ASML’s poor quarter is not a good reason to fret about its future - FT中文网
登录×
电子邮件/用户名
密码
记住我
请输入邮箱和密码进行绑定操作:
请输入手机号码,通过短信验证(目前仅支持中国大陆地区的手机号):
请您阅读我们的用户注册协议隐私权保护政策,点击下方按钮即视为您接受。
FT商学院

ASML’s poor quarter is not a good reason to fret about its future

The Dutch group holds an unassailable market position

As a rule, companies that urge investors to shrug off poor news, and focus instead on tomorrow’s prospects, are peddling poor advice. Yet ASML, Europe’s €350bn lone tech giant, is a rare exception.

The Dutch chipmaking equipment provider has issued what could have been a concerning set of quarterly results. Sales of €5.3bn came in at the midpoint of company guidance. But China accounted for a massive 49 per cent of the machines it sold, as local chipmakers hoovered up older equipment not restricted by sanctions.

Those hoping that the much-rumoured chip upcycle would show through in new orders were also disappointed. At €3.6bn, these were less than half those in the last, blockbuster, quarter of 2023. This was also lower than the €5bn that analysts had been expecting, says Simon Coles at Barclays. ASML is continuing to invest in capacity, hiring people, building clean rooms and even pre-building equipment that it has not yet sold.

This makes for uncomfortable reading, especially given the group’s strong share price run. Indeed, its stock fell about 6 per cent on Wednesday.

This choppy quarter should not obscure ASML’s unassailable market position. Orders for its machines — each of which costs hundreds of millions of dollars — are notoriously lumpy.

Demand is building. ASML’s clients, manufacturers such as TSMC and Samsung, are coming out of a slump, normalising inventories and increasing utilisation rates. Policy also provides a helpful push. Chipmakers are building new fabs, fuelled by funds from the US’s Chips Act. Samsung has been awarded $6.4bn and will build capacity in Texas. TSMC is setting up shop in Arizona. Both will need chipmaking equipment.

Longer term, as the world gets caught up in the artificial intelligence frenzy, it is hard to think of a sector with stronger secular tailwinds than computing power. And, most meaningfully, ASML has the luxury of being the only supplier of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography units, which use tiny wavelengths to print patterns for more powerful chips. Its latest iterations make more chips per hour, lowering production costs for customers. ASML can then not only increase sales but also prices and margins.

All this underpins ASML’s continued conviction that it can make between €30bn and €40bn of sales in 2025, up from €27.5bn last year, with high gross margins of about 55 per cent. For that, it is well worth holding one’s nerve.

[email protected]

版权声明:本文版权归FT中文网所有,未经允许任何单位或个人不得转载,复制或以任何其他方式使用本文全部或部分,侵权必究。

人工智能公司从“小”语言模型中寻求大利润

微软、Meta和谷歌发布的新版本“参数”更少,构建和培训成本更低。

南非“失落的领袖”面临最后一站

拉马福萨的最后一次选举事关重大。

梅琳达•弗兰奇•盖茨,一位追求自己激情的慈善家

微软创始人的前妻已成为全球捐赠界最具影响力的人物之一。

为什么美国对中国征收关税是一个错误的举措?

拜登对北京征收的新税破坏了全球经济和气候转型。

AI驱动的个人助理正在成为现实

谷歌和OpenAI发布了新工具,使“智能系统”更近一步。这将成为生成式人工智能的里程碑吗?

我们可以向新加坡学到什么,不能学到什么?

这个岛屿城邦的终极优势在于没有教条主义。
设置字号×
最小
较小
默认
较大
最大
分享×