ASML announced its third-quarter 2026 results on Wednesday, reporting record total net sales of $13 billion, a gross margin of 57.5%, and net income of $5.6 billion.
The Dutch company’s success comes from its position as the sole maker of the advanced lithography machines used worldwide to produce semiconductors that power the data centers driving the AI boom. Fueled by the AI spending spree, ASML became Europe’s most valuable company in 2026, with its shares up 64% so far this year.
ASML also raised the lower end of its 2026 sales forecast, as soaring artificial intelligence spending boosts demand for its chip-making machines.
ASML President and Chief Executive Officer Christophe Fouquet told investors, “In the third quarter we reported a record total net sales of €11.7 billion, towards the high end of our guidance, reflecting the strong execution of our ramp-up. Installed Base Management sales came in above guidance at €3.3 billion as a result of the continued strong demand for productivity upgrades. This drove the gross margin above guidance at 57.5%.
“Our customers continue to increase their short- and medium-term equipment demand forecasts with us, driven primarily by their views on the size and duration of AI-related investments. In light of their demand visibility, some customers are expressing an interest in placing orders with us for 2029 and even 2030.
“With such strong visibility and an order book momentum that continues to increase quarter on quarter this year, we now expect that our supply as currently planned for both 2027 and 2028 will not fully meet the demand of our customers2. Given this, we are investigating ways to increase capacity for 2028 beyond the 30% increase we previously communicated. In addition, we continue to provide significant wafer capacity to our customers through our productivity upgrade portfolio.
“We expect fourth-quarter 2026 total net sales between €14.2 billion and €15.2 billion, with a gross margin around 57%. We expect R&D costs of around €1.2 billion and SG&A costs of around €0.4 billion. We expect total net sales for 2026 to be between €44 billion and €45 billion, with a gross margin around 56%.”
ASML shares fell less than 2% following the announcement.
By CEO NA Editorial Staff
