ASML, the world’s largest supplier of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, reported a sharp rebound in quarterly bookings on Wednesday as customers push ahead with investments to expand capacity for artificial-intelligence chip production.
Fourth-quarter bookings - the industry metric closely watched for capacity investment trends - came to 13.2 billion euros, up from 5.4 billion euros in the previous quarter. That outpaced analyst forecasts of 6.32 billion euros as compiled by Visible Alpha.
ASML attributed the stronger order flow to customers revising their medium-term views on demand tied to AI. "In the last months, many of our customers have shared a notably more positive assessment of the medium-term market situation, primarily based on more robust expectations of the sustainability of AI-related demand," ASML’s Chief executive Christophe Fouquet said in a statement.
The increase in orders coincides with several of ASML’s chipmaker customers raising their investment plans to meet surging demand for both logic and memory chips used by major cloud computing firms such as Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet’s Google.
Reflecting the improved outlook, ASML also lifted its guidance for full-year 2026 sales to a range of 34 billion to 39 billion euros. That compares with analysts' expectations of about 35 billion euros, according to LSEG data, and follows a 2025 sales figure of 32.7 billion euros. The company had previously signaled flat-to-lower sales for the year following 2025.
"We expect 2026 to be another growth year for ASML’s business," Fouquet added.
Analysts had anticipated that ASML would benefit from stronger capital spending by top foundry and memory customers, including TSMC and Samsung, as those manufacturers expand capacity for AI-related chips amid tight global supply of memory and AI-accelerator chips.
For reference on currency terms in the results, $1 = 0.8339 euros.
Market implications
- ASML’s booking beat signals increased capital expenditure by chipmakers focused on AI-capable logic and memory production.
- The raised 2026 sales guidance points to expectations of continued momentum in equipment demand for the year ahead.
- Top customers such as TSMC and Samsung are cited as key drivers of the increased investment activity.
The company’s results and guidance will be watched by investors tracking the semiconductor equipment cycle and the capital intensity of AI-driven capacity expansion. ASML’s fortunes are closely tied to the timing and scale of chipmakers’ spending plans.