Samsung takes 3 percent stake in ASML

(AP) ASML Holding NV says that Samsung Electronics Co. has agreed to buy a 3 percent stake in it for 500 million ($625 million), following the lead of other key computer chip manufacturers Intel Corp. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd.

In July, Intel bought 15 percent of the Dutch company, and earlier this month, TSMC bought 5 percent. Like the others, Samsung will also help ASML invest in research and development, contributing 276 million euros in funding.

In all the three chipmakers have bought 3.85 billion worth of ASML equity and contributed 1.38 billion to the R&D program.

ASML is the largest equipment supplier to computer chip makers. It makes lithography machines, which use intensely focused beams of light to help map out the circuitry of computer chips.