Dutch firm ASML makes one of the most important pieces of machinery required to manufacture the most advanced chips in the world. U.S. chip curbs have left companies, including ASML, scrambling to figure out what the rules mean in practice.
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ASML, one of the world’s most important semiconductor equipment firm, posted a jump in revenue and profit in the second quarter, but warned of macroeconomic “uncertainties” ahead.
The Dutch company makes expensive machines that are required to manufacture the world’s most advanced chips. It counts giants like TSMC, the world’s biggest contract semiconductor maker, among its customers.
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But ASML has also been caught in the middle of the U.S.-China technology battle because of the importance of the tools it makes.
Here’s how ASML did in the second quarter versus Refinitiv estimates:
Net sales: 6.9 billion euros ($7.7 billion), compared with 6.72 billion euros expected. That represents a 27% year-on-year rise.
Net profit: 1.9 billion euros, versus 1.82 billion euros expected. That marks a 37.6% year-on-year increase.
ASML said it expects net sales in the third quarter of this year to sit between 6.5 billion euros and 7 billion euros.
The company also raised its outlook for 2023, now anticipating its net sales this year to grow 30% year-on-year, up from a 25% growth estimate previously.
ASML said that the brighter outlook is due to strong revenue from its deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machine, which is used to manufacture memory chips. These go into various devices, from smartphones to laptops and servers, and could ultimately be used for artificial intelligence applications.
Still, ASML CEO Peter Wennink warned about macroeconomic uncertainties.
“Our customers across different market segments are currently more cautious due to continued macro-economic uncertainties, and therefore expect a later recovery of their markets. Also, the shape of the recovery slope is still unclear,” Wennink said in a press release.
Companies that design and make chips that go into end products like smartphones have been dealing with high inventory levels of these components. That’s because demand for end products, such as consumer electronics, continues to remain weak.
That means chipmakers are slowing down their output of chips and therefore using ASML tools less, Wennink said in pre-recorded video interview on the company website.
No ‘significant impact’ from China export controls
ASML has been caught up in the U.S. push to cut China off from key technologies, including those involved in the manufacture of advanced semicondcutors.
Last October, the U.S. introduced sweeping export restrictions on certain technologies to China, which Washington fears could be used in military or artificial intelligence applications. The Biden administration has been pressuring allied countries to follow suit with similar restrictions.
In June, the Netherlands — where ASML is headquartered — introduced its own export restrictions on advanced semiconductor equipment. Companies will require a license from the government to export certain technologies.
At the time, ASML said that these rules likely applied to certain DUV machines that the company sells.
While the Dutch government introduced them in June, they were first floated in March and were “not a major surprise” to Wennink.
“All in all, when you look at export control measures in total, we don’t expect a significant impact on our 2023 year,” but also on the longer term outlook, Wennink added.
The CEO said ASML is waiting to see if there are any further restrictions from the U.S., amid reports that Washington is looking at additional controls on technology exports to China.
Chief Executive of Apple, Tim Cook gives a thumb’s up during a tour the Apple Headquarters on December 12, 2024 in London, England.
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Apple has triumphed over an effort from the U.K. government to keep details secret of its appeal against an order to create a “backdoor” to iPhone users’ data.
The U.K.’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal on Monday published a ruling dismissing the government’s attempt to prevent details from a hearing on the appeal from being made public. The government had tried to keep the information secret on the grounds it posed risks to national security.
Judges Rabinder Singh and Judge Jeremy Johnson said in their ruling that the U.K. government’s request to keep details of the hearing private “would be the most fundamental interference with the principle of open justice.”
“It would have been a truly extraordinary step to conduct a hearing entirely in secret without any public revelation of the fact that a hearing was taking place,” they said.
Britain’s Home Office was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
This backdoor would allow the government to access information secured by Apple’s Advanced Data Protection (ADP) system, which applies end-to-end encryption to a wide range of iCloud data.
Governments in the U.S., U.K. and EU have long expressed dissatisfaction with end-to-end encryption, arguing it enables criminals, terrorists and sex offenders to conceal illicit activity.
In the U.K., the Investigatory Powers Act of 2016 empowers the government to compel tech companies to weaken their encryption technologies through so-called “backdoors” — a heavily controversial policy for both the tech industry and privacy campaigners.
Apple — which is known for its pro-privacy stance — has pushed back on efforts to weaken its encryption tools, saying this would undermine its security and put users at risk.
As a result of the government’s order, Apple withdrew its ADP system for U.K. users in February. In a blog post at the time, the tech giant said it has “never built a backdoor or master key to any of our products or services and we never will.”
“We are deeply disappointed that our customers in the UK will no longer have the option to enable Advanced Data Protection (ADP), especially given the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy,” Apple said in the post.
“Apple remains committed to offering our users the highest level of security for their personal data and we are hopeful that we will be able to do so in the future in the United Kingdom.”
U.S. President Donald Trump’s adviser Elon Musk reacts on the day of a rally in support of a conservative state Supreme Court candidate of an April 1 election in Green Bay, Wisconsin, U.S. March 30, 2025.
Vincent Alban | Reuters
Technology stocks teetered in volatile trading Monday as President Donald Trump stood by his sweeping global tariff plans following last week’s devastating selloff.
The Magnificent Seven stocks — Nvidia, Apple, Meta Platforms, Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet — were largely lower after briefly rallying amid a short-lived broader market attempt to stage a rebound. Stocks temporarily jumped on speculation of a possibly delay in the tariffs, but the White House later dismissed talk of a pause.
The technology sector is coming off a brutal week. The Magnificent Seven stocks collectively shed more than $1.8 trillion in market value during a two-day market selloff, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded its worst week since the onslaught of the pandemic and entered a bear market.
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Trump held firm on his aggressive global tariffs plans over the weekend, with an initial unilateral 10% tariff going into effect Saturday. Wall Street hoped for progress on negotiations between the administration and other countries or news of a possible delay in reciprocal tariffs slated for April 9.
“I don’t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday night, downplaying the recent market meltdown.
Other technology stocks also looked to build on last week’s pain. Oracle and Palantir Technologies declined more than 2% each.
Some semiconductor stocks also struggled as investors fretted over potential demand destruction stemming from the tariffs. Advanced Micro Devices was last down about 4% each, while Intel declined more than 2%.
Nintendo on Wednesday unveiled details for the Switch 2. It’ll include a bigger screen and controllers and is a faster version than its predecessor, which sold more than 150 million units since its 2017 release.
The Switch 2 will hit store shelves on June 5 for $449.99, up from $300 for the original Switch. Like the first Switch, gamers will be able to use the Switch 2 as both a handheld console and hook it up to a television. Nintendo on Friday said it would delay preorders for the device following President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs.”
The device will launch with the game “Mario Kart World.” Other games comingfor the Switch 2 include “Donkey Kong Bananza,” “Street Fighter 6,” “The Duskbloods” and “Kirby Air Riders.”
Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser sat down with technology correspondent Steve Kovach in a CNBC exclusive interview after unveiling the new console’s details. Bowser touched on the technology boosts in the Switch 2, upcoming games, the future of Nintendo’s efforts in film and entertainment beyond video games, and what Trump’s new tariffs mean for console prices in the U.S.