By Toby Sterling and Nathan Vifflin
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Europe’s largest technology company, computer chip equipment maker ASML, said on Thursday it expects sales to grow 8% to 14% over the next five years as an AI boom drives strong demand for its most advanced tools stimulates.
The guidance, which analysts said was reassuring, came in a statement ahead of the company’s investor day in Veldhoven in the Netherlands, where it will face questions about the prospects for sales to China after Donald Trump was elected US president.
“We expect that our ability to scale EUV technology over the next decade … positions ASML well to contribute to and leverage the capabilities of artificial intelligence,” CEO Christophe Fouquet said in a statement.
This would enable ASML to achieve significant revenue and profitability growth, he added.
The company expects sales of 44 billion euros and 60 billion ($46.4 billion to $63.3 billion) in 2030, and gross margins between 56% and 60%, unchanged from the company’s previous long-term expectations of 2022.
Analysts said this was reassuring after third-quarter earnings in October missed analysts’ expectations by the most in years as customers such as Intel and Samsung postponed equipment orders due to weakness in chip markets other than AI.
“On the face of it, it looks positive,” said Kevin Wang of Mizuho Securities, adding that some investors had expected a cut in guidance. “Management remains optimistic about ASML’s revenue and profitability growth.”
Chipmakers such as Taiwan’s TSMC use ASML’s EUV tools to build the circuits of the most advanced chips.
The company has been banned from selling most of its advanced EUV and DUV lithography equipment in China after waves of budget cuts by the US and Dutch governments that began during Trump’s first term.
In October, ASML said it expected Chinese sales to fall to 20% of total sales, after contributing more than 40% over the past six quarters.
ASML is still able to sell relatively older ‘dry’ DUV product lines in China without restrictions.
($1=0.9478 euros)
(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
