Samsung Electronics has confirmed the sale of its entire stake in ASML, a Dutch semiconductor equipment company. According to Samsung Electronics’ audit report on the Feb. 21, the company disposed of its entire stake of 1,584,070 shares (a 0.4% stake) in ASML during the fourth quarter of last year. Based on the previously disclosed value of its ASML stake, it is estimated that the sale of the remaining stake secured around 1.2 trillion won in funds. As a result, Samsung Electronics continues to hold stakes in companies such as Corning, Wonik Holdings, SFA, and Wacom.
In 2012, Samsung Electronics acquired a 3.0% stake in ASML for about 700 billion won to collaborate on the development of next-generation lithography machines. In 2016, Samsung sold half of its stake to recover the investment, securing about 600 billion won. Last year, Samsung began selling the remaining stake, securing about 3 trillion won in the second quarter and 1.3 trillion won in the third quarter.
The total amount of the stake sale estimated based on the ASML book value (market value) disclosed by Samsung Electronics is about 6.1 trillion won. This includes approximately 5.5 trillion won from sales last year and 600 billion won from the 2016 sale, making it about an eightfold return on the 700 billion won investment.
The move to sell the ASML stake is known to be aimed at securing funds for semiconductor investment, intending to diversify investment sources in anticipation of a semiconductor upturn.
Despite a downturn in performance last year, Samsung Electronics invested a record 28.34 trillion won in R&D and matched its all-time high investment of 53.1 trillion won in facilities from 2022.