❯ ASML earns €5 billion in Q3 and says supply in 2027 and 2028 won’t fully meet customer demand

Profit beats forecastsDutch lithography giant ASML released its third-quarter results on October 14: net sales of €11.66 billion, net income of €4.96 billion and a gross margin of 57.5%. Figures compiled by Techmeme from CNBC show sales slightly below the €11.72 billion analysts expected, while net income comfortably beat the €4.1 billion estimate.

Guidance raised againASML expects fourth-quarter sales of €14.2 billion to €15.2 billion, and has narrowed and lifted its full-year 2026 sales forecast from €43–45 billion to €44–45 billion. Lithography machines “print” circuit patterns onto wafers, and advanced chips cannot be made without ASML’s EUV systems.

Buyers have to queueCEO Christophe Fouquet said in the release that the supply ASML has planned for 2027 and 2028 “will not fully meet the demand of our customers.” The company is studying ways to add capacity for 2028 beyond the 30% increase it announced earlier, and some customers already want to place orders for 2029 and 2030. As a result, chipmakers’ expansion plans are increasingly constrained by tool deliveries, not just by money.

▮ SIGNALThe AI chip bottleneck is moving upstream from the fabs; when even lithography tools must be booked four or five years out, capacity itself becomes the scarcest asset.