Dutch semiconductor equipment manufacturer ASML announced financial reports, 2021 full-year revenue of 18.6 billion euros, net profit of 5.9 billion euros, respectively, an annual increase of 33.1%, 65.5%, gross profit margin of 52.7%, an increase of 4.1% over 2020. But this earnings report did not make Americans happy, because ASML sales in the United States have fallen for 3 consecutive years, while sales in Asia have soared, which also proves that the United States is actually in semiconductor production.
ASML accounts for 84% of the global semiconductor lithography equipment market and exclusively supplies extreme ultraviolet light (EUV) lithography equipment for advanced semiconductor processes, and the number of lithography equipment introduced by the company will affect semiconductor production capacity, so its sales can be used to measure investment in semiconductor equipment by region.
ASML's earnings report shows that the company's revenue in the United States has fallen by about 20%, from 1.98 billion euros in 2019 to 1.583 billion euros in 2021.
At the same time, however, ASML's sales in Asia have skyrocketed significantly. ASML's sales in South Korea, the world's leading semiconductor production base, increased from 2.202 billion euros in 2019 to 6.223 billion euros in 2021, an exaggerated increase of 183%, and sales in Taiwan also increased from 5.357 billion euros in 2019 to 7.327 billion euros in 2021, an increase of about 37%.
This is the result of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to expand the production capacity of high-end semiconductors, a large number of EUV lithography machines. Of course, TSMC's heavy investment in semiconductor equipment has also driven the growth of ASML sales.
At present, ASML's sales in China have also doubled, from 1.377 billion euros in 2019 to 2.74 billion euros in 2021, which is already a profitable growth area that ASML cannot ignore, but the sales of equipment are mainly based on low-end ArF, KrF, I-line and other low-end lithography equipment, and the most advanced EIVs still cannot be exported to China. If the EUV lithography machine can be exported to China, this sales can at least double.
The decline in SALES OF ASML in the United States proves that the Investment in Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment in the United States is far from enough, which indirectly proves that the United States has been unable to keep up with the world trend in semiconductor production. For example, Intel's current process has not yet broken through, and Micron has made a mistake in decision-making, thinking that the EUV lithography machine is useless, and it is now too late to regret it.
At present, the strategy of the United States has become to tempt foreign semiconductor foundries such as TSMC and Samsung Electronics to invest in the United States and set up factories, using this method to improve the level of semiconductor production and drive the sales of ASML in the United States. If you want to wait for the US local semiconductor manufacturers to exert force, it will have to wait for a few more years, it is said that Intel is expected to use ASML next-generation exposure devices in 2025, micron also admitted to decision-making mistakes, to officially use EUV devices.
However, the semiconductor industry generally predicts that the semiconductor production capacity of the United States will lag far behind that of Asia for a long time. A semiconductor industry source said: "As the main sales and core equipment of ASML, the number of UV in Taiwan is 80 units, in South Korea is 50 units, and the United States has only a few units? Even if the United States significantly increases its investment now, it will not immediately increase production capacity. ”