Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML reported stronger-than-expected second-quarter results on July 15, coupling the financial beat with a multi-year capacity expansion plan that underscores the company's confidence in sustained AI-driven chip demand well past 2028.
Net sales for the quarter reached €9.326 billion, up roughly 6.4% from €8.767 billion in the first quarter. Gross margin rose a percentage point to 54%, net income came in at €2.918 billion, and earnings per share hit €7.59. Equipment shipments also accelerated: ASML delivered 86 new lithography systems during the quarter, up from 67 in the prior period, while revenue from its Installed Base Management business — covering servicing and upgrades on equipment already in customers' fabs — grew from €2.488 billion to €2.762 billion.
AI Investment Boom Sharpens ASML's Order Visibility, CEO Says
Chief Executive Christophe Fouquet said both revenue streams contributed to the beat. "Our Q2 total net sales reached €9.3 billion, gross margin of 54%, both above guidance, mainly driven by higher-than-expected sales and installed base management revenue," he said.
Fouquet pointed to AI infrastructure investment as the engine behind what he described as stronger forward visibility in ASML's order book. As chipmakers race to expand capacity for advanced logic and high-bandwidth memory — the critical building block for AI accelerators — he said those capital plans have increasingly converted into firm equipment orders, giving ASML an unusually clear line of sight into future demand.
AI Demand Triggers Simultaneous 30% EUV And DUV Expansion
Acting on that outlook, ASML announced it will scale two separate equipment families in parallel. Annual Low NA EUV production — currently around 65 systems per year — is set to rise 30% in 2027, with a potential additional 30% increase in 2028 under evaluation. Immersion DUV lithography output, which runs at roughly 130 systems annually, will undergo the same 30% expansion in 2027, with a further round of growth for 2028 also being studied. The company said it will simultaneously broaden its equipment upgrade products and services to meet follow-on customer needs.
The decision to grow both product lines simultaneously carries broader significance. EUV tools serve the most advanced fabrication nodes, while immersion DUV systems underpin high-volume production of less bleeding-edge — but still AI-relevant — process layers. Expanding both suggests ASML and its customers expect AI-linked capital spending to lift demand across the full lithography stack, not merely at the frontier. As the world's only supplier of EUV equipment, ASML's production roadmap is closely tracked as a leading indicator of global semiconductor capital expenditure — making this announcement particularly significant for Taiwan, where chipmakers including TSMC, the world's largest contract manufacturer and a central node in the AI chip supply chain, are among ASML's key customers.
Intel Foundry Deploys High NA EUV For Panther Lake Production
ASML also announced a milestone for its next-generation High NA EUV platform. Intel Foundry has incorporated ASML's EXE High NA EUV tools into partial volume production of the processor line codenamed Panther Lake, part of the Intel Core Ultra Series 3 lineup. In a separate development, Intel's 18A process has completed dual validation of High NA EUV for specific layers at the company's Oregon facility, with yield performance matching the current NXE platform, and initial shipments to customers already underway. ASML said both companies will continue deepening collaboration to extend High NA EUV adoption across future process nodes.
Q3 Set To Top €10 Billion As Full-Year Outlook Holds
For the third quarter, ASML guided net sales of between €11 billion and €12 billion — which would represent the company's first quarter exceeding €10 billion — with gross margin expected in the 55%–57% range. Research and development spending is projected at approximately €1.2 billion for the quarter, and selling, general and administrative costs at around €400 million.
Full-year 2026 guidance was left unchanged: net sales of €43 billion to €45 billion, with gross margin of 54% to 56%. Fouquet confirmed that ASML will hold a Capital Markets Day in June 2027, at which the company will update its medium- and long-term market outlook in line with the latest technology and demand developments.
On capital allocation, ASML bought back approximately €1.1 billion of its own shares during the quarter under its 2026–2028 repurchase program, and announced an interim dividend of €1.88 per ordinary share, payable August 5.
