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(Bloomberg) — ASML Holding NV orders more than tripled last quarter, in a sign that the semiconductor industry is resurgent.
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Order bookings rose to a record €9.19 billion ($9.98 billion) in the fourth quarter from €2.6 billion in July to September, driven by demand for its most sophisticated machines, Europe’s most valuable technology company said in a statement on Wednesday.
ASML rose as much as 7.5% in Amsterdam, the biggest increase since November 2022.
“2023 was our top year,” Chief Executive Officer Peter Wennink said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. “We won’t see another 30% growth in 2024.”
ASML is the only company that produces equipment needed to make the most sophisticated semiconductors, and demand for its products are a bellwether for the industry’s health. Late last year, it started shipping major parts of the first of its newest chipmaking machine to Intel Corp.
Bookings last quarter were far more than an average estimate of €3.6 billion by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Orders of its most advanced extreme ultraviolet lithography machines in the period were €5.6 billion.
“The inventory levels in the end markets are improving and are definitely at a better level than they were a couple of quarters ago,” Chief Financial Officer Roger Dassen said in a statement accompanying the earnings result.
ASML also benefited from strong demand from China last year as chipmakers there rushed to get lithography machines ahead of Dutch export rules meant to hobble Beijing’s semiconductor ambitions. The rise in Chinese demand helped offset the effects of a global chip industry slowdown on ASML, which is the only producer of the equipment needed to produce most advanced semiconductors.
“The market had been anticipating an order upturn” in the first half of 2024 but it arrived sooner, Citigroup Inc. analysts including Andrew Gardiner said in a note to clients. Citigroup expects the orders in the fourth quarter to “give the market confidence in expecting strong growth in 2025 and for shares to appreciate accordingly.”
China accounted for 39% of ASML’s sales in the fourth quarter and became the Veldhoven-based company’s largest market in 2023. China accounted for only 8% in January to March.
“The business in 2023 with China was very, very strong,” Dassen said.
Net sales rose to €7.24 billion in October to December, from €6.67 billion in the previous three months.
ASML has been targeted by the US effort to curb exports of cutting-edge technology to China, one of the Veldhoven-based company’s biggest markets. Last year, US President Joe Biden’s administration urged the Dutch government to prevent ASML from shipping some immersion deep ultraviolet lithography machines, its second-most capable machinery, to China without a license.
The Dutch manufacturer had licenses to ship three top-of-the-line DUV lithography machines to Chinese firms before this month, when the new restrictions took full effect. However, US officials reached out to ASML late last year to ask them to immediately halt scheduled shipments of some of the machines to Chinese customers, Bloomberg News reported previously, citing people familiar with the matter.
ASML, which is already restricted from selling its most advanced extreme ultraviolet machines to China, expects as much as 15% of China sales this year will be affected by the new export control measures.
–With assistance from Henry Ren and Sarah Jacob.
(Updates with shares, CEO comment starting in first paragraph)
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