ASML silent on Intel order rumours, shares fall
(UPDATE: Updates shares, adds detail, analyst and background)
By Jana Sanchez
AMSTERDAM, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Shares in Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML Holding NV fell on Monday on a recurring rumour it had lost a major order from the world's largest chipmaker Intel Corp. to Japanese rival Nikon .
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ASML declined comment on the rumour, which surfaced last week and was repeated on Monday morning on CNBC television. The talk was the latest in speculation casting doubt on the relationship between Intel (NasdaqNM:INTC - news) and ASML.
Intel accounts for one quarter of the world's spending on equipment to make semiconductors. Last year, it became a key customer for ASML, the world's largest maker of machines that map out circuitry on silicon wafers, when the Dutch company bought Silicon Valley Group in the U.S.
ASML shares sank 2.6 percent to 22.27 euros by early afternoon on Monday, underperforming technology shares on the Dow Jones Technology index , which were 0.4 percent down.
Analysts downplayed the speculation, although they didn't doubt the threat to ASML if the talk were true.
``It just looks like a rumour to us,'' said ING Barings analyst Ewald Walraven, but he added that if it would be very bad for ASML if Intel were to favour Nikon technology.
The speculation centres on the technology used for new machines that would produce chips on 300 millimetre silicon wafers. Both ASML and Nikon are developing these machines to take the place of the current 200 millimetre machines.
Chipmakers save money by squeezing more chips onto a single larger wafer. Most of them will begin transferring at least a portion of their production to 300 mm wafers.
The roll-out of 300 mm machines has been hampered, however, because chipmakers last year suffered the worst decline ever in the history of the industry and are restraining their capital spending.
NIKON VS ASML
Intel is testing ASML's version of a 300 mm machine after the Dutch company said last year it would not ship Silicon Valley's 300 mm product.
``We have not seen Nikon's 300 mm solution at any client. We know for a fact that Intel has an order for 300 mm technology in ASML's order backlog,'' said Schroder Salomon Smith Barney analyst Navdeep Sheera.
Reuters could not immediately reach either Intel or Nikon for comment.
An online industry publication called Semiconductor Business News started the latest round of rumours with a report that ASML's 193 nanometre technology was losing out to Nikon's.
The nanometre size refers to the space between chips on a single wafer. ASML's 193 nanometre technology is used in both the current 200 mm and the new 300 mm machines.
``It's unlikely to be a 200 mm machine in question as ASML have never supplied 200 MM to Intel -- that was always Nikon,'' Sheera said.
``We don't comment on rumours or on our customers' orders,'' said ASML spokeswoman Yvette Bogaard. ``Our 193 nanometre concept provides good value for our customers.''
ASML's customers also include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing , the world's largest contract chip maker.
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