ASML reports fire at its Berlin factory

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -ASML Holding NV on Monday said there has been a fire at a factory it owns in Berlin, Germany, adding that no one was injured and that it is too early to assess the impact on its operations.

ASML, a key equipment supplier to all major computer chip manufacturers, is currently operating at full capacity due to the global semiconductor shortage. Any shipment delays would impact customers who are trying to expand capacity.

The factory, the former Berliner Glas, makes components for ASML’s lithography systems, large machines which are used to create the circuitry of computer chips. Berliner Glas makes equipment including “wafer tables, reticle chucks and mirror blocks,” ASML said in a statement.

“At this point it is too early to make any statement on the damage or whether the incident will have any impact on the output plan for this year,” ASML said, adding that it would take several days to assess the damage and it would update markets as soon as it can.

ASML acquired Berliner Glas, one of its former suppliers, in 2020 for an undisclosed sum. The company had sales of 230 million euros ($261 million).

Shares, which had been trading about 1% higher until the news was announced, were down about 0.3% at 704.4 euros at 1349 GMT.

($1 = 0.8812 euros)

(Reporting by Toby SterlingEditing by David Goodman, Kirsten Donovan)