FRANKFURT/PARIS/AMSTERDAM (dpa-AFX) - Gloomy forecasts from U.S. memory chipmaker Micron Technology on Thursday held back prices of European shares in the semiconductor sector. Micron said the biggest oversupply in the industry in more than a decade is likely to hamper its return to profitability in 2023.

In a stable overall market, papers of industry equipment maker ASML fell 0.7 percent, while those of chipmakers STMicroelectronics and Infineon lost almost as much. The shares of Aixtron, a specialty equipment manufacturer focused on the industry, were 0.2 percent lower. And the European technology sector now also came back somewhat as one of the weakest in the Stoxx 600 overview after its significant previous day's gain on Thursday.

Micron plans to respond to the more difficult situation with cost cuts, including a job cut of ten percent. The group also prepared investors for a significant drop in sales for the current quarter, as well as a larger loss than analysts had previously expected. In pre-market U.S. trading, the papers recently lost 2.3 percent.

Semiconductor manufacturers are currently facing a sharp drop in demand. Consumers are postponing purchases of computers and smartphones, for example, in view of high inflation and the uncertain economic outlook. Manufacturers of these products are sitting on high inventories, which is why they are also ordering fewer memory chips for the time being. Less than a year ago, semiconductor manufacturers were unable to produce enough to meet the high demand at the time due to supply chain disruptions./ajx/ag/mis