As one of the core equipment in semiconductor manufacturing, Stepper is very important. Only ASML can produce EUV Stepper for processes below 7nm, with a price of more than 1 billion. However, this year, the momentum of EUV has stalled, and the demand for DUV Stepper has skyrocketed.

ASML Company recently released its Q2 financial report, with a single quarter revenue of 6.902 billion euros, a year-on-year increase of 27.10% and a month on month increase of 2.31%, approaching the previous guidance limit and reaching a new historical high. Among the equipment sold by ASML, the revenue share of EUV Stepper decreased significantly this time, accounting for only 37%. The total shipment volume in the quarter was 113, and the number of EUVs decreased from 17 in the previous quarter to 12. ASML's growth expectation for EUV business also decreased from 40% to 25%.

The decrease in EUV is mainly related to the current semiconductor market environment, and investment in advanced processes in major wafer factories is slowing down.

On the other hand, the demand for traditional DUV Stepper has soared. The annual shipment may be more than the 375 previously estimated, and the revenue has increased by more than 50%.

One of the important reasons is the demand explosion of Chinese customers. In addition to the needs of domestic semiconductor production capacity construction, another factor is that the Netherlands will restrict the export of some Stepper machines in the second half of the year, and domestic customers will place orders in advance.

Peter Wennick, CEO of ASML, said that the net sales in the second quarter of 2023 were relatively high within the expected range, and the Gross margin was also higher than expected, mainly because of the additional DUV system revenue in the quarter. Due to the ongoing uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment, customers in different market segments are becoming more cautious, and it is widely expected that the market will recover later this year. Currently, ASML still has a significant backlog of orders, with a total amount of approximately 38 billion euros

ASML expects the net sales in the third quarter of 2023 to be between 6.5 billion euros and 7 billion euros, with a Gross margin of about 50%, R&D costs of about 1 billion euros, and SG&A costs of about 285 million euros. Peter Wennick said that due to the strong revenue of DUV system, ASML expects that the performance in 2023 will still achieve strong growth, net sales will increase by 30%, and Gross margin will be slightly improved compared with 2022, despite more uncertainties.