ASML to ship 40 EUV systems in 2021

ASML is planning to ship 40 extreme ultraviolet (EUV) systems this year, the company said at its fourth quarter conference call.

Last year, the company shipped 31 EUV systems for sales of 4.5 billion euros, CEO Peter Wennink said.

ASML is expecting sales of 5.8 billion euros from EUV systems in 2021, he added.

“We continue to improve the EUV manufacturing cycle time to enable a capacity in our factory to meet the growing EUV demand,” the CEO said. “We will continue to drive the EUV 0.33NA product roadmap, which is aligned to our customers' node cadence.”

“We will start integration of the modules this year and plan to have first qualified system in 2022,” he added.

EUV system is a must for semiconductor companies to make chips smaller. One system costs around 150 billion won and ASML is exclusive supplier of them.

Samsung Electronics and TSMC are looking to buy more EUV systems as their competition in making smaller nodes intensify. Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong, in October last year, paid a personal visit to ASML’s headquarters to secure supplies of EUV systems.

ASML posted its highest earnings ever last year thanks to EUV system sales. The company posted 14 billion euros in sales last year, an increase of 18.6%. Net income was 3.6 billion euros, a jump of 38.5%. 

EUV systems accounted for 43% of its sales __ it was 31% in 2019.

ASML shipped nine systems and recognized revenue on eight systems in the fourth quarter, the CEO said. In the fourth quarter, the company had 4.2 billion euro order in hand, with 1.1 billion euros coming from six EUV systems.

Wennink said strong demand from logic semiconductors and recovery of the memory market will allow ASML to continue its growth in 2021. Technology innovation in IT infrastructure, IT consumer, automobiles and industrial sectors will lead the growth of the semiconductor industry and will create positive demand for all businesses of ASML, the CEO added.