ASML: if we can’t ship it to China, we’ll ship it somewhere else

Arguably, 2019 was an outstanding year for ASML. After two decades of development, EUV-made chips finally started powering electronic devices. The first full-fledged EUV scanners were shipped and EUV bookings now constitute half of ASML’s order book (in terms of dollars). The company grew 8 percent, despite the semiconductor equipment industry as a whole registering an overall decline of 10 percent. And net sales – yet again – set a record.

None of this seemed of particular interest to the journalists who attended the annual results press conference on Wednesday. They made the trip to Veldhoven for one reason and one reason only: the US-Chinese power play over ASML’s EUV technology. With both the US and Chinese ambassador to the Netherlands weighing in, the issue has been dominating the news recently.