The dark satanic rumour mill has manufactured a hell-on-earth yarn, claiming that Samsung is buying more advanced chip fabrication equipment from ASML.

@Tech_Reve claims that the South Korean firm will import additional EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet) chip fabrication equipment from ASML, the Netherlands-based firm that is the leader in the segment, next year.

The claim is short on details other than that Samsung Electronics will import 50 units from ASML over the next five years. This will cost more than $153 million.

EUV exposure accounts for more than half of the cost and time. While it is more efficient than older processes because it imprints the circuit design on a chip in one go, it costs a bomb and is tricky to make.

ASML can only make around 60 EUV equipment each year, and only five chip firms in the world need that equipment: Intel, Micron, Samsung Foundry, SK Hynix, and TSMC. Currently, 70 per cent of the EUV equipment that ASML makes is bought by TSMC.

Obtaining the machines is rumoured to be the reason Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong travelled to the Netherlands last year. He met ASML CEO Peter Bennink to secure the order of EUV machines. South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol, along with Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong and SK Group (SK Hynix) Chairman Chey Tae-won, will reportedly travel to the Netherlands (from December 12 to December 13) after being invited by Dutch King Willem-Alexander.