A net profit of Euro 20 million ($29.7 million) was reported Wednesday by ASML Holding NV, a chief supplier to computer chip makers, for the Q3. The profit led to conclusion of a nine-month streak of losses, with an increase in new orders. 

In the Q3 of the previous year, the company held Euro 73.3 million in net profit. This was before chipmakers stopped investments in new capacity amidst the economic downturn.

The Q3 sales for ASML were Euro 555 million, lower 20 percent from Euro 696 million a year earlier. But, the company, which supplies tools to Intel and Samsung, experienced its sales getting doubled from Euro 277 million in the second quarter of 2009.

Chief Executive Eric Meurice explained that new orders were also nearly twice their second quarter levels and the company's order backlog rose to Euro 1.35 billion from Euro 1.06 billion. He informed that the chipmaker bought equipment, keeping specific new chip launches under consideration. 

As per the company's predictions, ASML sales will be flat next quarter, and then rise significantly in the first half of 2010, given the time lag between orders and delivery.

Meurice informed, "This substantial order increase does not factor in a full worldwide economic recovery which, if it materializes, could sustain the first-half sales level into the second half of 2010." 

During the early Amsterdam trading, shares of the company hiked 1.1 percent to Euro 21.8. The results were described as somewhat better than expected by analyst Eric de Graaf of Petercam Bank. 

"ASML's share price is less than 10 percent below its previous peak in late 2007. Unfortunately, we believe the associated profits are still years away," he said. 

ASML is the biggest seller of lithography systems, machines important to the process of making the circuitry of semiconductor chips.