Dutch microchip machine maker ASML Holding NV yesterday reported better-than-expected third-quarter sales, with the tech sector still fueling demand despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company is the world’s leading provider of systems used by the semiconductor industry to manufacture the chips that go in products from mobile phones to cars, and its performance is seen as a bellwether for the information technology industry.
“We have seen no major disruptions due to COVID-19 during the last quarter,” ASML president Peter Wennink said in an earnings statement.
Photo: Reuters
Sales rose 33 percent from the same quarter last year to 4 billion euros (US$4.7 billion) — which Wennink said was “above our guidance” — and 19 percent from the second quarter.
Net profit also rose 69 percent to 1.1 billion euros from last year and 41 percent from the second quarter.
The company shipped 10 of its top-level extreme ultraviolet (EUV) machines, its top-end product used to print chips for mobile phones and computers, Wennink said.
The machines, which cost about 120 million euros each, make it possible to produce smaller, faster and higher capacity microprocessors.
ASML forecasts sales to be slightly lower in the fourth quarter at between 3.6 billion and 3.8 billion euros, but said that would confirm its outlook for the whole of this year.
Wennink said the company expects “low double-digit growth” next year.
“There are of course uncertainties due to the macro environment, including the economic impact of COVID-19 and geopolitical developments,” he said.
However, the tech factors driving ASML’s growth, such as the 5G network that Apple Inc’s new iPhones will rely on, are “still in place” and would “fuel demand,” he said.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
MINERAL DIPLOMACY: The Chinese commerce ministry said it approved applications for the export of rare earths in a move that could help ease US-China trade tensions Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today,
RSS