ASML Q4 bookings beat expectations as chipmakers order more to satisfy AI demand

Jan 28 (Reuters) - ASML reported stronger-than-expected bookings on Wednesday as the world's ​largest supplier of computer chip equipment ‌received more orders thanks to larger investments in ‌artificial-intelligence chipmaking capacity.

Fourth-quarter bookings, the most watched metric in the industry, were 13.2 billion euros ($15.8 billion), compared with 5.4 billion ⁠euros in the ‌previous quarter. That compared with analyst expectations of 6.32 billion ‍euros according to researcher Visible Alpha.

"In the last months, many of our customers have shared ​a notably more positive assessment of ‌the medium-term market situation, primarily based on more robust expectations of the sustainability of AI-related demand" ASML's Chief executive Christophe Fouquet said in a statement.

The orders ⁠beat comes as several ​of ASML's chipmaker customers ​raise investment plans amid surging demand for AI logic and memory chips ‍needed by ⁠cloud computing giants such as Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet's Google.

($1 = 0.8339 euros)

(Reporting ⁠by Toby Sterling in Amsterdam and Nathan Vifflin ‌in Gdansk; editing by Matt Scuffham ‌and Christian Schmollinger)