VELDHOVEN, the Netherlands--ASM Lithography Holding N.V. here today reported a backlog of 255 systems at the end of 2000 compared to 159 tools at the end of 1999. Strong demand for lithography systems extended ASML's backlog of tool orders in the second half of last year from 207 units at the end of June 30, said the company.
"In 2000, we saw customer demand accelerate beyond previous expectations, creating pressure on ourproduction capacity and increasingly, on the capacity of our supply chain ," said Doug Dunn, chief executive officer of ASML. "We have seen customer demand soften over the last two months,
a trend that will be closely monitored.
"However, the current situation is that customer demand still exceeds ASML's capacity for 2001, which is higher than the output for the year 2000," he added.
Despite softening in chip sales, ASML still sees "unchanged strong demand for leading-edge products," such as 300-mm platforms, 193-nm scanners, and its most advanced 248-nm DUV tools, said Dunn, while announcing the company's annual results for 2000.
The Dutch lithography giant reported net sales grew 81.7% to 2.18 billion euro ($2.05 billion) compared to 1.20 billion euro ($1.28 billion) in 1999. In 2000, ASML received orders for 464 systems vs. 325 in 1999.
The company's backlog of 255 systems on Dec. 31 had a bookings value of 1.75 billion euro ($1.65 billion) compared to the 1999 backlog value of 968 million euro ($910 million), ASML reported. Of the 255 system in backlog at the end of 2000, 23 were 300-mm Twinscan tools, ASML said.
ASML reported a net income of 347 million euro ($326 million) for 2000 compared to 81 million euro ($76 million) in 1999.
To deal with the growth in lithography tools orders, ASML added 1,400 workers to its payroll, bringing its worldwide workforce to 4,377 at the end of 2000. The company is also in the middle of completing its planned acquisition of San Jose-based Silicon Valley Group Inc. to expand its lithography and wafer fab portfolio. ASML is offering about $1.6 billion in stock for SVG to position itself as the second largest lithography supplier in the world (see Oct. 2 story).
