ASML posts a record quarter and still says it can’t meet AI demand

That is the part of the update that matters most. ASML is the only company that makes the EUV systems used for the most advanced chips, so when it says customers are already pressing for more tools, the issue is not a vague enthusiasm for AI. It is a capacity constraint at one of the industry’s few genuine pinch points.

According to Euronews, the Dutch chip-equipment supplier said customers are still increasing their forecasts for equipment demand, largely because of expectations that AI investment will be both large and durable. Some want to book machines for 2029 or 2030 already. That is not quite the same thing as certainty about the future, but it does show how far ahead the scramble now runs.

The quarter itself was strong without being especially mysterious. Sales rose 55% from a year earlier, landing near the top of ASML’s own forecast and broadly in line with analyst expectations cited by Euronews from Bloomberg data. Net income more than doubled to €5 billion, though that total was helped by a €510 million gain on stakes ASML holds in other companies.

Margins were also firm. Gross margin reached 57.5%, above ASML’s forecast, helped mainly by €3.3 billion in sales from servicing and upgrading machines already in use. That detail is easy to skip past, but it says something useful about this market: chipmakers are not only buying for future capacity, they are also trying to squeeze more out of the expensive systems already on their floors.

ASML raised the bottom end of its 2026 sales forecast to €44 billion from €43 billion, keeping the top end at €45 billion, and said it expects fourth-quarter sales of €14.2 billion to €15.2 billion.

The company had said in July that it would expand 2027 capacity by 30% for both low-NA EUV and DUV immersion machines, while looking at a further 30% rise in 2028. Chief executive Christophe Fouquet said ASML is now investigating ways to increase 2028 capacity beyond that previously communicated level. In the company’s words, customers are asking for more tools every day.

There is a temptation to treat all AI-adjacent earnings as a referendum on market mood. ASML’s report is more concrete than that. It showed a supplier posting its highest-ever quarterly sales while still warning that, on its current plans, it cannot keep up.