By Nathan Vifflin
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Computer chip equipment maker ASM International reported second-quarter bookings below market expectations on Tuesday, citing uneven order timing from chipmakers making advanced chips.
The Dutch firm said order intake was “lumpy” and it expects orders from those chipmakers to pick up again in the third quarter.
Analysts consider ASM one of the firms best positioned for the coming years as its sales mix is geared toward the cutting-edge segment strongly benefiting from the artificial intelligence race.
But the global semiconductor equipment sector faces headwinds including tariff uncertainty, weaknesses at major customers Intel and Samsung and a sustained downturn in all other chip markets.
“Second-quarter profits beat, but bookings and outlook for the third-quarter bookings point to stagnation”, Degroof Petercam analyst Michael Roeg said.
Bookings, the industry’s most closely watched figure, came in at 702.5 million euros ($825 million) in the second quarter, against the 843 millions euros that analysts were expecting, according to a consensus compiled by researcher Visible Alpha.
ASM also projected orders in the third quarter would fall below third-quarter sales, which it said would flat to slightly lower than the second quarter’s 835.6 million euros.
Second-quarter adjusted operating earnings were 263 million euros, a 31.5% margin, against market expectations of 223 million euros.
“The market environment continued to show a mixed picture in the second quarter. Growth in AI is fueling ongoing capacity expansion… Conditions in most of the other market segments are still slow,” the company said in a statement.
On Wednesday, peer ASML warned of delayed orders as chipmakers building factories in the U.S. await clarity on the potential impact of tariffs.
($1 = 0.8512 euros)
(Reporting by Nathan Vifflin in Amsterdam; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Alexandra Hudson and Cynthia Osterman)
