ASML is still waiting for next year’s order book to fill up as its customers wrestle with macroeconomic uncertainty.
Climbing out of the semiconductor downturn is going to take longer than expected, ASML CEO Peter Wennink told analysts on a conference call discussing Q2 results. Until recently, his customers had been forecasting a recovery in the second half of the year. But inflation, rising interest rates and other macroeconomic uncertainties are proving more intractable than anticipated, pushing the upswing towards the end of the year. Furthermore, the shape and slope of the recovery remain uncertain.
As a result, ASML’s customers have been skittish about placing the orders that would fill up the remaining openings in the equipment maker’s 2024 order book. “In the near to medium term, customers remain cautious as they moderate wafer output to help lower wafer output to help lower inventory levels in the supply chain and to look to build confidence around the timing and the slope of the recovery,” Wennink said.
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