David Manners reported today that Samsung has joined the ASML 450 mm investment party. It has long been known that the three largest semiconductor manufacturers - Intel, Samsung and TSMC - would need to be on board in order to make a future transition from today's 300 mm silicon wafers up to 450 mm.

But 450 mm will mean something else. It will certainly allow the Big Three to pull even farther away from their competitors. Many have speculated that only these top three would have the resources to pull off the transition as the new tools are going to be very pricey.

According to the report in Mannerisms, it's also interesting to note that Samsung might be getting cheap fare on the 450 mm luxury cruise. Their 3 % stake worth 0.5 B Euros is paltry compared to Intel's 25 % share.