the supply crunch is most evident in the auto industry where shortages of semiconductors have forced carmakers to cut production just at a time when sales have recovered more quickly than expectedby toby sterling amsterdam the chip shortages slowing car production are a symptom of broader increased demand that is placing strains on suppliers across the semiconductor sector according to dutch equipment maker asml one of asmls top executives said that higher demand for most types of computer chips including those considered one step below cutting edge looks stronger and more permanent than most players in the industry including asml had expected when the coronavirus pandemic began advt i think all over the placethe demand to our customers so the semiconductor manufacturers i would say that all over the place you see a stressful situation ron kool an executive vice president at asml told reuters asml has grown over the past decade to become europes largest industrial tech company with a value of nearly 200 billion euros 240 billion it supplies its machinery to chip makers including intel corp samsung electronics and taiwan semiconductor manufacturing co industry observers had expected demand from one or two specific sectors to underpin growth but kool said it now looked as if a range of applications from 5g telecoms automobiles data centres industrial electronics and the internet of things were all looking to be fed for me personally i dont think its a wave kool said adding that demand for internet of things applications in particular look strong i think weve come to a new level thats my view the supply crunch is most evident in the auto industry where shortages of semiconductors have forced carmakers to cut production just at a time when sales have recovered more quickly than expected different chips in demand asml produces extreme ultraviolet or euv lithography machines that map out the tiny circuitry of top computer chips the companys ceo has jokingly referred to them as glorified photo copiers but they cost up to 200 million euros each and are used by leading chipmakers advt in asmls fourth quarter 2020 earnings report last month the company surprised analysts with an exceptionally strong order intake for the previous generation of its machines which still make up the lions share of its sales kool who runs that division said that at the end of last march it had looked like 2020 would be a problematic year but one or two months later it turned totally different that is in part because demand for cutting edge chips also reflects demand for less complex ones as well for example in the case of a topoftheline smartphone while the very best logic chips in the handset might be made with asmls cutting edge euv machines the memory and other chips on the device can be made using older tech though kool is confident asml can hit its targets for 2021 he is not sure it can exceed them