ASML Shares Surge 11% as Strong Orders Ease DeepSeek AI Chip Demand Fears
ASML shares prices surged by 11% due to reports showing the Dutch semiconductor equipment manufacturer received more orders. According to CNBC, the rising demand for ASML eases concerns about DeepSeek’s cheaper AI chips.
The surge of 11% in AI stock was seen in the morning at 8:09 am on Wednesday, January 29th, 2025, but then came to 9% at 10.40 am. ASML said its order came in at 7.09 billion euros, up by 169% from 2.63 billion euros in Q3. This increase in orders for semiconductor chip makers comes as good news as ASML’s shares dipped in October 2024.
ASML Defies AI Chip Slowdown Fears
Recent months highlighted the cautious investor sentiment for ASML after it was estimated that demand for the DeepSeek AI chip market could decrease the need for ASML’s AI chips. The chip maker’s latest profits have opposed market projections by reporting a high demand from significant semiconductor manufacturers.
The fourth quarter of 2024 brought an 11% surge in ASML’s stocks due to major chip producers who invested in cutting-edge semiconductor solutions. These reports show that the Chinese chip manufacturer could cause havoc in the market. Recently, tech stocks saw a fall as DeepSeek overtook Chat GPT on the Apple app store, making big tech like Nvidia think that the Chinese startup coils reduce the demand for AI chips.
ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet told CNBC that he expects this development to drive more demand for semiconductors — not less. He also added, “A lower cost of AI could mean more applications. More applications mean more demand over time. We see that as an opportunity for more chips demand.”
ASML Q4 2024 Earnings Exceed Expectations
The fourth-quarter finances for the AI chip manufacturer have surpassed Wall Street estimates. ASML saw a 14% profit increase during the year while generating revenue. Projections by analysts estimated diminished financial expectations because of market forces along with economic instability in the environment.
Michael Roeg, an analyst for Degroof Petercam said, “The numbers beat expectations ‘from bookings to bottom line’. That is for the large data centre operators to answer in their conference calls, and for Nvidia to answer in their conference call.”
Future Predictions
ASML maintains its position as a critical supplier throughout the global semiconductor market despite existing political conflicts and enforced trade limitations. Contractors display a strong interest in acquiring ASML’s EUV lithography machines according to recent earnings metrics despite market variables surrounding DeepSeek AI chips.
ASML’s 2025 projections forecast a sale of 30 to 25 billion euros which is up by 7-25% from 28.3 billion euros in 2024. Fouquest said that they are expecting a rebalance of demand in China in 2025 as in the previous two years the chipmaker saw an increase in demand in China as the country stocked up to be prepared for U.S. restrictions on exports of advanced semiconductor machines.
The ASML CEO told CNBC, “We had a huge backlog in China, at the end of 2022, because 2022 was a year we couldn’t feed the market with all the tools the market needed. This has kind of been absorbed last year.”
