Substrate. ASML, TSMC Slayer Or Ideological Pipe Dream?

and what exactly is a more vertically integrated foundry?

A silicon valley startup called Substrate made waves two weeks ago when they emerged from stealth mode to announce a revolutionary new chipmaking tool they claim will rival ASML’s EUV lithography capability, details from Reuters here.

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Substrate, a small U.S. startup, said on Tuesday that it had developed a chipmaking tool capable of competing with the most advanced lithography equipment made by Dutch firm ASML

It’s a bold claim given the decades and many, many billions ASML invested to achieve their dominance, indeed monopoly, in EUV lithography. This accomplishment is made all the more remarkable by the fact that the startup only commenced operations in 2022.

It’s one thing to challenge ASML in your stealth mode reveal, but to simultaneously challenge TSMC is quite the feat, yet that’s exactly what Substrate has done. You see, their vision is not simply to develop a groundbreaking new lithography tool, they are also planning to enter the foundry business:

Substrate’s tool is the first step in the startup’s ambitious plan to build a U.S.-based contract chip-manufacturing business that would compete with Taiwan’s TSMC in making the most advanced AI chips, its CEO James Proud told Reuters in an interview. Proud wants to slash the cost of chipmaking by producing the tools needed much more cheaply than rivals.

Substrate was co-founded by British-born brothers James and Oliver Proud with the former playing the CEO role and, thus far, the public face of the company. So, are these claims credible and do these brothers have an impressive background in semiconductor technology, and more specifically, advanced lithography? Well, not exactly. Let’s dig in…