Samsung has reportedly purchased new equipment from ASML – the chip-equipment supplier based in The Netherlands – in a deal said to be worth 200 billion won ($178 million). Local news reports claim that senior vice president and chief of Samsung’s semiconductor research and development center Chung Seung-eun visited ASML’s headquarters to ink the deal. ASML is currently the only company that sells these lithography machines so it has a unique edge in the market.

Samsung and ASML were in the news recently but for an entirely different reason. The South Korean conglomerate has sold half of its 3 percent stake in ASML for over $680 million. The company did say that despite reducing its position it will continue to maintain a strategic relationship with ASML and this deal is evidence of that. ASML’s extreme ultraviolet lithography chip-making machines enable chip manufacturers like Samsung to develop smaller semiconductors while improving efficiency. Reports claim that Samsung has purchased one unit currently and aims to acquire more once yield rates improve.

it is time to replace samsung phones