ASML Holding NV, a key supplier to computer chip makers, reported yesterday a net profit of 20 million euros (US$29.7 million) for the third quarter, ending a nine-month streak of losses and said new orders had increased sharply.
The company, which supplies tools to Intel and Samsung, had 73.3 million euros in net profit in the third quarter a year ago, before chipmakers halted investments in new capacity in the face of the economic downturn.
ASML’s third quarter sales were 555 million euros, down 20 percent from 696 million euros a year earlier. However, sales doubled from 277 million euros in the second quarter of this year.
New orders were also nearly twice their second quarter levels, chief executive Eric Meurice said in a statement, and the company’s order backlog rose to 1.35 billion euros from 1.06 billion euros.
He said that chipmakers were buying equipment with an eye to specific new chip launches, rather than increasing capacity overall.
The company forecast that given the time lag between orders and delivery, ASML sales will be flat next quarter, then rise significantly in the first half of next year.
“This substantial order increase does not factor in a full worldwide economic recovery which, if it materializes, could sustain the first-half sales level into the second half of 2010,” Meurice said.
RSS