ASML delivered a blockbuster second quarter on July 15, reporting €9.33 billion in net sales and €2.9 billion in net income as AI-driven demand for advanced lithography tools pushed revenue well above analyst expectations.
The Dutch lithography giant raised its full-year 2026 guidance for the second time this year, now expecting total net sales between €43 billion and €45 billion with a gross margin of 54% to 56%. Q3 guidance came in even stronger at €11-12 billion, signaling accelerating momentum through the second half.
CEO Christophe Fouquet described customer demand as “extremely strong” and announced plans to boost EUV production capacity by 30% in both 2027 and 2028. ASML now targets approximately 65 low-NA EUV systems in 2026, scaling to at least 80 systems annually by 2027. The company also expects to ship roughly 10 High-NA EUV systems this year, with each unit commanding roughly double the price of standard EUV tools.
Intel confirmed it will use ASML’s High-NA systems for portions of its Panther Lake chip production, marking one of the first concrete deployments of the next-generation lithography for volume manufacturing. TSMC, ASML’s largest customer, also continues to absorb record numbers of EUV tools as it ramps N2 production.
“Blow-out results across the board,” said Degroof Petercam analyst Michael Roeg. ASML shares rose nearly 4% following the announcement, and the company’s market cap now positions it as Europe’s most valuable listed technology firm.
The capacity expansion comes as semiconductor makers race to secure lithography capacity for multi-trillion-dollar AI infrastructure buildouts. ASML’s backlog of unshipped EUV systems continues to grow, with lead times stretching well into 2028 for new orders.
