Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, left, returns to Korea with Kyung Kye-hyun, head of the firm's chip unit, after holding business meetings in the Netherlands, Friday. Yonhap

Samsung Electronics will acquire state-of-the-art extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment from ASML for joint chip technology development, which many critics argue will pave the way for Samsung to drastically enhance its chip-making efficiency.

The high-numerical aperture (High NA) EUV is the next-generation machine the Dutch firm will supply for the first time around the end of 2024. Samsung and a group of global chipmakers need EUV lithography equipment to etch microchips. The High NA EUV by ASML is considered the most cutting-edge device of its kind, and its price is forecast to reach around 500 billion won ($385.74 million).

Kyung Kye-hyun, president and CEO at Samsung Electronics' chip business unit, looked upbeat over the firm's latest partnership with ASML, upon returning from the Netherlands with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong.

"Samsung and ASML will establish a joint research facility in Dongtan, Gyeonggi Province, and engineers from both sides will team up with each other to develop major technologies for the production of semiconductors after we bring in the High NA EUV," Kyung told reporters, Friday.

Lee and Kyung joined President Yoon Suk Yeol's state visit to the European country this week, and met with the head and top-ranking executives from ASML.

"Under the latest partnership with ASML, Samsung will be able to make better use of the machine for the production of our chips, such as DRAM, from a long-term viewpoint," the chief of Samsung's chip unit said.

According to Seoul's trade ministry, both tech firms recently reached an agreement to jointly invest 1 trillion won for the research lab that aims to develop chip-manufacturing technologies using EUV equipment.

"EUV is the most important tool for manufacturing chips," the Samsung executive said. "We have secured a very trustworthy ally for the overall semiconductor supply chain. Of much more importance is that Samsung should build a tighter collaboration with ASML, so we can make the best use of the High NA EUV through joint research efforts, rather than focusing on introducing the machine rapidly."

Lee also spoke highly of the result of the latest business trip to the Netherlands.

"The recent overseas trip was almost all about semiconductors," Lee said, declining to comment on more details.

ASML's EUV machines are highly expensive, but their supply falls far short of demand from global chipmakers. The Dutch firm sells the machine at more than 200 billion won, and supplies a total of around 50 machines each year.