ASML’s after-tax profit for 2024 came in at €7.6 billion (US$7.9 billion), compared to €7.8 billion for 2023.
However, the firm said it had solid net bookings in the fourth quarter (Q4) of last year of €7.1 billion – the most closely watched figure in the markets as a guide to future performance.
CEO Christophe Fouquet hailed “another record year” for the firm in terms of annual sales.
Total net sales last year were €28.3 billion, a slight gain on the company’s forecast of €28 billion.
In 2023, ASML booked sales of €27.6 billion.
“Consistent with our view from the last quarter, the growth in AI is the key driver for growth in our industry,” Fouquet said in a statement.
“It has created a shift in the market dynamics that is not benefiting all of our customers equally, which creates both opportunities and risks,” he said.
ASML left its annual sales forecast of between €30-€35 billion for 2025 unchanged since its last guidance in October.
US-China tech war
The tech giant is caught in the middle of a US-led effort to curb high-tech exports to China over fears they could be used to bolster the country’s military.
Earlier this month, the Dutch government announced it was tightening its export controls on advanced semiconductor production equipment, but said the measures targeted a “very limited” number of goods.
ASML responded at the time that the moves would have “no additional impact” on its business.
CFO Roger Dassen admitted there were “quite a few moving parts when it comes to export controls from the US”.
“But I would say that the combination and the impact of those, both US and Dutch measures, has been appropriately reflected in the guidance that we’ve given before,” he said.
“So, the €30 to €35 billion properly reflects the limitations that we see from an export controls perspective.”
Beijing has been infuriated by the export curbs, describing them as “technological terrorism”.
The tech sector has also been buffeted by the sudden emergence of DeepSeek, a low-cost Chinese AI chatbot to rival its US competitors.
In a paper detailing its development, DeepSeek said the model was trained using only a fraction of the chips used by its Western competitors.
“We used to talk about semiconductors everywhere. I think since November we started to talk about AI everywhere.
“We truly believe that AI is going to bring even more opportunity to this semiconductor industry,” said Fouquet.
Technical error
ASML left its long-term sale guidance unchanged at between €44 and €60 billion for 2030 as it pins its hopes on the rapidly expanding AI market.
Turning to Q4, ASML sales came in at €9.3 billion, above the previous guidance of between €8.8 billion and €9.2 billion.
Net profit for Q4 was €2.7 billion, compared to the €2.1 billion booked in the third quarter of last year.
The firm has identified 2024 as a transition year, before what it hopes will be significant growth in 2025, although it has described the recovery as slower than expected.
It predicted total net sales in the first quarter of this year to be between €7.5 billion and €8 billion.
ASML executives were left red-faced in October when a “technical error” resulted in the early release of the firm’s third-quarter figures.
The unexpected leak, plus a slump in bookings, sparked a major sell-off in ASML stock, with shares down as much as 15%.
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