ASML, the Dutch maker of the lithography machines used to produce advanced chips, reported record third-quarter sales of €11.7 billion and net income of €5.0 billion, and said that its planned supply for 2027 and 2028 will not fully meet customer demand.
ASML reported total net sales of €11.7 billion and net income of €5.0 billion for the third quarter of 2026, according to the company’s news release as summarised by Stock Titan and Yahoo Finance. Its gross margin of 57.5% was the highest in its history, according to the summary, which describes the quarter as the strongest in the company’s history on both sales and gross margin.
The company expects fourth-quarter total net sales of €14.2 billion to €15.2 billion and a gross margin of about 57%, and for the full year 2026 it expects total net sales of €44 billion to €45 billion with a gross margin of about 56%, according to the same summaries. The fourth-quarter midpoint of €14.7 billion would be about 26% above the third quarter, on Delima News’ calculation.
A tech roundup of 14 October says that ASML sold 113 lithography systems in the quarter, compared with 86 in the previous quarter, which is an increase of about 31% in the number of machines. The sources reviewed do not break down the sales by type of system or by customer, so it is not possible to say how many were its most advanced machines.
The company’s outlook statement is notable. ASML said that its supply as currently planned for both 2027 and 2028 will not fully meet the demand of its customers, according to a summary of the release. That means that its customers, which include the largest chip makers, want more machines than ASML plans to build, which is a sign of the demand for AI chips and also a constraint on how fast the chip industry can expand.
An Investing.com headline says that ASML topped third-quarter estimates but that its shares fell, though the transcript was not reviewed and the reason for the fall is not given. A shares fall after a strong quarter often reflects expectations that were even higher, but the sources reviewed do not confirm that explanation.
ASML is a key supplier to TSMC. TSMC reported a record profit for a sixth straight quarter on 15 October and said that its high-performance computing business made up 68% of its revenue, as Delima News reports in a separate article. The results of the two companies reinforce each other, because TSMC’s spending on equipment depends on its demand and ASML’s sales depend on that spending.
Other chip news in the same roundup includes a Japanese investment of up to $21 billion in two US chip factories, including one by GlobalFoundries in New York, and the financing of a data centre developer in Malaysia. Those items were reported in the roundup and not checked against primary sources.
For investors, the main questions are whether the order book stays strong and how ASML’s supply compares with demand, on which the company has given only the qualitative statement above.
Image: ASML’s headquarters in Veldhoven, the Netherlands (file photo). Photo: A ansems / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
