ASML Holding NV shares fell as the prospect of more severe US restrictions on its business in China offset growth in the Dutch firm’s order intake last quarter.
The US is targeting ASML, which has a monopoly on making the machines that produce the most advanced semiconductors, as it ratchets up pressure to stem Chinese advances in the semiconductor industry.
The shares fell even as the company reported that bookings rose 54 percent in the second quarter from the previous three months to 5.57 billion euros (US$6.09 billion), beating estimates.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“The geopolitical angle, however, is likely to be in more focus today than results, with Bloomberg reporting the US is pressing for additional restrictions on ASML,” Citi analyst Andrew Gardiner said in a note. “Pressure is building to restrict service activity on the installed base.”
ASML shares dropped as much as 7.7 percent to 903 euros in Amsterdam, the most since October 2022.
ASML expects sales in the current quarter of between 6.7 billion euros and 7.3 billion euros. The company confirmed previous guidance of flat sales this year before returning to strong growth next year.
Previous US-led chip measures targeting ASML’s exports to China did not dent demand from the Asian nation.
China accounted for nearly half of ASML’s revenue in the second quarter, and sales to the Asian nation rose by 21 percent from the previous quarter. Beijing has been buying up unrestricted older kit to make more mature types of semiconductors.
ASML is increasingly driven by demand for high-powered chips needed for artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
“We currently see strong developments in AI, driving most of the industry recovery and growth, ahead of other market segments,” ASML chief executive officer Christophe Fouquet said in a statement.
Impressive results from some of ASML’s biggest customers helped support demand for the company’s equipment. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) last week said that its second-quarter sales grew at their fastest pace since 2022, buoyed by the AI boom that is fueling data center investment worldwide.
Sales to Taiwan rose by 290 million euros in the quarter as demand for advanced equipment inched up, it said.
Last quarter was ASML’s first under Fouquet, who took over when Peter Wennink retired in April. He has been trying to balance a US push to tighten export controls for China with the need to continue to sell equipment in the company’s biggest market.
US pressure to slow Beijing’s advances in making semiconductors led the Netherlands to ban exports to China of ASML’s second-most advanced category of machinery, immersion deep ultraviolet lithography machines, at the start of the year.
However, ASML continues to service machines that were bought before the restrictions were in place. The administration of US President Joe Biden has told allies that it is considering using the foreign direct product rule, which lets the US impose controls on foreign-made products that use even the tiniest amount of US technology, if such practices continue.
The company has said as much as 15 percent of sales in China this year would be affected by the export control rules imposed in January.
ASML has never been allowed to sell its most-advanced extreme ultraviolet technology to China.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS