ASML Signs EUV Equipment Contracts with Samsung-TSMC

This is Ticker Talk, where we examine stock issues through hot off the press foreign news. We'll delve into company issues and stock-related content through real-time foreign news reports. Let's immediately dive into the first hard issue from Ticker Talk, which delivers information a bit faster than domestic news. Following the enthusiastic response to the launch of GP 6 Astra, AI has gained even more momentum. ASML is the world's sole manufacturer of extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment.

Let's look at the details in the Bloomberg article. The article title is 'ASML Windover TSMC'.

ASML is a Dutch company and the world's only manufacturer of extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment.

ASML's latest equipment, 'High NA,' is an ultra-expensive product, costing a staggering $400 million per unit, or about 500 billion Korean Won. Due to its astronomical cost and unverified effectiveness, only Intel had adopted this equipment until recently. However, with the recent confirmation of AI's exceptional capabilities and the surge in related demand, the situation has finally changed.

Samsung Electronics and TSMC have also decided to adopt this equipment. There is one more notable piece of news related to this contract: the change in the standard size of photomasks, which are tools used to print semiconductor circuits. Until now, the standard size for photomasks was 6 inches, but Intel, Samsung Electronics, and TSMC have agreed to increase the photomask size to 12 inches.

Increasing the size allows more units to be printed at once, thereby enhancing productivity and simplifying the design process. This is expected to increase the throughput of High NA equipment by up to 40%, leading to cost savings. Marco Peters, ASML's Chief Technologist, commented on these changes.

TSMC announced plans to bring in the equipment in 2030, establish a 12-inch photomask test line in 2031, and apply it to actual mass production in 2033.

With this, ASML has secured all three of its key client companies, including TSMC, which accounts for a large portion of its revenue. Let's look at how ASML is currently valued in the market.

It is currently trading around $1,765.6. The next article is about President Trump. You've probably heard many times that President Trump bought stocks in advance and profited from them.

You've probably heard many times that President Trump profited from this. But this time, he's under suspicion regarding the second stock, Boeing. However, the author has written an article refuting these controversies. Let's examine the detailed story through the article. This article is from Barchart, and we'll read the title together.

Typically, presidential investment portfolios are known to be surprisingly boring and risk-averse.

However, President Donald Trump is not. He actively trades stocks, making over 20,000 transactions in his first year in office alone. Of course, the president's personal assets are managed by a team of financial advisors. Yet, the timing of his purchases of stocks like Nvidia and Palantir has coincided with policy announcements or deregulation, leading to controversy over whether he is using his power for investment gains.

He is once again embroiled in a similar controversy. On the day President Trump bought Boeing stock, Boeing signed an $880 million contract with the Navy. However, the author provided grounds to refute this controversy, first citing the timing of the transaction disclosure.

While President Trump bought Boeing stock on June 18, this fact was not disclosed until late August, two months later. Thus, at the time, no one knew that President Trump had bought Boeing stock, so it was considered difficult to view it as typical insider trading, where the public is deceived or undisclosed information is used for front-running. It was also pointed out that there were many ambiguous aspects even from a legal perspective.

It was also stated that proving a violation of insider trading laws is practically impossible because it cannot be proven that the president knew about the contract in advance when he bought the stock. The author added that the date of the Boeing stock purchase was merely a coincidence, and the contract Boeing signed with the Navy only set a maximum limit of up to $880 million that could be spent.

Although there is no basis to punish it as illegal, the author expressed an opinion on this unfortunate situation where the timing continues to coincide. “It's hard to place face in the system when it doesn't look like the system works the same for everybody.” In other words, when the system doesn't appear to work the same for everyone, it's difficult to have confidence in it. These controversies continue to arise amid persistent suspicions that power is being used for personal gain.

The author mentioned that it's difficult to have confidence in a system when it doesn't appear to work fairly for everyone. In a situation where suspicions persist about power being used for personal gain, these controversies continue to arise.

Amidst these circumstances, how is Boeing's stock price moving currently? Boeing is moving in a slightly bullish range today, up 0.42%, and trading at $213.15. Today, we've looked at two articles related to ASML and Boeing.