A variably shaped electron beam lithography system HL‐600 has been developed for use in a semiconductor factory. HL‐600 was for high throughput. It is capable of direct wafer writing at high speed and also capable of mask writing at high accuracy. A very high speed beam control circuit has been developed. The pattern data were decomposed through the pipeline digital circuit. The settling time of the DA converter was shortened to 100 ns at full scale. An automated loader and wafer prealigner have been developed minimizing operator intervention. The specially designed computer and software system allow background processing pattern data during exposure. One of the most distinctive features of HL‐600 is the mode changing function. The large deflection mode guarantees writing of ten 4‐in. wafers per hour and the small deflection mode can accurately write submicron patterns. The mode change can be carried out immediately without special adjustment. This paper describes the system configuration in detail.