Abstract:
ASML, the world's largest semiconductor equipment manufacturer, will increase the price of all equipment replacement parts sold to South Korea by 10%. This price increase covers all components of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography equipment, and products delivered from January 2027 will implement the new price.
Industry sources said that ASML headquarters notified Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix of the price increase plan through its Korean subsidiary in early September; after consultation with the procurement departments of the two companies, the price increase plan was finalized.
The price increase covers both daily purchased consumable parts and large core components that are replaced due to failure or performance degradation. There are many types of lithography equipment components, including light-guiding optical devices such as lenses and mirrors, light sources, and precision motion control systems. This price increase will increase the operation and maintenance costs of the equipment.
In the past, ASML would only adjust prices for individual parts when raw material costs soared and procurement of specific materials became difficult, industry insiders said. A blanket increase of 10% like this one is very rare.
An industry source said: "The prices of various components that make up parts have generally increased, but ASML also seems to want to take a larger share of the profits earned by customers."
ASML will separately calculate the revenue from services, parts, and upgrades of installed equipment. Last year, the segment’s revenue reached 8.193 billion euros, accounting for 25% of the company’s total sales of 32.667 billion euros. ASML predicts that the revenue growth rate of this business will exceed 30% this year.
After the price increase of parts and components, the price of ASML's newly ordered complete equipment may also be increased. The company is negotiating with major customers on equipment price increases.
Industry observers believe that Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix's acceptance of ASML's comprehensive price increase will give other semiconductor equipment and component suppliers the confidence to raise prices.
The wave of price increases has spread. U.S. Applied Materials stated at its August financial report conference that prices for both new and existing products have been raised; Japan's Tokyo Electronics said at its financial report briefing at the end of July that it was promoting price adjustments to hedge against rising costs, which also includes equipment already on the market; U.S. plasma power supply manufacturer Advanced Energy Industries also said that some product lines have increased prices.
Behind the large-scale price increase is the imbalance between supply and demand. Investments related to artificial intelligence data centers have promoted the simultaneous expansion of production by memory chip manufacturers and wafer foundries, and orders for equipment and parts have surged; however, it takes time for suppliers to expand production and increase production capacity. Rising inflation and rising raw material prices have further increased cost pressures on manufacturers.
In the past, semiconductor manufacturing companies were able to lower prices with their strong purchasing power, but now suppliers have a stronger say in business negotiations.
“Large-scale production expansion has been transformed into real demand, and equipment and parts have entered a stage of supply shortage.” Industry insiders said, “As the scale of wafer production continues to expand, the materials required for production will also face a large-scale supply gap.”
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