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ASML lowers previously published sales forecasts for the third quarter; stocks plummet
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ASML lowers previously published sales forecasts for the third quarter; stocks plummet

By Toby Sterling and Nathan Vifflin

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Computer chip equipment maker ASML reported third-quarter results on Tuesday that surprised markets with weak bookings and lower-than-expected sales forecasts for 2025, sending the company’s shares to their biggest one-day drop since 1998.

The company said that despite a boom in AI-related chips, other parts of the semiconductor market remained weak for longer than expected, causing leading companies that make logic chips to defer orders and customers that make memory chips to add only “limited” new capacity.

ASML, Europe’s largest technology company, is the largest supplier of equipment used to manufacture chips, with top customers including AI chipmaker TSMC of Taiwan, as well as Intel, Samsung, Micron and SK Hynix.

The quarterly figures were incorrectly published on the company’s website a day earlier than expected.

“We expect our total net sales to grow to a range between 30 and 35 billion euros by 2025, which is the lower half of the range we provided at our Investor Day 2022,” CEO Christophe Fouquet said in a statement .

Trading in the shares was halted several times in Amsterdam and fell 16% to 668.10 euros at 1542 GMT.

The company’s earnings showed a net profit of 2.1 billion euros on revenue of 7.5 billion euros ($8.2 billion), slightly higher than analysts’ estimates.

However, the company’s bookings amounted to 2.6 billion euros, well below forecasts of between 4 and 6 billion euros.

ASML said that while demand for AI-related chips was high, other market segments “needed more time to recover”.

“This is expected to continue into 2025, leading to caution among customers.”

A company spokesperson said it is working toward a full explanation of the results and early publication.

($1 = 0.9172 euros)

($1 = 0.9173 euros)

(Reporting by Toby Sterling, Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)