ASML CEO Says Companies Are Harvesting Chips from Washing Machines Amid a Global Semiconductor Shortage

During ASML's Q1 2022 earnings call, CEO Peter Wennink remarked that some large industrial groups are purchasing washing machines to harvest the semiconductor chips inside them, underscoring the severity of the global chip shortage.

He quoted an executive from a major industrial conglomerate who said they were buying washing machines in bulk, extracting the semiconductor components, and integrating them into their own chip modules.

ASML reported net sales of €3.5 billion and a net profit of €0.695 billion for Q1 2022, with a gross margin of 49 %. Sales to mainland China rose from 22 % to 34 % of total revenue, making China its largest customer for the quarter. Orders included €2.5 billion of EUV lithography machines, with the next‑generation high‑NA EUV expected to enter production by the end of 2024.

The article then details the architecture of a typical washing‑machine controller: multiple sensors (weight, water level, temperature, optical cleanliness), a microcontroller that processes sensor data, and a separate human‑machine‑interface microcontroller for the control panel. The harsh environment (humidity, vibration) imposes stringent reliability and reset requirements, making the chips higher‑grade but also harder to recycle.

Recycling washing‑machine chips is costly because the circuit boards are often encapsulated in resin for waterproofing, and extracting usable semiconductor components at scale is expensive, only justified for products priced above $1 million.

Beyond this anecdote, the piece situates the shortage within a broader industry context: Applied Materials' CEO highlighted strong demand yet supply delays; TSMC executives noted capacity constraints; lead times for chip deliveries have risen from 6‑9 weeks pre‑pandemic to over 26 weeks in early 2022. The pandemic, natural disasters (e.g., the Japanese earthquake affecting photoresist supply), and demand imbalances across automotive, industrial, and consumer segments have all exacerbated the shortage.

Contrastingly, Gartner analyst Richard Gordon argued that the peak of the shortage has passed, citing growth in applications such as electric vehicles, industrial IoT, and 5G.

The article concludes by inviting readers to discuss how long the chip shortage may persist.