Chip firm ASML shares fall 15% on disappointing sales outlook in surprise earnings release

Shares in semiconductor equipment maker ASML fell over 15% Tuesday after the Dutch company's results were released a day early.

The move pulled other chip stocks lower, with Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom all falling at least 4%.

ASML said it expects net sales for 2025 to come in between 30 billion euros ($32.72 billion) and 35 billion euros, at the lower half of the range it had previously provided.

Net bookings for the September quarter came in at 2.6 billion euros ($2.83 billion), the company said — well below the 5.6 billion euro LSEG consensus estimate.

"While there continue to be strong developments and upside potential in AI, other market segments are taking longer to recover. It now appears the recovery is more gradual than previously expected," company CEO Christophe Fouquet said in the earnings release.

In the leadup to ASML's earnings, Wall Street analysts had turned more cautious on the chip firm, which is a critical supplier to the broader semiconductor industry.

ASML's extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines are used by many of the world's largest chipmakers — from Nvidia to TSMC — to produce advanced chips.

ASML's Chief Financial Officer Roger Dassen also said Tuesday that he expects the firm's China business to show a "more normalized percentage in our order book and also in our business."

"We do see China trending towards more historically normal percentages in our business," Dassen said, according to the transcript of a video, also released a day early.

"So we expect China to come in at around 20% of our total revenue for next year. Which would also be in line with its representation in our backlog." 

In its second-quarter earnings presentation, the Dutch company said that 49% of its sales come from China.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated shortly.