ASML draws investor scrutiny after warning shocks global chip markets

Investors wary as ASML cuts guidance, facing doubts over short-term sales and long-term growth in chip equipment market.

Investors and analysts are looking sceptically at computer chip equipment maker ASML , they said on Wednesday, after the company cut 2025 financial guidance, citing weakness in markets other than AI and delayed orders.

The position of ASML, Europe's most valuable technology company, as an essential supplier to chipmakers is not in question. But doubts have emerged over short-term sales, and, for the longer term, whether it can continue to outgrow the overall market.

Tuesday's change to guidance triggered the biggest selloff in ASML's shares in two decades.

Shares fell by another 4.9% to 635.60 euros at 0840 GMT on Wednesday. In July, it had reached an all-time high above 1,000 euros ($1,088) a share, the peak of a decade-long surge based on ASML's dominance of the market for lithography tools, needed to create circuitry.

ASML's executives are expected to address analysts on a call later on Wednesday.

After the pandemic leap in demand, ASML said some customers have announced delays of new plants and upgrades, including makers of the logic chips used in smartphones, PCs and other devices.

Manufacturers that make the memory chips that go into them also plan fewer expansions, meaning they can rely on existing equipment for longer.