This article was published on April 17, 2024
The Dutch tech giant saw orders fall to €3.6B in Q1 2024
Amid the semiconductor industry’s slowdown and increasing geopolitical tensions, Dutch chip machine-maker ASML reported a decrease both in sales and profits.
Europe’s most valuable tech company saw orders fall to €3.6bn in the first quarter of 2024, down from €9.2bn in the previous quarter. Its net profit also dropped to €1.2bn — a 37% decrease compared to Q4 2023.
“We see 2024 as a transition,” ASML’s President and CEO Peter Wennink said in a statement.
Wennink expects a stronger second half of the year “in line with the industry’s continued recovery from the downturn.”
Interestingly, China represented ASML’s largest market in Q1 2024, accounting for 49% of the company’s sales. That’s despite ASML’s entanglement in an escalating chip war between the US and China, which has led to export restrictions .
The latest measures, which came into effect in January, prohibit ASML from selling certain deep ultraviolet lithography ( DUV ) machines (the ones behind the production of less advanced chips) to China.
ASML expects that the restrictions will impact approximately 15% of sales in China. Sales in the first quarter of this year were down €300mn compared to the previous quarter.
The Dutch tech giant forecasts global net sales between €5.7bn and €6.2bn for the second quarter. It reached €6.9bn in the same period last year.
Ioanna is a writer at TNW. She covers the full spectrum of the European tech ecosystem, with a particular interest in startups, sustainabili (show all) Ioanna is a writer at TNW. She covers the full spectrum of the European tech ecosystem, with a particular interest in startups, sustainability, green tech, AI, and EU policy. With a background in the humanities, she has a soft spot for social impact-enabling technologies.