Samsung Electronics more than halves its stake in ASML

SEOUL (Reuters) -- South Korea's Samsung Electronics has reduced its stake in semiconductor manufacturing equipment maker ASML by more than a half, its recent filings showed.

Samsung held 2.75 million shares in the Dutch company as of the end of June, the South Korean tech giant said in its semiannual report, down from 6.3 million shares in its first-quarter report.

The stake that Samsung sold is worth around 2.1 billion euros ($2.29 billion) based on the latest share prices.

Samsung is expected to spend the proceeds on new memory chip production lines, local media reported on Wednesday.

A Samsung Electronics spokesperson confirmed the stake sale but did not elaborate.