The chip machine manufacturer wants to increase significantly in the next few years and triple sales.
(Photo: Reuters)
Munich There is no sign of a crisis at ASML: The chip supplier promises enormous growth in the long term. Annual sales could increase to 60 billion euros by 2030, the Dutch company announced on Thursday evening. For comparison: For the current year, Europe’s most valuable tech group expects revenues of 21 billion euros. ASML produces important machines for chip production, most of the manufacturers worldwide are customers of the Dutch.
The company also announced that it would buy back its own shares for up to EUR 12 billion over the next three years. The company also wants to pay out more to shareholders.
Investors responded enthusiastically. On the domestic Dutch stock exchange, the ASML share gained almost ten percent to a level of 544.20 euros by the end of trading, on the Nasdaq in New York the share price even shot up by almost 14 percent to over 555 dollars. However, since the beginning of the year, the shares have still lost around a quarter of their value.
ASML is growing faster than expected
The economic environment is currently uncertain, ASML warned. In the long term, however, “healthy demand” can be expected. The company now expects to generate sales of between 30 and 40 billion euros in 2025. That’s a lot more than the company had forecast a year ago. At that time, CEO Peter Wennink still expected 24 to 30 billion euros. In addition, ASML should become more profitable.
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ASML is doing great, the order books are full. In the third quarter of 2022, chip manufacturers ordered equipment worth 8.9 billion euros from mechanical engineering company ASML, a new record. The company has orders for 38 billion euros on the books. Chief Financial Officer Roger Dassen spoke of a “strong quarter”.
It also looks good for the near future: The group promises sales of up to 6.6 billion euros for the current fourth quarter, around half a billion more than analysts had assumed.
ASML is essential for the chip industry
With its so-called EUV machines, ASML is an indispensable supplier to 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. Worldwide, only ASML masters the process.
However, technology has pushed ASML into the political focus. Under pressure from the USA, ASML has not been allowed to deliver EUV machines to China for years. At the beginning of October, the US government announced that it would restrict the export of chips and production equipment to the People’s Republic even more than before. The scope for exports to the country is thus becoming ever smaller. Not least because of this, the Japanese rival Tokyo Electron had to cash in on its annual forecast this Thursday.
The Bloomberg news agency recently reported that the US is increasing pressure on the Netherlands to further restrict exports of ASML equipment to China.
At ASML, on the other hand, it was said recently that the new regulations would not have any serious effects. Every machine that cannot be delivered to China would also find buyers elsewhere.
With a market value of around 218 billion euros, the company is the second most valuable listed company in the euro zone after the French luxury goods group LVMH.
More: Paradoxical world of chips: Industry is struggling with overproduction and delivery bottlenecks at the same time