The year 2009 started in the midst of a major historical downturn and finished with a measured recovery of the world economies. In our semiconductor world, this translated into a virtual business freeze for six months, followed by a major re-start and acceleration of the bookings trend in the second half of 2009. Customers who had delayed structural technology investments are now faced with the need to update their infrastructure to be able to produce new levels of transistor integration. This typical integration trend (Moore's Law, named after the Intel co-founder) calls for a doubling of the number of transistors per chip every 18 months to two years which has continued even during the 2009 world economic crisis.

Downturn in the first half of 2009
The global economic downturn, one of the sharpest in recorded history, tested our management for the long term and our sustainability policy when first and second quarter revenues fell by more than 70 percent in 2009 compared to 2008. The crisis forced us to take measures which were felt by our employees and other stakeholders. We reduced the number of employees, mainly those on temporary contracts, as well as cutting the working hours of manufacturing employees, without cutting wages. As a result, we were able to minimize headcount cuts among non-temporary workers. Furthermore, we significantly trimmed non-strategic discretionary expenses by more than € 200 million per year, or about 16 percent. We did not reduce any of our strategic expenses, whether in Research & Development (R&D) or in Operations. We communicated that these efforts, although very painful for our dedicated temporary worker population and our suppliers, would ensure that: (1) ASML would strengthen its competitive position by ensuring an improving technology leadership as it continues to develop four new architectures, (2) ASML would generate cash from operations in 2009, in spite of the significant revenue downturn, and (3) ASML would be in a position to forecast that it would reach a break-even sales level or above by the second half of 2009.
We are encouraged that our communication was understood and supported by our stakeholders. We managed to retain confidence among our customers, our suppliers and our investors as evidenced by our strong bookings pick-up at the end of 2009, our continuous support from suppliers gearing capacity back-up and our share price performance. Thanks to the sacrifices and contributions of our employees and flexible staff, we have proven the significant robustness of our business model to all our stakeholders, and are emerging from the economic crisis stronger than ever.

Recovery in the second half of 2009
Our confidence in our ability to maintain production capacity and continue key R&D - supported by our healthy cash balance of more than € 1 billion - was rewarded midway through the year when the chip industry proved one of the first global industry sectors to recover. Our sales in the second half of 2009 more than doubled compared to the first half. Orders rose even faster and we entered 2010 with expectations of very healthy revenues for the year. As a result of increased demand for our products, we rehired temporary employees who were laid off earlier in the year. Through our flexible employment partners we had kept in touch with our former flexible staff, and they were approached during the expansion. We are happy to report that we were able to rehire approximately 400 temporary employees in 2009, almost half of whom have ASML experience.

Trends for the future
We intend to proceed with our proven strategy, which consists of investing above the market average in R&D and developing multi-segment solutions, while honing our operations and execution so as to reduce structural and product cost, as well as cycle time. We also intend to continue scouting other market opportunities beyond semiconductors to leverage our technologies and other competencies. In addition, we will commit to our corporate responsibilities of contributing to a sustainable future by investing in technologies and approaches that minimize our ecological footprint. We are confident that this strategy will be sustained by customer requirements driven by Moore's law, which justifies our decision to target € 5 billion in yearly revenues at the top of the next semiconductor cycle.

ASML sustainability focus
The semiconductor industry - a $225 billion (€ 162 billion) global sector - and its related equipment industry have continuously enabled the introduction of new electronics products with increased performance and lower energy consumption per electronic function. The lower cost and lower power consumption, as evidenced by the adoption of mobile handheld electronics, means semiconductors have a relatively modest ecological footprint when compared to products from non-scalable industries. Through our scanners, which can image smaller structures on chips that consume less power, ASML is a key enabler of this trend towards more energy-efficient electronics. Our key responsibility is to work every day to ensure this trend continues, and that our innovation roadmap to further "shrink" chip features takes us beyond 2020.
Our sustainability program can be improved further. We have sharpened our Sustainability Charter to reflect our increased ambition and have set new and ambitious targets for the 2010-2015 period in the following four focus areas:

1. Environment at ASML sites: ASML will reduce CO₂ emissions; improve waste recycling and conserve water
2. Environment of our products: ASML commits to more energy efficient machines
3. Safety & Social: ASML targets further improvements in safety of products and production sites, and reinforcement of our ethical business principles
4. Suppliers: ASML will improve the sustainability performance of our suppliers

In recognition of our stakeholders
The current economic recovery certainly remains very fragile, and we are conscious that our own increased sales are largely the result of what we call a "corrective recovery" in the semiconductor industry. This is the result of nine to 18 months of under-investments in semiconductor factories, and our customers' need for technology upgrades. We will manage the company with this risk in mind, while we continue investing in our new products and capabilities.