{"text":[[{"start":9.14,"text":"ASML has lifted its full-year sales forecast as the AI boom’s thirst for computing power drives demand for the advanced chip-manufacturing equipment that has transformed it into Europe’s most valuable company."}],[{"start":24.130000000000003,"text":"The Netherlands-based group said on Wednesday it expected total net sales of €36bn-€40bn this year, up as much as 22 per cent on 2025. Analysts had previously forecast sales of €37.9bn, according to Visible Alpha. "}],[{"start":43.77,"text":"Founded in 1984, ASML’s grip on the market for the lithography equipment needed to manufacture cutting-edge chips has turned it into Europe’s biggest winner from the AI boom. The company can produce only a few dozen of its complex “extreme ultraviolet” lithography machines a year."}],[{"start":65.92,"text":"Its Amsterdam-listed shares have climbed about 40 per cent this year, as demand for the powerful chips required to build and run AI systems continues to dwarf supply from manufacturers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company."}],[{"start":82.66,"text":"The shares slipped 0.4 per cent in early trading on Wednesday, giving the company a market capitalisation of €497bn. "}],[{"start":94.64999999999999,"text":"Christophe Fouquet, ASML chief executive, said orders from customers, which include TSMC, Samsung and Intel, were “very strong”, with supply shortages continuing “for the foreseeable future”."}],[{"start":110.63999999999999,"text":"Some in the AI industry now see ASML as a new choke point throttling the ability of Big Tech companies such as Nvidia and Google to expand quickly enough to meet soaring demand for AI applications such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude Code."}],[{"start":131.58999999999997,"text":"The memory chip industry in particular has seen demand from AI data centres far outpace manufacturers’ ability to increase production volumes, driving price rises for a range of consumer electronics goods including PCs, smartphones and games consoles. "}],[{"start":148.72999999999996,"text":"The upgrade to ASML’s annual sales came as the group said first-quarter net sales rose 13 per cent year on year to €8.8bn, just ahead of analysts’ expectations. Net income grew 17 per cent to €2.8bn in the period. "}],[{"start":167.45999999999995,"text":"“The semiconductor industry’s growth outlook continues to solidify, driven by ongoing AI-related infrastructure investments,” said Fouquet."}],[{"start":178.55999999999995,"text":"ASML’s finance chief Roger Dassen said that such was the level of demand for chip manufacturing equipment that even sales of its older generation of machines would probably increase this year compared with a previous forecast that they would be flat."}],[{"start":193.83999999999995,"text":"As well as working to scale up its more advanced “High NA” EUV machines, which are still being tested by chipmakers and cost as much as $400mn each, ASML is working to upgrade customers’ existing equipment so that it can produce chips more quickly."}],[{"start":211.57999999999996,"text":"But pressure is growing from Washington to further restrict exports of chipmaking machines to China, as the US aims to maintain its lead in AI. "}],[{"start":221.37999999999997,"text":"This month, a draft US bill proposed further tightening of curbs on ASML and other chip gear makers on selling or servicing older lithography equipment to Chinese customers such as Huawei and SMIC. "}],[{"start":237.20999999999998,"text":"The Netherlands’ Prime Minister Rob Jetten — who dined with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday alongside Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima — had said that he intended to raise the issue, according to local media reports. "}],[{"start":254.18999999999997,"text":"Jetten, a Liberal who won a shock election victory in the Netherlands last year, met Fouquet two weeks ago. "}],[{"start":270.72999999999996,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1776264972_9418.mp3"}