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A Dutch chipmaking giant sparked chaos after it accidentally published a disappointing financial outlook a day earlier than scheduled – slashing billions in market value across the semiconductor sector.
Shares of ASML — which manufactures equipment used to make chips, including the processors used to power artificial intelligence — sank nearly 6% Wednesday. The stock had plunged 16% a day earlier – equating to a loss of more than $52 billion in market value.
That was after ASML’s third-quarter results mysteriously appeared online. The company later confirmed that the report was “erroneously published” due to what it described as a “technical error.” CEO Christophe Fouquet later apologized during an earnings call.
“This was very unfortunate,” Fouquet said.
With the accidental post, the Netherlands-based firm revealed it had slashed its 2025 sales outlook and warned that its gross profit margins would also come in lower than previously expected. ASML said weakness in the chip market “is expected to continue in 2025, which is leading to customer cautiousness.”
The error sparked an outcry on social media as users poked fun at ASML.
“ASML accidentally publishing Q3 results adheres to the time honored tradition of our most technically sophisticated companies being somehow incompetent with slide decks and spreadsheets,” Sequoia Capital partner Andrew Reed wrote on X.
Elsewhere, X user @StockMKTNewz joked: “Will everyone please join me in a moment of silence for the ASML intern?”
ASML is widely considered a bellwether for the overall chip industry – and its warning had broader consequences for the sector. Nvidia, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Intel and other chip stocks turned lower on the news.
“Today, without AI, the market would be very sad, if you ask me,” Fouquet said during the call, according to Bloomberg. “The recovery is not what I think everyone had wished for.”
VEB, a Dutch shareholder rights association, was critical of ASML for committing the unforced error even as an official acknowledged that it was a “human mistake.”
“For a company which is the largest listed company in the Netherlands and also the leading technology company in Europe … it is not what we would expect from ASML,” VEB chief Gerben Everts told Reuters.
“They must be ashamed that this happened and that it was so prominently in the news,” Everts added.
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