ASML plays down Chinese tool stockpiling, impact of rare earth restrictions

By Toby Sterling and Nathan Vifflin (Reuters) -ASML's expected decline in China sales is not due to previous stockpiling of chip machines by its Chinese customers, finance chief Roger Dassen told reporters on Wednesday. The world's biggest supplier of computer chip equipment said in its third-quarter earnings report that it expected a significant fall in demand from China next year. "The reason I rule out (previous) stockpiling is because systems that we ship … are actually in a chips factory", the CFO said. China has been the world's largest buyer of chipmaking tools since 2020, prompting a group of U.S. lawmakers to call for new restrictions on ASML's exports to China this month. They said it is clear Chinese firms have been buying tools in excess of the country's needs to get ahead of further controls.  Chinese system orders represented 42% of all ASML machine sales in the third quarter. The company earlier said demand for this year was stronger than expected. ASML PREPARED FOR SHORT TERM RARE EARTH RESTRICTIONS The finance chief also detailed ASML's readiness to face restrictions on imports of rare earth materials coming from China. "We have inventory, we have alternatives. But of course, you have the impact on us directly that we're navigating," the CFO said. ASML is well prepared, Dassen said, but he cautioned about the potential longer term consequences. "If you talk about the next three years… it's important that the world is able to continue to trade and that we do not end up in a situation where we get limitations in that regard", he told reporters. China produces over 90% of the world's processed rare earths and rare earth magnets, which ASML needs in its machines, and has dramatically expanded its rare earths export controls in early October. (Reporting by Toby Sterling in Amsterdam, Nathan Vifflin in Gdansk; Editing by Matt Scuffham)

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