Key Takeaways
- ASML, a chipmaker, went down worldwide.
- By the afternoon of the same day, the outage had been fixed and all systems were back up and running.
- Key activities were momentarily disrupted, forcing some staff to work from home while ASML attempted to restore services.
One of the top producers of semiconductor equipment, ASML Holding NV, suffered a worldwide IT failure on Friday that momentarily interrupted operations at all of its locations across the globe.
Although the organization is still looking into what caused the outage, it has subsequently confirmed that “all systems are fully recovered.”
ASML’s cleanrooms, offices, customer service, and supplier communications were all impacted by the incident, which was initially covered by the Dutch daily Eindhovens Dagblad. Some workers had to work remotely for a while during the outage till the services were restored. A spokeswoman informed Reuters that regular activities had resumed by the afternoon.
The seamless operation of ASML is vital to the worldwide semiconductor supply chain since it is the only manufacturer of the sophisticated lithography equipment required for the creation of high-end chips. ASML’s technology is used by businesses such as Samsung Electronics and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to produce chips that power a variety of products, including Nvidia’s AI accelerators. Samsung delayed accepting deliveries from ASML earlier this fall.
Last month, there was another technical setback, which was followed by this IT catastrophe. ASML unintentionally announced their quarterly earnings half a day ahead of schedule due to a technical glitch, which caused a market reaction that impacted ASML and other stocks related to chips.
Due to dwindling demand for non-AI chips, the Dutch chip equipment manufacturer’s shares recently fell 16%, or $420 billion, in global semiconductor stocks. ASML’s 1970i and 1980i Deep Ultraviolet tools are restricted as a result of the Dutch government’s ruling. Due to them, the business is unable to sell its sophisticated lithography systems to China.
