Nearfield, the shoo-in of the AFM chip metrology market, actually finds itself in a highly competitive environment with both established players and a serious challenger, Britain’s Infinitesima. ASML is also developing measurement technology that competes with the Rotterdam company.
Those following the news coverage by the Dutch media can’t escape the impression that Nearfield Instruments has already won the race. The Rotterdam-based scale-up provides metrology systems crucial for AI chips, it has Samsung on board and several investors have lent their vote of confidence by injecting as much as 135 million euros. A new national champion has sprung from the nursery of TNO. The research institute itself consistently ranks Nearfield first in its list of “new ASMLs.”
In recent months, the company’s achievements have been loudly applauded by several quality newspapers, with lengthy stories featuring top executive Hamed Sadeghian. Nearfield’s chairman of the supervisory board Eric Meurice, former CEO of ASML, said in NRC that he’s already popped the champagne. “The technology is mature; we just have to wait until the chip industry is ready to invest in these machines.”
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