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Global chip stocks fall on ASML's disappointing outlook and a possible US export cap
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Global chip stocks fall on ASML's disappointing outlook and a possible US export cap

A worker produces chips at a semiconductor manufacturing company in Binzhou, China, June 4, 2024.

Photo only | Photo only | Getty Images

Global chip stocks fell on Wednesday after Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML issued disappointing sales forecasts, leading to a decline in global stock values ​​in the sector.

ASML shares extended losses into the second day early in the European trading session, losing 5%. The company's shares fell 16% on Tuesday, losing 49.2 billion euros ($53.6 billion) in market capitalization in a single day, according to CNBC calculations.

ASML's decline also dragged other European semiconductor companies into losses on Wednesday. ASMI – a Netherlands-based company that supplies wafer processing equipment to the semiconductor manufacturing industry – fell 2.3%. Fellow chip equipment maker BE Semionductor fell 1.9%.

Netherlands-listed semiconductor company STMicroelectronics fell 1.2%, while German chipmaker Infineon fell 1.1%. Soitec, French maker of semiconductor materials, fell 0.9%

Asia is declining

In Asia, meanwhile, shares of a Japanese semiconductor manufacturer Tokyo Electron recorded the largest losses, falling almost 10%. Renesas Electronics fell over 3% and Advantagea provider of testing equipment, fell 0.8%.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company And Hon Hai precision industry – known internationally as Foxconn – fell as much as 3.3% and 1.6%, respectively.

South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix, which makes high-bandwidth memory chips for AI applications for Nvidia, traded 1.6% lower. While Samsung Electronics, the world's largest maker of dynamic random access memory chips, saw its shares fall 1.9%.

Losses in the region's semiconductor sector also weighed on key indexes. Japan Nikkei 225 lost more than 2%, South Korea's Kospi fell by 0.6% and the Taiwan weighted index slipped 0.7%.

ASML reports early

In a report on Tuesday, ASML, based in Veldhoven, Netherlands, said it expected net sales of between 30 billion euros and 35 billion euros ($32.7 billion and $38.1 billion) in 2025, in the lower half of that range previously provided had.

Net bookings for the September quarter were 2.6 billion euros ($2.83 billion), the company said, well below the LSEG consensus estimate of 5.6 billion euros. However, net sales were above expectations at 7.5 billion euros.

The company's CEO warned of customer reluctance and said the recovery was “more gradual than previously expected.”

After ASML plunged 16%, other global chipmakers tumbled. Nvidia fell 4.7% and AMD lost 5.2%.

Also on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that Biden administration officials had discussed restricting sales of Nvidia's advanced AI clips to certain countries in the interest of national security, further dampening investor sentiment in the semiconductor sector.

ASML faced a tougher business outlook in China due to export restrictions on its supplies in the US and the Netherlands.

CFO Roger Dassen said Tuesday he expects the company's China business to report a “more normal percentage in our order book and also in our business.”

“We therefore expect China to account for about 20% of our total sales next year,” he said. In its June quarter earnings presentation, ASML said 49% of its revenue comes from China.

China likely to wait for US elections before launching major stimulus package: strategist

ASML's business in Asia is likely to continue to face headwinds, Eugene Hsiao, head of China equity strategy at Macquarie Capital, said on CNBC's “Squawk Box Asia” on Wednesday.

While it makes “very sense” from an “economic perspective” for ASML to continue working with China, there are “wider issues between governments running into economic problems,” he said.

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