ASML expects another growth spurt in the semiconductor market – the only question is when. For its suppliers, uncertainty gnaws. The cost pressure is unprecedented, and their biggest customer is urging them to act: invest in technological innovation or risk losing your place in the supply chain.
Herman Boom, ASML’s head of strategic sourcing and procurement, outlined the state of the market a week ago at the annual Brainport Industries conference in Eindhoven – and how his suppliers can prepare for what’s coming. The ASML ecosystem faces no shortage of challenges – and plenty of opportunities for those bold enough to open their wallets. System complexity, logistics and markets are all growing harder to manage. Veldhoven is also widening its product portfolio, underscored this week by the announcement that the first XT260 was shipped. This i-line system should put the EUV monopolist on the map in advanced packaging – a fiercely competitive segment where ASML has been largely absent.
“The overall macroeconomic situation right now isn’t great,” Boom said as he sketched today’s semiconductor landscape. His audience had endured a bitter year: expectations of 25 percent growth turned into a double-digit decline. Suppliers also had to experience fierce cost pressure from ASML. “We’ve almost forgotten that the market is cyclical,” Boom added. “There’s a lot going on – wars, geopolitical tensions, uncertainty. And when uncertainty hits, people wait.”
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