(Bloomberg) — ASML Holding NV, the maker of the world’s most advanced chipmaking machines, was struck by an IT outage on Friday that affected its facilities around the world.
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The disruption began on Friday morning and was resolved later in the afternoon, an ASML spokesperson said by phone. The incident forced some employees to work remotely, and local Dutch newspaper Eindhovens Dagblad reported that the company’s cleanrooms, offices, customer support departments and communications with suppliers were affected.
The company said it’s investigating the cause of the outage.
ASML is a critical part of the world’s semiconductor supply chain, and as a result, has found itself continually caught in the middle of the escalating fight between the US and China over chip-market dominance. It has a monopoly on manufacturing the machines that help companies such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Samsung Electronics Co. produce the most-advanced chips that power everything from Apple Inc.’s smartphones to Nvidia Corp.’s AI accelerators.
Last month, the company mistakenly released its financial report a day earlier than scheduled due to a “technical error.” The premature publication of the release worked to amplify weak results, sending both its shares and those of chip companies globally falling.
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