Reuters has publicly confirmed what had been rumored in the industry that ASML was not going to export an EUV tool ordered by SMIC (of China) almost 2 years ago. Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Shri Navaratnam, Shailesh Kuber, Kirsten DonovanHe confirmed that the company was still waiting for approval to ship the order to China, but estimated the financial impact of the delay on the company as “zero”.ASML CEO Peter Wennink on Wednesday confirmed that the company had requested but not received permission to send a machine with “Extreme Ultraviolet”, or EUV, technology to a Chinese customer, understood to be SMIC.ASML has a near-monopoly in making lithography systems, giant 150 million euro machines used to print chip circuitry, but the Dutch government has withheld permission for the company to export one of its most advanced technologies to China.ASML shares, which have more than doubled over the past year as its customers announced plans to invest heavily in new chipmaking capacity, traded 0.5% higher at 272.6 euros at 1311 GMT.“If we cannot ship to customer A or country B, we’ll ship it to customer C and country D,” he said.Reuters reported earlier this month that the delay came after a campaign of pressure from the Trump administration to stop China getting hold of a machine required to make the world’s fastest microprocessors, but which also has military applications.“We need to abide by the law, and if we want to ship a certain technology...we need to go to our government and apply for an export license,” he told Reuters in an interview.Despite problems shipping cutting-edge equipment, ASML regularly sends previous-generation technology to China, where customers such as TSMC, Intel and Samsung have manufacturing facilities.He added that the market for logic chips used in smart phones and 5G telecommunications networks was expected to remain strong, while customers were starting to see the first signs of recovery in the memory chip market.Wennink said that any machines destined for, but not sent to, China would eventually be sold elsewhere as global demand for computer chips grows.Earlier on Wednesday ASML reported fourth quarter net profit of 1.13 billion euros ($1.25 billion), up 43% from the same period of 2018 as sales rose 29% to 4.04 billion euros.ASML forecast sales of 3.1-3.3 billion euros in the first quarter and announced a new 6 billion euro share buyback program through 2022.Chinese customers accounted for 12% of ASML’s total sales in 2019, down from 19% the previous year, with Wennink saying that was due to general weakness in end-market demand for memory chips, rather than restrictions on ASML’s technology.
Recognizing the strategic importance of EUV machines, and under pressure from the United States, in November 2019, the Dutch government prevented ASML from shipping an EUV machine to China. November 07, 2019 // By Peter Clarke The delivery of EUV lithography tool from ASML to China's leading semiconductor maker has been delayed, according reports. And it would have to succeed where experienced, billion-dollar companies failed. EUV equipment from ASML ASML of the Netherlands, the world's only producer of EUV exposure equipment saw its net profit in the second quarter of 2020 double from a year ago. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement last week the Netherlands should make an objective decision on ASML’s exports based on its own interests. Realtime news.
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Keeping these machines in the hands of democracies could help sustain this march of progress and prosperity for decades to come.China has virtually no lithography experience or industry. There is little chance a Chinese company will make an EUV lithography machine in the foreseeable future.Sign up for updates from TechStreamTomorrow’s tech policy conversations today The licensing issue concerns their first-ever EUV order from a customer in China, where few companies are at the stage of ordering the cutting-edge technology. ASML CEO Peter Wennink on Wednesday confirmed that the company had requested but not received permission to send a machine with “Extreme Ultraviolet”, or EUV, technology to a Chinese … Its profits have been growing rapidly thanks to competition between Korea’s Samsung Electronics and Taiwan's TSMC in the micro-fabrication technology. Summary ASML’s outlook calls for a strong fourth quarter with progress in several areas, including a more productive EUV machine in final configuration. The opening of China and rising prosperity of its citizens over the last four decades has been one of the most important developments in the last century, lifting nearly a billion people out of poverty.
And for that matter, the nation’s foundry and memory efforts are modest, at least for now. The ASML machine uses extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light beams, generated by lasers and focused by giant mirrors, to lay out extraordinarily narrow circuits on slabs of silicon known as wafers.