ASML Holding NV yesterday forecast better-than-expected second-quarter sales amid strong demand for its chipmaking machines, even as some of its clients are grappling with a slump in the semiconductor industry.
Revenue would rise to 6.5 billion to 7 billion euros (US$7.1 billion to US$7.7 billion) this quarter, the Dutch company said in a statement.
That compared with analysts’ average estimate of 6.42 billion euros.
Photo: Reuters
Europe’s most valuable technology company also said that total demand continues to outstrip capacity for its exclusive machinery this year.
The firm’s first-quarter net sales of 6.7 billion euros and gross margin of 50.6 percent were both above its guidance due to higher-than-anticipated income from advanced extreme ultraviolet and deep ultraviolet lithography machines, ASML chief executive officer Peter Wennink said in the statement.
Chipmakers are installing and adopting its hardware at a rapid clip, even while they are adjusting to slowing orders and inventory buildup from a market slowdown.
“We continue to see mixed signals on demand from the different end-market segments as the industry works to bring inventory to more healthy levels,” Wennink said. “The overall demand still exceeds our capacity for this year and we currently have a backlog of over 38.9 billion [euros].”
Even as ASML is able to bank on its large backlog, the slump in some of its customers in the chip market has yet to bottom out as rising interest rates, surging inflation and the ongoing banking crisis continue to dent consumer sentiment.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), ASML’s biggest customer, missed sales estimates last week for the second consecutive quarter in a sign of continued weakness in global electronics demand.
ASML said that first-quarter bookings dropped 46 percent to 3.75 billion euros from a year earlier.
However, governments around the world are still racing to build more chip plants at home to avert supply disruptions.
The US has received more than 200 applications from companies for a US$39 billion program to boost chip production, while Japan, India and the EU are also all offering financial incentives to attract investments from major chipmakers.
China accounted for about 8 percent of ASML’s sales in the first quarter and about 20 percent of its order backlog, the company said.
ASML sees significant pickup of revenue from China this year, although some sales might be affected by Dutch export control measures.
“We are still waiting for the final detailed guidance from the Dutch authorities,” ASML chief financial officer Roger Dassen said in a separate statement, in reference to the planned widening of trade curbs.
“What this does for us is that we expect that we will require export licenses for advanced immersion tools,” Dassen said.
“Our interpretation of advanced immersion tools would be for the NXT:2000 and subsequent versions,” he said.
ASML, which has cornered the market for the most advanced equipment needed to make cutting-edge semiconductors, has been affected by the US bid to curb exports of leading-edge technology to China, its third-biggest market.
After pressure from US President Joe Biden’s administration, the Dutch government last month announced plans to restrict exports of some of ASML’s chipmaking machines.
The Veldhoven-based company has tried to reassure investors, saying the measures would not have a material effect on its financial outlook for this year or in the long term.
HORMUZ ISSUE: The US president said he expected crude prices to drop at the end of the war, which he called a ‘minor excursion’ that could continue ‘for a little while’ The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait started reducing oil production, as the near-closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz ripples through energy markets and affects global supply. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is “managing offshore production levels to address storage requirements,” the company said in a statement, without giving details. Kuwait Petroleum Corp said it was lowering production at its oil fields and refineries after “Iranian threats against safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” The war in the Middle East has all but closed Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the open seas,
Apple Inc increased iPhone production in India by about 53 percent last year and now makes a quarter of its marquee devices there, reflecting the US company’s efforts to avoid tariffs on China. The company assembled about 55 million iPhones in India last year, up from 36 million a year earlier, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named because the numbers aren’t public. Apple makes about 220 million to 230 million iPhones a year globally, with India’s share of the total increasing rapidly. Apple has accelerated its expansion in the world’s most populous country in recent years, bolstered
HEADWINDS: The company said it expects its computer business, as well as consumer electronics and communications segments to see revenue declines due to seasonality Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it aims to grow its artificial intelligence (AI) server revenue more than 10-fold this year from last year, driven by orders from neocloud solutions clients and large cloud service providers. The electronics manufacturing service provider said AI server revenue growth would be driven primarily by the Nvidia Corp GB300 server platform. Server shipments are expected to increase each quarter this year, with the second half likely to outperform the first half, it said. The AI server market is expected to broaden this year as more inference applications emerge, which would drive demand for system-on-chip, application-specific integrated circuits
PROJECTION: TSMC said it expects strong growth this year, with revenue in US dollars projected to grow by about 30 percent, outperforming the industry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported consolidated sales last month reached NT$317.66 billion (US$9.98 billion), the highest ever for the month of February, driven by robust demand for chips built using the company’s advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process. Last month’s figure was up 22.2 percent from a year earlier, but fell 20.8 percent from January, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. For the first two months of the year, TSMC posted cumulative sales of NT$718.91 billion, up 29.9 percent from a year earlier. Analysts attributed the growth to sustained global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products
RSS