Last Updated -
April 15, 2026
Explore the business model, global strategy, and market performance including insights into its position in China.
Founded in 1984 as a joint venture between Philips and ASM International, ASML is headquartered in Veldhoven, the Netherlands. The company builds lithography systems, the machines that project circuit patterns onto silicon wafers so chipmakers can manufacture semiconductors at scale. Over time, ASML expanded from hardware into software, metrology, inspection, and service, giving customers a broader toolkit for advanced chip production. ASML now employs more than 44,000 people across more than 60 locations worldwide.
ASML sits at the center of the semiconductor supply chain because its tools support both logic and memory production, especially at advanced process nodes. In 2025, the company generated €32.7 billion in net sales and invested €4.7 billion in R&D, reflecting its focus on next-generation EUV systems and a growing installed base service business. ASML describes its mission as advancing microchip technology with partners and treating technology as a force for good. In its April 2026 update, the company reported €8.8 billion in first-quarter sales and raised full-year 2026 guidance to €36 billion to €40 billion as AI-driven chip demand continued to support customer expansion plans.
ASML generates revenue from a mix of new lithography system sales, software and metrology tools, and a growing installed base business built on service, field upgrades, and refurbishment. In 2025, ASML reported €24.5 billion in net system sales and €8.2 billion in net service and field option sales, with service revenue rising 26.2% year over year. That mix matters because it ties ASML’s growth to both new fab investments and the long operating life of machines already in customer fabs. Almost every lithography system ASML has ever shipped is still in use, which supports recurring revenue from maintenance, productivity upgrades, and reuse across mature-node manufacturing.
ASML’s market position remains exceptional. The company states that it is currently the world’s only manufacturer of EUV lithography systems, giving it a monopoly in the most advanced patterning step of semiconductor manufacturing. In DUV, ASML says its immersion systems lead the industry in productivity, imaging, and overlay performance. That combination gives ASML a rare position: monopoly supplier at the leading edge, dominant supplier across large parts of the broader lithography market, and a critical partner to the top chipmakers’ long-term capacity plans. ASML’s Q1 2026 update, which lifted full-year sales guidance to €36 billion to €40 billion, shows that this position remains intact as AI-related chip demand drives new fab investment and more upgrades of the installed base.
China remains one of ASML’s most important regional markets, though the revenue mix has become more concentrated in DUV systems, service, training, and local support activities rather than the most advanced EUV layers. In the first half of 2025, ASML recorded €3.7 billion in net sales in China, down from €4.8 billion in the same period of 2024, which points to normalization after an unusually strong 2024 comparison base. Even so, ASML’s CFO said the company’s DUV business in China was stronger than anticipated in 2025, offsetting weaker mainstream DUV demand outside China.
ASML’s strategy in China is centered on customer support and local capability building. The company highlights fast-growing customer support operations in China, computational lithography software development in Shenzhen, e-beam metrology and inspection manufacturing in Beijing, and a DUV training center in Shanghai for both ASML engineers and customer teams. This matters because ASML’s position in China depends not only on tool shipments, but also on uptime, productivity upgrades, and process know-how inside customer fabs.
Looking into 2026, management said China’s share of total net sales should track the current system backlog at around 20%. That suggests China remains a large and durable market for ASML, but not the main driver of its EUV-led growth story, which is tied more closely to advanced logic and DRAM capacity expansion outside China. ASML also said its 2026 guidance range includes the possible outcomes of ongoing export control discussions, which keeps China important but strategically constrained.
ASML enters 2026 with stronger momentum than it had at the start of the year. After reporting €32.7 billion in net sales for 2025 and ending the year with a backlog of about €38.8 billion, management raised full-year 2026 sales guidance to €36 billion to €40 billion after Q1 2026. The company tied that stronger outlook to AI infrastructure spending, faster capacity expansion by advanced logic and DRAM customers, and rising upgrade and service demand from machines already installed in fabs. Installed Base Management sales reached €2.488 billion in Q1 2026, which shows that growth is coming from both new systems and the installed base.
ASML’s future growth rests on three pillars: AI-driven lithography intensity, High NA EUV adoption, and a larger installed base that generates more service and upgrade revenue. The main constraints are export controls, capacity execution, and the semiconductor cycle. Management’s 2030 framework, which still points to a revenue opportunity of roughly €44 billion to €60 billion, shows that ASML still sees a multi-year runway well beyond the current upcycle.
This Company Profile was written by Dominik Diemer
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