ASML beats Q2 earnings forecasts; bookings rise on AI demand

By Toby Sterling and Nathan Vifflin

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - ASML, the world’s biggest chipmaking equipment supplier, reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings on Wednesday on strong sales to China and with higher new bookings than the first quarter.

ASML reported net income of 1.6 billion euros ($1.74 billion) on revenue of 6.2 billion euros for the quarter ended June 30. Analysts had expected 1.41 billion euros on revenue of 6.04 billion euros, according to LSEG data.

The Dutch company’s new CEO Christophe Fouquet said that ASML continues to view 2024 as a "transition year" in which its performance will be about flat as it prepares for a strong 2025.

"We currently see strong developments in AI, driving most of the industry recovery and growth, ahead of other market segments," he said in a statement.

ASML dominates the market for lithography systems, complex tools that use lasers to help create the tiny circuitry of computer chips.

Its closely-watched new bookings increased to 5.6 billion euros from 3.6 billion euros in the first quarter, with about half of that coming from the its most advanced EUV product lines -- vital to manufacture AI and smartphone chips.

ASML’s top customer is Taiwan’s TSMC, which makes chips for Nvidia and Apple.

"EUV orders increased substantially" in the quarter, Mihuzo Securities analyst Kevin Wang told Reuters. "We attribute this to strong orders from TSMC and Intel."

Analysts had expected the company’s order book to increase to about 5 billion euros, according to estimates compiled by Visible Alpha.

However, the results were below ASML’s net income of 1.94 billion euros on revenue of 6.90 billion euros a year ago. TSMC, Intel and Samsung are engaged in new construction projects that will be outfitted with equipment in 2025-2027.

($1 = 0.9172 euros)

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Tom Hogue, Janane Venkatraman and Varun H K)