Top computer chip equipment maker ASML has today reported fourth-quarter bookings of €7.09 billion that far exceeded expectations, as a boom in AI drove demand for the company's most advanced equipment.
The large order influx may reassure investors in ASML and other chip stocks that AI chip prospects remain healthy, despite a selloff this week sparked by the release of DeepSeek's model, which uses less computing power than those of rivals.
ASML shares rose 11% in early trade.
Analysts had predicted bookings at €3.99 billion, according to polling by Visible Alpha, an increase from €2.63 billion in the third quarter of 2024.
"The growth in artificial intelligence is the key driver for growth in our industry," ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet said in a statement.
DeepSeek's launch has called into question whether tech giants, including Google, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon, will need to follow through on plans for huge investments in AI chips. ASML's biggest customer, TSMC, manufactures most chips designed by Nvidia and the software firms.
ASML reported fourth quarter net income of €2.7 billion on sales of €9.3 billion.
The numbers beat expectations "from bookings to bottom line," said Michael Roeg, an analyst for Degroof Petercam. He cautioned that ASML is "too far from the fire" to really be able to answer whether DeepSeek's advent marks a major change in market trends.
"That is for the large data centre operators to answer in their conference calls, and for Nvidia to answer in their conference call," he said.
ASML repeated a 2025 sales forecast of €30-35 billion, which represents growth of 7-25% from €28.3 billion in 2024. While TSMC and memory chip maker SK Hynix are boosting capital expenditure to take advantage of the AI boom, Inteland Samsung have struggled.
The US was ASML's largest market in the fourth quarter with 28% of sales, slightly ahead of China.
That reflects TSMC's expansion in Arizona and Intel's purchase of the first two of ASML's new "High NA" EUV tools, which cost around $400m each.
ASML has forecast China sales will recede to 20% of the company's total after a major build-out in 2024 despite restrictions imposed on chip equipment exports by the US and Dutch governments on national security grounds.
