ASML Holding NV reported orders for the first quarter that were almost a billion euros less than expected and warned that it does not know how to quantify the impact from recent tariff announcements, which are threatening to upend the semiconductor industry.
The Dutch company, which counts Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and Intel Corp among its biggest customers, reported bookings of 3.94 billion euros (US$4.48 billion), compared with an average estimate of 4.82 billion euros by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Its shares yesterday sank more than 7 percent in Amsterdam.
Photo: AFP
ASML is the sole producer of cutting-edge lithography machines used by semiconductor companies to make advanced chips for products including Apple Inc’s smartphones and Nvidia Corp’s artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators. Concern over a potential slowdown in AI demand has intensified after disappointing outlooks from some chipmakers and analyst warnings, compounded by looming US tariffs.
“The recent tariff announcements have increased uncertainty in the macro environment and the situation will remain dynamic for a while,” ASML chief executive officer Christophe Fouquet said in a statement yesterday.
ASML outlined ways US tariffs could affect its business, including additional charges on shipments of new systems, tools and parts imported into the country.
Another possible risk is other countries “imposing tariffs on things that are being shipped from the United States into these countries,” ASML chief financial officer Roger Dassen said in a video accompanying the results.
The firm’s “conversations so far” with customers support its expectation that this year and next year would be growth years, driven by AI investments, Fouquet said.
The company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography machines accounted for 1.2 billion euros of net bookings in the quarter.
China accounted for 27 percent of ASML’s net system sales, making it the company’s second-biggest market during the quarter. While that is the same contribution from the preceding three months, it is a drop from the average of 41 percent last year.
ASML forecast that if AI demand continues to be strong and its customers are capable of adding capacity, it had the opportunity to meet the upper range of its total net sales guidance of 30 billion to 35 billion euros for this year.
However, uncertainty with some of its customers could take it to the lower end of the range, it said.
The first quarter orders “disappointed” and the tariff uncertainty is clearly “clouding” the outlook, Citigroup Inc analyst Andrew Gardiner wrote in a note, but pointed to ASML’s reiterated full-year forecast and expectations of further growth next year.
Barclays PLC analyst Simon Coles said that ASML would need 3 billion to 5 billion euros of orders each quarter for the next three to five quarters to hit consensus expectations.
“This seems manageable, but our worry is two major customers are unlikely to be ordering significantly any time soon,” he said.
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