Tech News

ASML, the leading supplier of vital semiconductor equipment, lowered its 2025 sales expectations Tuesday, triggering a sell-off in the sector and combined market value losses for US and Asian markets of about $420 billion.
What happened : ASML said in its earnings report that it received less than half of its expected equipment bookings last quarter.
The Netherlands-based company is a vital part of the semiconductor supply chain. In one case, it’s the only company that makes and services a specialized chipmaking machine.

ASML is the only source of the ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machine, which can make powerful chips to run AI programs and smartphones. It’s considered one of the most complicated devices ever made, costing around $200 million.
It also produces a deep ultraviolet lithography (DUV) machine, which was cutting-edge before the EUV machine showed up and is still important. Two other companies also make them.

AI was supposed to save the chips Investors expected the artificial intelligence boom to drive up demand for chips and the machinery needed to make them. But it wasn’t enough to counteract the lag from the automotive and industrial sectors. Plus, some of ASML’s biggest customers, like Intel and Samsung, have seen disappointing sales in recent quarters.
The China market is about to dry up . ASML never sold China its EUV machines, but now new export restrictions will limit sales of DUV machines.
In its Q2 earnings report, ASML said 49% of its sales came from China, likely because companies wanted to snap up DUV machines before the restrictions were enacted.
Bottom line : Even after the initial shock wears off, the problems facing ASML—and the rest of the chip industry—will likely linger.—MM

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