ASML’s “technical error” cost the global tech industry $420 billion – and that’s just the beginning

Dutch semiconductor equipment manufacturer ASML yesterday published disappointing sales forecasts, which led to a decline not only in its securities, but also in the shares of all players in the global semiconductor industry, as well as other areas related to modern technologies. The industry’s overall decline in market capitalization has reached $420 billion, and this may just be the beginning.

Image source: asml.com

ASML shares fell 16% yesterday, wiping out the company’s market capitalization by €49.2 billion. Today, other European players in the semiconductor industry have also been affected, followed by Asian and American companies. Dutch wafer processing equipment supplier ASMI lost 2.3%, while fellow Dutch chip manufacturing equipment maker BE Semionductor fell 1.9%. The Dutch semiconductor manufacturer STMicroelectronics showed a decrease of 1.2%; German chipmaker Infineon – 1.1%; French supplier of semiconductor materials Soitec – 0.9%.

The biggest losses in Asia were suffered by the Japanese semiconductor manufacturer Tokyo Electron – 10%; Renesas Electronics lost more than 3%; semiconductor testing equipment supplier Advantest fell 0.8%. TSMC and Hon Hai Precision Industry (aka Foxconn) fell 3.3% and 1.6%, respectively. Shares of South Korea’s SK hynix, which makes HBM memory chips for Nvidia’s AI accelerators, traded 1.6% lower; Samsung Electronics lost 1.9%. Losses in the semiconductor sector of the Asian region pulled down the main indices: the Japanese Nikkei 225 lost more than 2%, the Korean Kospi – 0.6%, and the Taiwan Weighted Index – 0.7%. The collapse of ASML also had an impact in the United States: Nvidia fell in price by 4.7%, AMD by 5.2%.

Due to a “technical error”, as the company itself said, ASML’s quarterly financial report was published a day early, and it greatly disappointed investors: the Dutch company reported that its sales in 2025 will be between €30 billion and €35 ​​billion, which twice as low as the previously presented forecast. Net orders for the quarter ended in September amounted to €2.6 billion – analysts had predicted €5.6 billion; net sales exceeded expectations and amounted to €7.5 billion. But this could no longer console investors: the US presidential administration, Bloomberg reported, discussed new restrictions on sales of advanced Nvidia chips to certain countries in the interests of US national security, which further worsened investor sentiment regarding the semiconductor manufacturing sector.

As a result, several anti-records were set, Bloomberg noted. The total decline in the capitalization of technology companies around the world amounted to $420 billion. ASML, which lost almost €50 billion in value in a day, historically was inferior in this indicator to only three European companies. A quarter of a century ago, when the dot-com bubble burst, the market capitalization of Vodafone and Nokia fell by €58 billion and €57 billion, respectively; and the anti-record belongs to Volkswagen, which fell in price by €120 billion in one day.

The incident with ASML shares and the entire industry is, according to CNBC, the “first look” at how US sanctions against Beijing will affect the technology industry: back in June, the Dutch manufacturer noted that China accounts for 49% of sales.