ASML warns of uncertain growth prospects due to global political instability

Chipmaking equipment manufacturer ASML cannot yet confirm whether the company will see growth next year due to “increasing uncertainty” resulting from macroeconomic and geopolitical developments, CEO Christophe Fouquet has said during an explanation of the second-quarter figures.

The Veldhoven-based company posted revenue of 7.6 billion euros in the past quarter, slightly less than in the previous quarter. New orders rose to a value of 5.5 billion euros, up from 3.9 billion euros in the first quarter of this year. Despite the warning about 2026, this figure is above market analysts’ expectations.

The most advanced lithography machines from the Brabant-based company, which use extreme ultraviolet light to etch patterns onto chips, accounted for 2.3 billion euros in orders.

The net profit for ASML, the largest supplier of equipment for the production of microchips in the world, dropped to 2.3 billion euros in the second quarter. In the first quarter of this year, the bottom line showed a profit of 2.4 billion euros.

ASML expects revenue in the current third quarter to come in between 7.4 billion euros and 7.9 billion euros. For the full year 2025, the company anticipates revenue growth of around 15 percent. Last year, ASML’s revenue amounted to 28.3 billion euros.

The company has been making large investments in expanding the product capacity and technological developments to help meet the expected growth in demand from clients like Samsung, Intel, and TSMC.

This growth is largely connected to the rapid development of new applications of artificial intelligence (AI). “Artificial intelligence is the main driver of our industry,” Fouquet said earlier this year.

The company can profit from hundreds of millions of euros being invested in AI data centers in the next few years. This is partly because the company holds a near-monopoly on certain chipmaking machines required to produce the most advanced chips from U.S.-based Nvidia. These chips form the foundation of much of the planned AI infrastructure.

The announcement of the quarterly numbers led to a disappointing day on the Amsterdam stock exchange. The stock fell nearly 7 percent in early trading. This comes a day after ASML was the top gainer in the AEX index, rising by 2.7 percent.