to mass-produce chips. Canon says the machine requires one-tenth the power of its EUV counterparts.

Mitarai Fujio said: "I don't think nanoimprint technology will replace EUV, but I believe it will create new opportunities and needs." "We have received a lot of inquiries from customers."

Canon has previously focused on manufacturing ordinary chips. In 2014, it began to invest heavily in nanoimprinting technology and acquired Molecular Imprints Inc., which specializes in nanoimprinting technology. As one of TSMC's suppliers, Canon is building its first new lithography equipment factory in 20 years in Utsunomiya, north of Tokyo. It is expected to be put into production in 2025. Since 2006, Fujio Mitarai has served as Canon's CEO for 18 years. He was born in 1935 and first became president of Canon in 1995. He is credited with successfully rescuing the company from operating difficulties

Canon recently appointed a new group of directors who will join the board next year. The new directors include Canon U.S. CEO Kazuto Ogawa, 65, industrial group president Hiroaki Takei, 59, and senior executive president Minoru Asada, 61. This means a new group of executives is emerging. Mitarai Fujio said: "It is my responsibility to find a successor." He declined to comment on the timing of his resignation, potential candidates, or the company's active search for a new CEO. Comment on details such as degree.

"I wanted it to be a complete surprise," he said. "Our staff will hear about it first, and then others will hear about it through the press conference." That could be rewritten as: "I hope it's a complete surprise," he said. Our staff will be the first to hear the news, then others will learn about it through a press conference. ”

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