1 · Summary & Verdict
FY2025 revenue €32.7B (+16%), then the July 15 print raised 2026 guidance to €43-45B (+35% at mid) with EUV and DUV immersion capacity +30% for 2027. Our Scenario Fair Value of $1,900 sits ~5% above the $1,815 price; we initiate Neutral.
■We initiate Neutral: $1,900 SFV vs $1,815 price = +5%, squarely in the Neutral band. ASML is the highest-quality monopoly in global technology — sole supplier of EUV lithography, >90% of immersion DUV, and a €38.8B backlog entering the steepest demand inflection in its history. The problem is arithmetic, not quality: at $1,815 the stock trades 2.5σ above its own 8-year P/E band (64x TTM vs ~40x mean) and ~40x our FY26E EPS of $45.19. Our $1,900 fair value is the base scenario of an explicitly modelled bull/base/bear blend (25/55/20 weighted = $1,905); the perpetuity DCF tops out near $1,900 only at its friendliest corner (8.5% WACC, 4.5% g).
■The July 15 guidance raise is the largest in company history — and it is contracted, not hoped. Management lifted 2026 revenue guidance from €34-39B (January) to €36-40B (April) to €43-45B (July), a mid-year raise of ~€7.5B at the midpoint, with gross margin guided up to 54-56%. Q3-26 is guided €11.0-12.0B — vs €7.5B a year ago — and the implied Q4 approaches €15B. Behind it: AI-driven customer commitments that let ASML plan low-NA EUV output +30% for 2027 (~85 systems from ~65) and DUV immersion +30% (~170 from ~130), with another +30% under investigation for 2028.
■The service annuity is the quiet star: IBM sales +28% in H1-26, now ~28% of revenue. Installed Base Management (service + field upgrades) grew from €5.6B (2023) to €8.2B (2025) and hit €5.25B in H1-2026 alone (+28% YoY). Every one of the >5,700 systems ASML has shipped remains a billing annuity, and performance upgrades (NXE:3600D→3800E conversions add ~35% output on installed tools) are the highest-margin revenue in the company. This is the structural driver behind gross margin guidance of 54-56% for 2026 vs 51.3% in 2023-24, and behind our 57.5% FY30E assumption.
■What keeps us at Neutral: the DCF cannot get to $1,815 on any standard assumption. Our perpetuity DCF (WACC 9.5%, g 3.5%, normalized FCF $33.5B) produces $1,292/share; the full 5×5 sensitivity grid spans $988-$1,898. The market is paying for the 2028 capacity option and High-NA's second act today. That is not irrational — monopolies with 20-year moats deserve terminal-value premiums — but it means returns from here depend on earnings compounding into the multiple, and it leaves no cushion for a 2027 order-digestion year. Bear case ($1,050, -42%) is a normal semicap downcycle, nothing exotic.
ASML at $1815 trades ~2.5σ above its own 8-year P/E mean (64x TTM vs ~40x) and ~2.9σ on P/S — the July guidance raise re-rated the stock ahead of the earnings it guides to. EV/EBITDA looks mildest (33x vs 30x mean, +0.5σ) because EBITDA is already inflecting; the multiple debate is really about how much of FY27-28 is in the price.
See § 6 Valuation for the per-multiple analysis and historical band charts.
| Summary financials | FY23A | FY24A | FY25A | FY26E | FY27E | FY28E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue ($B) | 29.8 | 30.6 | 36.9 | 50.2 | 63.2 | 72.7 |
| Gross margin % | 51.3% | 51.3% | 52.8% | 55.0% | 56.5% | 57.0% |
| EBITDA ($B) | 10.6 | 10.8 | 13.9 | 21.8 | 29.3 | 34.5 |
| Net income ($B) | 8.5 | 8.2 | 10.9 | 17.3 | 23.3 | 27.5 |
| Diluted EPS ($) | 21.50 | 20.82 | 27.92 | 45.19 | 61.92 | 73.83 |
| FCF ($B) | 3.6 | 9.8 | 12.5 | 15.0 | 21.8 | 26.3 |
THE THREE RISKS THAT MATTER
Export controls & geopolitics
China was 29% of 2025 revenue (all DUV — EUV has never shipped there); further US/Dutch restrictions on tools or service would hit both revenue and installed-base economics. On the other side of the strait, Taiwan is ~30-35% of sales. This is the defining tail risk of the name and it is not diversifiable.
2027 order digestion after a +36% year
The €43-45B 2026 guide requires a record ~€15B Q4; 2027 consensus builds another +25% on top. Semicap has never sustained a four-year straight-line upcycle. If AI capex pauses, ASML's premium multiple (2.5σ above its own P/E history) compresses fast — the Oct-2024 bookings miss (-20% in days) is the template.
Customer concentration
TSMC, Samsung, SK Hynix, Intel and Micron fund >85% of system revenue. A single roadmap deferral moves billions: TSMC has already publicly pushed High-NA to ~2029 (A14P/A10), capping the near-term EXE TAM at Intel + Samsung while ASML builds capacity for more.
2 · Investment Thesis
1. The strongest moat in technology, and it widens every node
ASML is the only EUV supplier on earth (100% share, ~250 systems installed), holds >90% of immersion DUV, and litho intensity rises with every node transition — N5→N3→N2 adds EUV layers, DRAM 1γ and HBM4 insert EUV into memory, and High-NA (2x ASP) begins the next cycle. The moat is a 5,000-supplier ecosystem (Zeiss optics, Cymer light sources) plus two decades and >€10B of program investment no entrant can compress.
- EUV revenue +39% in 2025 to €11.6B (48 systems); 60+ low-NA shipments planned 2026
- Intel shipped the first high-volume High-NA logic product (Panther Lake, 18A) in July 2026
2. The 2026-27 ramp is underwritten by commitments, not sentiment
Guidance went €34-39B → €36-40B → €43-45B in six months on 'extremely strong' H1 order intake and customer long-term agreements. ASML is adding +30% low-NA EUV and +30% DUV immersion capacity for 2027 — a supplier with 100% share does not build capacity speculatively; it builds against committed demand. Backlog was €38.8B before the 2026 order surge.
- FY26E revenue $50.2B (+36%), FY27E $63.2B (+26%) at 56.5% gross margin
- Q3-26 guided €11.0-12.0B at 55-57% GM; implied Q4 ~€15B is a new all-time-record quarter
3. Margin structure is re-rating: 51% → 54-56% → high-50s
Three stacked mix effects lift gross margin: EUV share of systems rising (38% in 2025, ~55%+ by 2028E), High-NA ASPs (~€400M) carrying premium margin as the platform matures, and the service/upgrade annuity (IBM ~28% of revenue, growing >25%/yr) which carries the highest margins in the company. We model 55.0% FY26E → 57.5% FY30E; management's own 2030 frame (56-60%) brackets us.
- Operating margin: 34.6% FY25A → 40.5% FY26E → ~45% FY30E
- EPS: $27.92 FY25A → $45.19 FY26E → $88.18 FY30E (26% CAGR)
4. The valuation tension is the thesis: quality is not in question, entry price is
At $1,815 ASML trades at 64x TTM earnings vs a 40x 8-year mean (+2.5σ) and 19x sales (+2.9σ). Our DCF says $1,292 base, $988-$1,898 across the grid. The gap between intrinsic-cash-flow value and price is the market's bet on the 2028+ capacity option, High-NA's memory insertion, and CMD-2027 re-baselining. We are happy owners of the story at a Neutral entry discipline — and buyers on any digestion-driven derating.
- SFV $1,900 = 30.7x FY27E / 25.7x FY28E EPS — demanding but defensible for a monopoly
- View shifts Positive below ~$1,650 (+15% upside); Cautious above ~$2,000 (bull case fully priced)
3 · Financial Analysis
ASML reports US GAAP in euros; our model is USD-denominated so the financials read coherently against the NASDAQ listing (actuals converted at 1.08 for FY23-24 and 1.13 for FY25 average rates; projections at 1.14). Where we quote reported figures, euros come first.
Revenue: two flat years, then the coil released. Revenue was essentially flat across FY2023-24 (€27.6B → €28.3B; $29.8B → $30.6B) as the industry digested the 2023 China DUV pull-forward and waited on the AI capex cycle to reach lithography. FY2025 broke the range: €32.7B (+15.6%), driven by EUV system revenue up 39% to €11.6B on 48 systems, while DUV declined 6% to €12.0B — exactly the mix rotation the long thesis wants. The definitive tell on business quality: units sold fell from 449 (2023) to 327 (2025) while revenue rose 19% — ASML sells fewer, vastly more valuable machines every year.
The mix beneath the total. Three revenue engines now pull in sequence. EUV ($13.1B in FY25A, 36% of revenue) is the growth engine, compounding ~27%/yr in our model through FY30E. DUV + metrology ($14.5B, 39%) is the cash cow — flattish, with China normalization offset by mature-node breadth. Installed Base Management ($9.3B, 25%) is the annuity: +26% in 2025, +28% YoY in H1-2026, and structurally the highest-margin line in the company. Geographically, 2024’s China peak (36% of revenue) normalized to 29% in 2025, with Taiwan (~30-35% in recent quarters) and Korea re-taking share as N2 and HBM capacity ramps — concentration that mirrors where the leading edge physically lives.
Margins: the 51% floor is broken. Gross margin sat at 51.3% in both FY2023 and FY2024 — the old “EUV dilutes margin” regime. FY2025 printed 52.8%, Q1-26 53.0%, Q2-26 54.0% (above guidance, on service strength), and H2-26 is guided to 55-57%. The drivers are structural, not cyclical: EUV ASPs and maturity, High-NA premium pricing, and the IBM annuity mixing up. Operating margin followed — 32.8% (FY23A) → 34.6% (FY25A) → 36.6% in H1-2026 — while ASML continued to grow R&D to €4.7B (FY25), five times what Nikon and Canon spend on lithography combined.
Earnings and cash: violent quarters, smooth years. FY2025 net income was €9.6B (+27%), EPS €24.71 diluted ($27.92 in our USD model). Cash generation is lumpy by construction — customer prepayments and system-acceptance timing produced Q4-25 CFO of €11.4B followed by Q1-26 CFO of negative €2.2B — but through-cycle conversion is excellent: FY2025 CFO of €12.7B ($14.3B) against capex of just €1.6B, for ~$12.5B of FCF (34% margin). The balance sheet is a fortress: €13.3B cash + short-term investments against €3.6B total debt at YE-2025, even after returning €8.5B to shareholders during the year (€2.55B dividends + €5.95B buybacks) and writing a €1.3B strategic check into Mistral AI.
Capital returns are accelerating. The 2025 dividend of €7.50/share was +17% YoY; the first 2026 interim was set at €1.88/quarter (+17.5% run-rate); and a fresh €12B buyback (2026-2028) replaced the completed 2022-25 program, retiring ~0.8M shares (€1.1B) in Q2-26 alone. Basic share count has fallen from 393.8M (FY23) to 384.5M (Q2-26). Net income compounding plus a shrinking denominator is the quiet second engine of our $88 FY30E EPS.
4 · Projection Assumptions
Our model runs FY2026E-FY2030E in USD (projections at 1.14 EUR/USD). The five-year shape: a step-function 2026, a capacity-fed 2027, then deliberate deceleration into a digestion-aware but structurally growing back half.
FY2026E — the guided step-function: revenue $50.2B (+35.9%). We sit at the midpoint of the raised €43-45B guide. The arithmetic behind it is visible: H1-2026 actual revenue was €18.1B, Q3 is guided €11.0-12.0B, leaving an implied Q4 near €15B — a record by roughly 50%. Management raised full-year gross margin guidance to 54-56%; we model 55.0%. R&D runs ~€1.2B/quarter and SG&A ~€0.4B/quarter per guidance, giving a 40.5% operating margin and EPS of $45.19 (+62%). The tax rate is guided ~17%.
FY2027E — the +30% capacity year: revenue $63.2B (+26%). ASML’s committed 2027 output — low-NA EUV ~85 systems (+30%), DUV immersion ~170 (+30%), High-NA ramping toward ~16 systems — supports revenue in the €54-57B range; we model €55.4B ($63.2B). Mix (EUV to ~47% of revenue) plus High-NA maturity lifts gross margin to 56.5%. EPS: $61.92 (+37%).
FY2028E-FY2030E — deceleration by design, not collapse: +15% / +8% / +6.5%. We deliberately do not extrapolate +30% capacity additions forever. FY2028E revenue of $72.7B assumes the investigated 2028 capacity expansion partially converts; FY2029E (+8%) models a digestion year inside an intact structural uptrend; FY2030E reaches $83.6B — comfortably above the top of ASML’s own (stale, pre-supercycle) €44-60B 2030 model, which the June-2027 CMD is likely to re-baseline. Gross margin plateaus at 57.0-57.5%: the EUV/High-NA/service mix supports it, and we resist modeling management’s 60% aspiration until demonstrated.
High-NA is the swing factor inside the projection. We carry High-NA revenue from ~$0.9B (FY25A, two EXE:5200 recognitions) to ~$4.6B (FY26E, ~10 systems) to ~$14.5B by FY30E — by then ~17% of total revenue. This embeds Intel scaling 18A/14A insertions, Samsung deploying EXE:5200B for SF2 and HBM4, and TSMC adopting only at decade-end (A14P/A10, per its stated plan). A TSMC pull-forward is upside to these numbers; a High-NA cost-per-exposure stall is the main downside.
Opex and capital intensity. R&D grows from $5.6B (FY26E) to $8.0B (FY30E) — ~9.5% of revenue, funding the EXE roadmap and hyper-NA research; SG&A stays under 3% of revenue. Capex steps up to ~$2.7-3.3B/yr through the capacity build (Veldhoven expansion, Berlin optics, San Diego light sources) before normalizing — still under 5% of revenue, because ASML’s suppliers carry most of the fixed-asset burden of its ramps.
Cash flow and returns. We model CFO rising from $17.6B (FY26E) to $34.8B (FY30E) with FCF margins near 30-38%; working capital consumes cash in the ramp years (receivables and inventory build with the Q4-26 shipment wave) and releases later. Capital returns scale with the balance sheet: dividends grow ~15%/yr and buybacks step from the current €12B program toward ~$10-14B/yr by decade-end, taking diluted shares from 388.9M (FY25A) to ~362M (FY30E). We deliberately model returns conservatively; special dividends or an enlarged program at the 2027 CMD are upside optionality.
5 · Scenario Analysis
We model three explicit five-year paths through FY2030E, weighted 25% bull / 55% base / 20% bear. The blend produces a Scenario-Weighted Fair Value of ~$1,905, which we publish as a $1,900 Scenario Fair Value (the base-case anchor). The spread is wide — $1,050 to $2,600 — because semicap outcomes genuinely are: this is an industry where order books can double or halve inside four quarters, monopoly or not.
Base case (55%, $1,900). The guided 2026 lands at €44B; 2027 grows 26% on the committed +30% capacity; 2028-30 decelerates to +15%/+8%/+6.5% as the AI buildout matures without breaking. Gross margin walks 55.0% → 57.5%. EPS: $45.19 → $88.18 (26% CAGR). $1,900 equates to 30.7x FY27E and 25.7x FY28E earnings — a premium to the semicap group, justified by monopoly economics, but no longer a premium to ASML’s own recent trading range. The base case is, deliberately, management’s contracted plan minus the 2028 optionality.
Bull case (25%, $2,600). The supercycle extends: the investigated 2028 +30% capacity converts to commitments, TSMC pulls High-NA forward into A14P, HBM4/1γ DRAM EUV intensity surprises, and China DUV stabilizes. Revenue grows +40%/+32%/+22%/+14%/+12%, hitting ~$106B by FY30E with gross margin reaching 60% (management’s own 2030 aspiration). EPS reaches ~$121 by FY30E. $2,600 is ~29x the bull FY28E EPS of $89 — demanding, but this is the scenario in which ASML posts three consecutive +25% years and the market treats the 2030 CMD model as a floor. Q4-26 backlog >€50B would be the first confirmation.
Bear case (20%, $1,050). The classic semicap air pocket, AI edition: 2026 finishes at the low end (€43B, still +32% — the year is already contracted), but 2027 orders stall as hyperscaler capex digests, memory over-builds HBM, and China service restrictions bite. Revenue: +34%/+4%/−12%/+2%/+8%; gross margin troughs at 50% as under-utilized capacity and pricing concessions bite; EPS bottoms near $32 in FY2028E before recovering to $39 by FY2030E. $1,050 is ~27x the recovered FY30E bear EPS — bear-case multiples stay elevated because the monopoly survives every downcycle; it is the entry price that determines whether the holder does. Note the asymmetry this creates at a $1,815 entry: -42% to the bear anchor vs +43% to the bull.
What moves us between scenarios. Watch, in order: (1) the Q4-26 backlog print and initial 2027 guide (bull needs >€50B / €53-57B); (2) the 2028 capacity decision — commitment converts bull probability, quiet deferral converts bear; (3) High-NA order flow beyond Intel/Samsung; (4) hyperscaler capex guidance revisions, the ultimate upstream signal; (5) export-control headlines in either direction. We would re-weight bull above 25% on any two of the first three confirming.
6 · Valuation — and the Lab
We anchor our Scenario Fair Value of $1,900 on the base case of an explicitly modelled bull/base/bear blend (25/55/20 weights compute to $1,905), cross-checked against an intrinsic DCF that deliberately refuses to chase the price, and trading comparables that place ASML inside — not above — the US semicap complex on forward earnings. Precedent transactions are not a meaningful method here: nothing at ASML’s ~$700B scale and monopoly position has ever traded, and no regulator on three continents would allow it to.
DCF — perpetuity on normalized FCF ($1,292/share). We discount four years of explicit unlevered FCF (FY27-30E: $21.5B / $26.0B / $28.8B / $31.3B) at a 9.5% WACC (cost of equity 9.9% = 4.4% risk-free + 1.15β × 4.75% ERP; near-irrelevant debt at a 98/2 weighting), then apply Gordon growth on a normalized $33.5B FCF at g = 3.5% — a terminal growth rate we set above the usual 2.5-3.0% because lithography intensity and monopoly pricing power justify structural growth above global GDP. PV of explicit FCF: $85.0B. PV of terminal value: $402.0B (82.5% of EV — high, and honestly disclosed: this is a duration asset). Enterprise value $487.0B, plus net cash $6.4B, over 382M diluted shares → $1,292 per share.
DCF sensitivity — the grid cannot reach the price. Across the full 5×5 WACC × growth grid (8.5-10.5% × 2.5-4.5%), per-share value spans $988 to $1,898 (the interactive heatmap in the Valuation Lab below maps the full envelope). The friendliest corner — 8.5% WACC, 4.5% terminal growth, assumptions we would not defend individually — still lands below the $1,815 close. That is the single most important sentence in this report: on standard intrinsic-cash-flow assumptions, the market price already embeds the 2028 capacity option, High-NA’s memory insertion, and a CMD-2027 re-baseline. We do not treat that as a short signal — monopoly duration deserves terminal-value premium — but it disciplines the rating.
Trading comparables. The natural peer set is the US semicap triumvirate (AMAT, LRCX, KLAC), the customer-anchor TSM, and Tokyo Electron. Peer forward P/E runs 21.6x (TSM) to 46.5x (KLAC), median ~36.8x; ASML trades at ~36x forward consensus — inside the US peer range despite monopoly economics and a growth rate (FY27E EPS +37%) nearly double the peer median (~15%). On the PEG view this is the cheapest expensive stock in the group: the premium P/E is fully paid for by growth. Applying 25-35x to our FY27E EPS of $61.92 brackets $1,548-$2,167; peer-median EV/EBITDA logic (18-26x FY27E EBITDA of $29.3B, bridged over net cash) brackets $1,415-$2,040.
Football field & the blend. Method ranges: DCF perpetuity $990-$1,900 (base $1,292); Forward P/E comps $1,550-$2,165; EV/EBITDA comps $1,415-$2,040; scenario range $1,050-$2,600. The scenario blend (25% × $2,600 + 55% × $1,900 + 20% × $1,050 = $1,905) is our published anchor: $1,900 Scenario Fair Value, sitting near the top of the DCF grid, mid-range of both comps methods, and at the base scenario by construction.
Street context. Post-print sell-side consensus clusters near $1,950 (range roughly $1,500-$2,400, with the high end refreshed within hours of the July 15 guidance raise). Our $1,900 sits at consensus — the differentiation of this report is not the number, it is the explicit accounting of which future the number buys.
Rating logic. Kaamos View bands anchor on scenario fair value vs price: Positive above +15% upside, Neutral between -5% and +15%, Cautious below -5%. At +4.7% ($1,900 vs $1,815.27), ASML is Neutral. The View shifts Positive below ~$1,650 (where upside exceeds 15% and the bear case is partially pre-paid) and Cautious above ~$2,000 (where price exceeds our fair value and the bull case is the operative assumption).
Which multiples to actually trust for ASML
P/E (TTM) — primary. The street’s anchor for a monopoly compounder: earnings are high-quality (no commodity write-down cycle, IP-driven pricing, a service annuity underneath), so the earnings multiple carries real signal. Right now it reads 64x TTM against a ~40x 8-year mean (+2.5σ) — the most extended it has been in the band’s history. The honest caveat: TTM earnings lag a violent inflection; on our FY27E the same price is ~29x. The z-score is telling you how much of that future is pre-paid, not that earnings are about to disappoint.
EV/EBITDA (TTM) — secondary. Controls for the net-cash fortress balance sheet and reads the operating inflection fastest, since TTM EBITDA already carries the H1-26 step-up. At 33.5x vs a 30.1x mean (+0.5σ) it is the least alarmed multiple on the board — useful as the counterweight to the P/E signal, and the reason we are Neutral rather than Cautious.
P/Sales (TTM) — secondary. The purest read on how much monopoly is being capitalized, immune to margin flattery: 19.0x vs an 10.7x mean (+2.9σ) is the single most honest “expensive” datapoint we have. When gross margin structurally re-rates (51% → 56%), some P/S expansion is deserved; +2.9σ is more than “some.”
Excluded. P/B (31x, +1.9σ): an IP-and-ecosystem business where book value mostly reflects buyback accounting — economically meaningless. P/CF and P/FCF: customer prepayments whipsaw cash flow at quarterly and even annual granularity (Q4-25 CFO €11.4B; Q1-26 −€2.2B); our DCF normalizes through-cycle FCF instead of trusting any single reading. Dividend yield (0.4% vs 0.8% mean): a payout-policy artifact compressed by the €12B buyback — not a valuation anchor for a growth monopoly.
Net read: across the multiples that matter, ASML prices between +0.5σ (EV/EBITDA) and +2.9σ (P/S) above its own history, with the earnings-based anchor at +2.5σ. The market has pre-paid the contracted 2026-27 ramp; the bull/bear debate from here is entirely about 2028 and beyond. That is precisely a Neutral setup: right company, full price.
Lab parameters at print time: WACC = 9.5%, terminal growth = 3.5%, scenario = Base, DCF value / share = $1292.0.
Historical valuation bands — which multiples to actually look at
ASML at $1815 trades ~2.5σ above its own 8-year P/E mean (64x TTM vs ~40x) and ~2.9σ on P/S — the July guidance raise re-rated the stock ahead of the earnings it guides to. EV/EBITDA looks mildest (33x vs 30x mean, +0.5σ) because EBITDA is already inflecting; the multiple debate is really about how much of FY27-28 is in the price.
Why we excluded the other multiples for this name
- PB: ASML is an IP-and-ecosystem business; book value (P/B 31x) bears no relation to the economics and mostly reflects buyback accounting.
- PCF: Customer prepayments whipsaw operating cash flow quarter to quarter (Q4-25 CFO €11.4B; Q1-26 −€2.2B) — the multiple is uninterpretable at annual granularity.
- PFCF: Same prepayment timing noise as P/CF, plus capex cycles with capacity builds; through-cycle FCF is what our DCF normalizes instead.
- DIV/YIELD: Yield (~0.4%) is a payout-policy artifact compressed by the €12B buyback program, not a valuation anchor for a growth monopoly.
7 · Company
Business. ASML Holding N.V. (Veldhoven, the Netherlands; ~44,500 FTEs) supplies photolithography systems — the machines that project circuit patterns onto silicon — to every major chipmaker on earth. It is the sole producer of extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems, without which no leading-edge logic or advanced DRAM chip can be economically manufactured, and it holds >90% of the immersion DUV market beneath. Revenue splits three ways: EUV systems (~36% of FY25 revenue, ASPs €235-400M+ per machine), DUV + metrology/inspection systems (~39%), and Installed Base Management — service and field upgrades on the >5,700 systems shipped since inception (~25%, the fastest-compounding line). Customers are the five companies that define the leading edge — TSMC, Samsung, SK Hynix, Intel, Micron — plus the mature-node universe.
History. Founded 1984 as a Philips/ASM International joint venture; IPO’d 1995 (Amsterdam + NASDAQ). Three acquisitions built the modern stack: Cymer (2013, EUV light sources), Hermes Microvision (2016, e-beam inspection), Berliner Glas (2020, optics). The EUV program — two decades and >€10B, part-funded by Intel, TSMC and Samsung through the 2012 Customer Co-Investment Program — produced a literal monopoly: every EUV production system in existence (~250) is an ASML machine, with Carl Zeiss SMT (24.9% ASML-owned) as irreplaceable optics partner. Christophe Fouquet (CEO since April 2024) now runs the company through its steepest ramp ever; CFO Roger Dassen architected the capital-return program (dividend €1.40 → €7.50 over 2017-25; €12B buyback through 2028).
Financial scale. FY2025: revenue €32.7B (+15.6%), gross margin 52.8%, net income €9.6B, backlog €38.8B, €8.5B returned to shareholders. On July 15, 2026, management raised 2026 guidance to €43-45B revenue (+35% at midpoint) at 54-56% gross margin — the largest guidance raise in company history — and committed to expanding EUV and DUV immersion output ~30% each for 2027. The revenue mix by technology and the divisional economics are summarized in the chart and table below; the structural story is EUV and service compounding while DUV cash-cows.
Joined 2008; ran EUV through industrialization, then Chief Business Officer. Authored the +30%/+30% capacity commitment and the largest guidance raise in company history.
Ex-Deloitte Global vice chair. Built the capital-return machine: dividend €1.40→€7.50 (2017-25), €12B buyback (2026-28), prepayment-funded working capital.
Joined via Brion (2007). Owns the TSMC/Samsung/Intel/SK Hynix/Micron relationships and the long-term agreement framework behind the 2026-28 capacity plan.
Business mix & divisional economics
| Division | FY23A rev | FY30E rev | CAGR | Est. op margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EUV systems (low-NA + High-NA) | $9.9B | $42.6B | +23% | ~48% |
| DUV + metrology & inspection | $13.8B | $18.4B | +4% | ~38% |
| Installed Base Management | $6.1B | $22.6B | +21% | ~45% |
Products & Services
Low-NA EUV (NXE series) — the monopoly product. 13.5nm-wavelength lithography at 0.33 numerical aperture; flagship NXE:3800E delivers ~220 wafers/hour at ~€235-260M ASP. 48 systems recognized revenue in 2025 (€11.6B, +39%). Every chip at 7nm-class and below — every NVIDIA GPU, Apple SoC, HBM base die — requires these machines for critical layers, and demand is now step-changing as DRAM (1γ, HBM4) adds EUV layers. Output: ~65 systems planned 2026, +30% for 2027, another +30% under investigation for 2028.
High-NA EUV (EXE series) — the next monopoly. 0.55 NA optics resolve ~1.7x finer features per exposure, eliminating 2-3 multi-patterning passes at sub-2nm geometries. ASP ~€380-420M — roughly double low-NA. The platform crossed its commercial Rubicon in July 2026: Intel shipped the first high-volume logic product patterned with High-NA (select layers of “Panther Lake” on 18A, 85% cited yield), and Samsung has EXE:5200B systems committed for SF2 logic and HBM4 memory. TSMC remains the deliberate holdout until ~2029 (A14P/A10). About 10 EXE shipments are planned for 2026; we model High-NA revenue scaling from ~$0.9B (FY25A) to ~$14.5B (FY30E).
DUV — the volume franchise. Immersion systems (NXT:2000i-2100i, ~€60-90M) carry logic non-critical layers, DRAM, NAND and the leading edge’s enormous supporting-layer demand: 2025 DUV revenue €12.0B across 279 systems (47% immersion). Immersion output expands ~30% for 2027 (~170 systems). Dry DUV (KrF/i-line) serves mature nodes — historically China-heavy, now normalizing. Top-end immersion has been export-restricted to China since 2023.
Metrology, inspection & computational lithography. YieldStar optical metrology and HMI e-beam inspection close the litho feedback loop (~€0.9B of 2025 system sales); Brion computational lithography — now augmented through the September 2025 Mistral AI partnership (ASML invested €1.3B) — optimizes patterns before a wafer is ever exposed. Strategically essential at High-NA tolerances.
Installed Base Management — the annuity. Service contracts plus field/performance upgrades produced €8.2B in 2025 (+26%) and €5.25B in H1-2026 alone (+28% YoY, ~28% of revenue). The economics are exceptional: an NXE:3600D→3800E conversion adds ~35% output to a machine the customer already owns, priced against the alternative of a new €235M tool — the highest-margin revenue in the company, growing on a base that only ever gets larger. Management explicitly flagged a “significantly expanding upgrade portfolio” as a 2027-28 lever alongside new-system capacity.
Customers & Go-to-Market
ASML’s customer list is the shortest of any $50B-revenue company: effectively five names fund >85% of system revenue, and the concentration is intrinsic — they are the only five companies still manufacturing at the leading edge.
TSMC (~32% of system revenue, est.) is the anchor: N2 ramping through 2026, A16 behind it, 2026 capex guided $52-56B, and advanced packaging (CoWoS) booked through mid-2027. Taiwan took ~35% of ASML’s shipments in recent quarters. TSMC buys every low-NA tool ASML can allocate — while deliberately deferring High-NA to ~2029, the single most consequential customer decision in the model.
Samsung (~22%, est.) runs dual demand: SF2 foundry logic (with EXE:5200B High-NA committed) and memory — where HBM4 and 1γ DRAM insert EUV layers at rising intensity. SK Hynix (~13%, est.), the HBM leader, drives the fastest-growing EUV demand vector in memory. Intel (~10%, est.) is the High-NA flagship — first production insertion on 18A, 14A committed — and an underappreciated call option: every increment of Intel Foundry recovery is incremental ASML demand. Micron (~7%, est.) inserted EUV at 1γ and is building US-located DRAM capacity (Idaho, New York).
The China cohort (SMIC, Hua Hong, CXMT and dozens of smaller fabs) took 29% of 2025 revenue — entirely DUV and dry tools; EUV has never shipped to China. This bucket normalized from 36% in 2024 as the stockpiling wave passed, and it carries the report’s largest regulatory tail risk in both tool sales and installed-base service.
Commercial architecture. ASML sells through long-term agreements with prepayments — customers finance the capacity that serves them (contract liabilities exceeded €7B at end-2025 across current and non-current). This is why ASML can commit to +30% output expansion for 2027: the order book is collateralized visibility. Backlog stood at €38.8B at year-end 2025, before the “extremely strong” H1-2026 intake (ASML stopped publishing quarterly bookings in Q1-2026; the annual backlog disclosure continues).
Industry Overview
The 2026 WFE upcycle is AI-capacity-led and broadening. SEMI projects 300mm fab equipment spending up 18% to ~$133B in 2026 and another 14% to ~$151B in 2027 — records both years — led by Taiwan (leading-edge logic), Korea (HBM/DRAM) and a normalizing China. The demand stack behind those numbers: AI accelerator logic (TSMC N2/A16, Samsung SF2, Intel 18A/14A), the HBM buildout (bit demand growing >50%/yr with all three DRAM makers expanding simultaneously), advanced packaging pulling incremental litho, and mature nodes digesting their 2023-24 over-order.
The customers’ capex tells the story before the suppliers’ P&Ls do. TSMC guided 2026 capex to $52-56B; Samsung and the memory complex (SK Hynix + Micron) are stepping up faster than any point since 2018; Intel’s foundry spend stabilizes then grows with 18A/14A. In aggregate we estimate leading-edge customer capex rising from ~$135B (2025) to ~$185B (2027E) — and lithography is the longest-lead-time, least-substitutable line item inside every one of those budgets.
Litho intensity is the structural kicker on top of the cycle. Lithography has historically captured ~13-14% of WFE; that share is grinding toward ~16%+ as (1) each node transition adds EUV layers — roughly 15 at N5 to 25+ at N2; (2) memory joins: DRAM 1γ carries ~5-6 EUV layers vs ~1 at 1α, and HBM4 adds EUV to base dies; (3) High-NA doubles the ASP per critical exposure; and (4) the installed base compounds service and upgrade revenue independent of new-tool cycles. ASML’s revenue algorithm is therefore roughly 2× WFE growth through the decade.
Regime context. ASML’s own November-2024 Investor Day modeled 2030 revenue of €44-60B at 56-60% gross margin. The 2026 guide (€43-45B) reaches that range’s floor four years early — the frame is stale to the upside, and the June 10, 2027 Capital Markets Day re-baseline is effectively a scheduled bull catalyst. The industry backdrop consistent with our base case is a semiconductor market crossing ~$1.3-1.5T by 2030 with AI as the dominant delta; the risk case is not secular (lithography demand is as close to inevitable as capex gets) but cyclical — this industry has never grown four years in a straight line, and 2027-28 order timing is the live question.
Competitive Landscape
ASML’s competitive position is the strongest of any large-cap company we cover — closer to a regulated utility’s exclusivity than to normal technology competition, except the exclusivity was earned through R&D rather than granted.
EUV: 100% share, zero competitors, ~decade-long moat. No other company has ever shipped a production EUV system, low-NA or High-NA. The barrier is an ecosystem, not a patent: Carl Zeiss SMT’s projection optics (a co-dependency ASML reinforced with a 24.9% equity stake), Cymer/TRUMPF light sources, ~5,000 qualified suppliers, and the installed-base learning loop from ~250 field systems feeding every next-generation design. Japan’s litho research consortia and China’s SMEE (DUV prototypes at SSA:600-class specs) are the only stated aspirants; neither has a credible EUV roadmap inside a decade.
Immersion DUV: >90% share. Nikon retains a single-digit niche (legacy Intel and Japanese fabs); Canon exited immersion entirely. The only genuinely contested lithography segment is dry DUV/i-line — the cheapest, least strategic tier, where Nikon and Canon compete on price for mature-node capacity. Canon’s nanoimprint (NIL) — the perennial “EUV killer” headline — has after 15+ years achieved exactly one production insertion (Kioxia, non-critical NAND layers); defect density and overlay keep it out of logic and DRAM critical layers.
The real competitive dynamics are vertical, not horizontal. With no rival to lose share to, ASML’s economics are constrained by (1) customer countervailing power — five sophisticated buyers negotiating €250-400M tool prices with visibility into ASML’s cost curve (they co-funded it); (2) regulatory substitution — export controls, not competitors, decide who may buy which tools, making Washington and The Hague the de facto competitive authority; and (3) self-competition through upgrades — every field upgrade that adds 35% output to an installed scanner is a new-tool sale deferred, a trade ASML happily makes for margin and account control.
Peer framing for investors. Against the semicap complex (AMAT, LRCX, KLAC, Tokyo Electron), ASML is the only one with monopoly pricing power, the deepest backlog visibility, and the highest gross-margin trajectory; the peers compete in oligopolies with genuine share fights each node. That is why ASML’s multiple premium exists — the comps section quantifies whether today’s premium is the right premium.
Market Opportunity
TAM. We size the lithography systems + service market at ~$46B in 2025, expanding to ~$76B by 2028E — a ~18% CAGR, roughly double the WFE growth rate, driven by EUV layer intensity, High-NA ASPs and the compounding installed-base service pool. ASML captures ~90% of this value pool today (100% of EUV, >90% of immersion, all of its own service base), and its capture rises with mix: every point of EUV/High-NA share shift moves revenue from the contested dry-DUV tier to the monopoly tier.
Positioning. The share-vs-growth map is unlike any other market we cover: the dominant player (89% revenue share) is also growing fastest (~30% in 2026E), because the growth segments — EUV, High-NA, EUV-class service — are precisely the ones with no second source. Nikon (~7% share) and Canon (~4%) participate almost entirely in the low-growth mature-node tier; their combined litho R&D is a fraction of ASML’s €4.7B.
Where the next $30B of TAM comes from. (1) EUV unit expansion: 65 → ~85 → potentially ~110 low-NA systems/year by 2028, at rising ASPs (NXE:3800E+); (2) High-NA ramp: ~10 systems (2026) toward 25-30/year by decade-end at ~2x ASP — a ~$12-15B annual market by itself; (3) memory EUV insertion: DRAM 1γ and HBM4 turn the memory industry from a DUV customer into an EUV customer; (4) service & upgrades: the installed base never shrinks, and each generation’s tools carry higher service intensity — we model IBM revenue nearly doubling to ~$22.6B by FY30E; (5) China mature-node demand persists in the unrestricted tier, cyclical but structurally positive.
SAM/SOM discipline. ASML’s serviceable market is effectively its TAM (it serves every segment it chooses to); the practical constraint is its own output capacity and export-license boundaries, not demand or competition. That inversion — supply-constrained monopoly in a demand-super-cycle — is why the 2027-28 capacity decisions, not market sizing, are the numbers that move the model.
8 · Risks to the Target
Export controls & geopolitics — the defining tail risk. China generated 29% of 2025 revenue (down from 36% in 2024), all of it DUV — EUV has never been licensed for export to China, and top-end immersion (NXT:2000i and above) has been restricted since 2023. The risk runs both directions: incremental US/Dutch restrictions on mid-tier tools or on servicing the ~1,400-system China installed base would hit revenue and the IBM annuity directly; and on the other side of the strait, Taiwan takes ~30-35% of shipments — ASML is structurally long the physical security of TSMC’s fabs. There is no hedge for this; there is only position sizing.
Cycle timing — the 2027-28 order cliff scenario. The €43-45B 2026 guide is effectively contracted, but 2027 consensus (~+25%) assumes AI capex compounds without pause. Semicap has never delivered four consecutive years of straight-line growth; ASML itself guided €34-39B for 2026 just six months before guiding €43-45B, which tells you how fast this industry’s visibility regime changes — in both directions. The October 2024 template (one bookings miss, -20% in days) shows how the market treats a 2.5σ multiple when orders wobble. Watch hyperscaler capex guidance, the most upstream signal available.
Customer concentration. TSMC (~32% of system revenue, est.), Samsung (~22%), SK Hynix (~13%), Intel (~10%) and Micron (~7%) fund the model. Single-account decisions move billions: TSMC has already deferred High-NA to ~2029 (A14P/A10); a Samsung foundry retrenchment or an Intel funding crisis would strand capacity ASML is building now. Concentration is intrinsic to the leading edge — it cannot be diversified away, only monitored.
High-NA economics. At ~2.5x the cost per exposure of low-NA, High-NA must win on total cost per good wafer — throughput, yield, and multi-patterning avoidance. Intel’s 18A production insertion (85% cited yield) is proof of technical viability, not yet of industry-wide economics; TSMC’s public skepticism for A14 is the strongest counterparty testimony that the case remains open. A slow EXE ramp would leave ~€400M-ASP capacity underutilized and compress the 2028-30 margin walk.
Supply chain single points. Zeiss SMT is the sole source for projection optics; TRUMPF for drive lasers; final assembly happens in one Veldhoven complex. The +30%/+30% output expansion stresses every tier of a ~5,000-supplier chain running 12-18 month lead times on precision components. ASML’s mitigation — co-investment, multi-year component orders, the January 2026 organizational streamlining — is credible but execution-heavy during the steepest ramp in company history.
Memory cyclicality inside the AI trade. The marginal 2026-27 demand surge is disproportionately HBM/DRAM capacity. Memory has never sustained a four-year upcycle; an HBM oversupply in 2027-28 (all three DRAM makers are adding capacity simultaneously) would hit the fastest-growing slice of the order book first. Litho is later-cycle than WFE peers here — backlog cushions the first shock, then amplifies the second year.
Valuation risk — distinct from business risk. At 64x TTM earnings (+2.5σ vs own history) and 19x sales (+2.9σ), the stock price embeds sustained execution. Our bear case ($1,050, -42%) assumes no catastrophe — just a normal digestion year with a 50% trough gross margin. Investors underwriting at this price are underwriting the absence of a pause, not the presence of growth.
Lower-order risks we monitor: FX (EUR-invoiced revenue vs USD listing — the 1.04→1.14 EUR move flattered USD growth ~8% since early 2025); organizational execution of the Technology/IT streamlining during the ramp; China indigenization (SMEE) eroding restricted-tier DUV demand in the 2030s; Canon nanoimprint remaining confined to non-critical NAND layers; and IP/litigation, historically well-managed (Nikon cross-license 2019).
Catalysts to watch
- Q3 2026 earnings (Oct 14) — first quarter at the €11-12B run-rate; a beat validates the record Q4 implied by guidance
- FY 2026 results + year-end backlog (late Jan 2027) — backlog >€50B and a €53-57B initial 2027 guide are the bull-case data points
- 2028 capacity decision (H2-26/H1-27) — converting 'investigating another +30%' into commitments extends the runway through 2029
- High-NA order flow — a TSMC pull-forward to A14P, or SK Hynix EXE commitments for HBM4, reopens the EXE TAM debate
- Capital Markets Day (Jun 10, 2027) — 2030 model re-baseline from €44-60B; the formal AI-supercycle framing event
Upcoming events
- 2026-10-14 — Q3 2026 earnings (First print of the €11-12B quarterly run-rate; IBM sales guided ~€2.9B)
- 2027-01-27 — Q4 + FY 2026 results (approx.) (Year-end backlog disclosure + initial 2027 guidance; the single biggest catalyst on the calendar)
- 2027-06-10 — Capital Markets Day (2030 model re-baseline (Nov-2024 frame of €44-60B is already stale to the upside))