The Intel logo is shown at E3, the world's largest video game industry convention in Los Angeles, California, U.S. June 12, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Intel INTC.O has reduced its stake in supplier ASML Holding ASML.AS to just below 3 percent, according to an update from the registry of the Netherlands' Authority for Financial Markets (AFM) on Friday.

Intel and two other major semiconductor makers bought stakes in ASML in 2012, in part to help fund development of ASML’s newest generation of lithography systems, which perform a critical step in the chipmaking process. The chipmakers have been gradually selling down their stakes in ASML since.

In December 2017, the AFM said Intel’s stake had fallen below a 5 percent reporting threshold.