Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki has begun erupting again – at one point shooting an ash cloud 18km (11mi) into the sky – as residents flee their homes once more.

There have been no reports of casualties since Monday morning, when the volcano on the island of Flores began spewing ash and lava again. Authorities have placed it on the highest alert level since an earlier round of eruptions three weeks ago.

At least 24 flights to and from the neighbouring resort island of Bali were cancelled on Monday, though some flights had resumed by Tuesday morning.

The initial column of hot clouds that rose at 11:05 (03:05 GMT) Monday was the volcano’s highest since November, said geology agency chief Muhammad Wafid.

“An eruption of that size certainly carries a higher potential for danger, including its impact on aviation,” Wafid told The Associated Press.

Monday’s eruption, which was accompanied by a thunderous roar, led authorities to enlarge the exclusion zone to a 7km radius from the central vent. They also warned of potential lahar floods – a type of mud or debris flow of volcanic materials – if heavy rain occurs.

The twin-peaked volcano erupted again at 19:30 on Monday, sending ash clouds and lava up to 13km into the air. It erupted a third time at 05:53 on Tuesday at a reduced intensity.

Videos shared overnight show glowing red lava spurting from the volcano’s peaks as residents get into cars and buses to flee.

More than 4,000 people have been evacuated from the area so far, according to the local disaster management agency.

Residents who have stayed put are facing a shortage of water, food and masks, local authorities say.

“As the eruption continues, with several secondary explosions and ash clouds drifting westward and northward, the affected communities who have not been relocated… require focused emergency response efforts,” say Paulus Sony Sang Tukan, who leads the Pululera village, about 8km from Lewotobi Laki-laki.

“Water is still available, but there’s concern about its cleanliness and whether it has been contaminated, since our entire area was blanketed in thick volcanic ash during yesterday’s [eruptions],” he said.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent volcanic activity as well as earthquakes.

Lewotobi Laki-laki has erupted multiple times this year – no casualties have been reported so far.

However, an eruption last November killed at least ten people and forced thousands to flee.

Laki-Laki, which means “man” in Indonesian, is twinned with the calmer but taller 1,703m named Perempuan, the Indonesian word for “woman”.

Additional reporting by Eliazar Ballo in Kupang.

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Holding a virtual monopoly in a product on which the artificial intelligence boom relies should be a golden ticket. For chipmaker Nvidia, it has been. But ASML, which makes extraordinarily complex machines that etch silicon and is no less integral to the rise of AI, has found that ruling the roost can still be an up-and-down affair.

The €270bn Dutch manufacturer, which reports its earnings next week, is a sine qua non of technology; chips powering AI and even fridges are invariably etched by ASML’s kit. The flipside is its exposure to customers’ fortunes and politics.

Revenue is inherently lumpy, and a single paused purchase makes a big dent — a key difference from fellow AI monopolist Nvidia, which is at present struggling to meet demand for its top-end chips. ASML’s newest high numerical aperture (NA) systems go for €380mn; as an example of how volatile revenue can be for such big-ticket items, one delayed order would be akin to drivers holding off on buying 8,000-odd Teslas.

Initial hopes were high for robust spending on wafer fab equipment this year and next. Semi, an industry body, in December reckoned on an increase of 7 per cent this year and twice that in 2026. Jefferies, for example, now expects sales to flatline next year.

Mood music bears that out. Top chipmaker TSMC has sounded more cautious over the timing of the adoption of new high NA machines. Other big customers are reining in spending. Intel in April shaved its capital expenditure plans by $2bn to $18bn, while consensus numbers for Samsung Electronics suggest the South Korean chipmaker will underspend last year’s $39bn capex budget.

Politics is also getting thornier. Washington, seeking to hobble China’s tech prowess, has banned sales of ASML’s more advanced machines. Going further would hurt. China, which buys the less advanced but more profitable deep ultraviolet machines, typically accounts for about a quarter of sales. Last year, catch-up on orders lifted that to half.

Meanwhile, Chinese homegrown competition, given an extra nudge by US trade barriers, is evolving. Shenzhen government-backed SiCarrier, for example, claims to have encroached on ASML territory with lithography capable of producing less advanced chips.

The good news is that catch-up in this industry, with a 5,000-strong supplier base and armies of engineers, requires years if not decades. Customers, too, will probably be deferring rather than nixing purchases. The zippier machines help customers juice yields; Intel reckons it cuts processes on a given layer from 40 steps to just 10.

Over time, ASML’s enviable market position looks solid — and perhaps more so than that of Nvidia, whose customers are increasingly trying to create their own chips. Yet the kit-maker’s shares have been the rockier investment. In the past year, ASML has shrunk by a third while Nvidia has risen by a quarter; its market capitalisation is within a whisker of $4tn. That makes ASML the braver bet, but by no means a worse one.

louise.lucas@ft.com

Peter Thiel is unlike any other Trump tech bro. As well as a wildly successful investor, he’s seen as a thinker – the philosopher king of Silicon Valley. Thiel’s acolytes in the tech world and Washington include vice-president JD Vance but his relationship with the Trump camp is complicated. And there are still questions about what, if anything, he wants with the president.

In the final episode of this season of Tech Tonic, Murad Ahmed speaks to FT columnist Gillian Tett about Thiel’s political philosophy, and to Tabby Kinder, the FT’s West Coast financial editor, about his influence in Silicon Valley.

Free to read:

How Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley funded the sudden rise of JD Vance

A time for truth and reconciliation (written by Peter Thiel)

How a little-known French literary critic became a bellwether for the US right

Palantir’s ‘revolving door’ with government spurs huge growth

This season of Tech Tonic is presented by Murad Ahmed and produced by Josh Gabert-Doyon. The senior producer is Edwin Lane and the executive producer is Flo Phillips. Sound design by Sam Giovinco. Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Original music by Metaphor Music, Manuela Saragosa and Topher Forhecz are the FT’s acting co-heads of audio.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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