Chip machine from ASML: The Dutch want to expand production more than previously planned.
(Photo: ASML)
Munich Orders without end: The Dutch chip supplier ASML can no longer cope with the flood of orders. The machine builder is therefore planning to expand its production even further than previously announced. CFO Roger Dassen warned on Wednesday that this would not be a sure-fire success. The question is: “Can we do that?” The manager emphasized that the suppliers would also have to expand significantly.
In 2025, ASML wants to produce 90 so-called EUV systems, a good quarter more than previously planned, explained Dassen. The machines, each costing more than 100 million euros, are the backbone of global semiconductor production. Worldwide, only ASML masters EUV lithography, the most advanced production process in the chip industry. EUV stands for extreme ultraviolet light, with which the semiconductors are exposed. Only this technology makes it possible to produce chips of the latest generation with structure sizes of less than seven nanometers.
Two Swabian companies are among the most important suppliers of ASML: Zeiss and Trumpf. They supply core components for the sophisticated systems: Zeiss produces mirrors, Trumpf the lasers.
ASML is benefiting from the massive boom in the semiconductor industry like no other European group. The Dutch have orders for 29 billion euros on the books. In the first quarter, new orders totaling seven billion euros were added. “Demand is very, very strong,” emphasized CFO Dassen. The good business will be slowed down by the scarce production capacities.
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In the first three months of the year, sales fell by around a fifth to 3.5 billion euros compared to the previous year. However, this is for purely accounting reasons: In order to deliver the machines more quickly, the final tests and acceptance are now being carried out at the customer’s site. As a result, sales that would normally have been posted in the first quarter are now coming later. At the end of the year, sales will also shift to 2023.
ASML aims to increase sales by a fifth
Profits more than halved to EUR 695 million, but were higher than analysts had expected. ASML is struggling with rising wages, higher component prices and rising freight rates, Dassen explained.
ASML confirmed the forecast for the entire year: Sales are expected to increase by around a fifth. In the past few years, revenues have even skyrocketed by a third. ASML’s most important customers include the chip manufacturers Samsung and Intel as well as TSMC, the world’s leading contract manufacturer.
Only the investors, they haven’t really believed in the growth story lately. Shares have lost almost a quarter of their value since the fall. Compared to spring 2020, the price has almost doubled. In early trading in Amsterdam on Wednesday, the paper gained more than four percent to almost 590 euros.
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With a market capitalization of around 237 billion euros, ASML is the most valuable tech group in Europe. For comparison: The software manufacturer SAP comes to around 115 billion euros. The market value of the largest German chip company, Infineon, is not even a fifth of ASML.
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