ASML gave the clearest signal yet on Wednesday that the artificial intelligence buildout is still accelerating upstream, in the factories that make the chips themselves. The Dutch lithography giant reported third-quarter net sales of 11.662 billion euros and net income of 4.960 billion euros, with a gross margin of 57.5 percent and basic earnings per share of 12.95 euros.
Those figures mark a sharp step up from both the prior quarter and a year ago. Sales rose from 9.326 billion euros in the second quarter and from 7.516 billion euros in the same period last year, while net income more than doubled from 2.13 billion euros a year earlier. Earnings per share also climbed from 5.49 euros a year ago, underscoring how strongly demand for advanced logic and memory production is flowing through to the equipment layer.
The quarter was strong enough for ASML to raise its full-year outlook for the third time this year. The company now expects 2026 net sales of 44 billion to 45 billion euros, lifting the low end of its previous 43 billion to 45 billion euro range, and it expects a full-year gross margin of around 56 percent. For the fourth quarter alone, it forecast net sales of 14.2 billion to 15.2 billion euros and a gross margin of approximately 57 percent, pointing to an even larger finish to the year.
Volume helped drive the result. ASML sold 113 new lithography systems in the quarter, up from 86 in the second quarter, along with eight used systems. Its Installed Base Management business, which covers service and field options for machines already in fabs, contributed 3.289 billion euros, up from 2.762 billion euros in the previous quarter. That combination matters: chipmakers are not only ordering new tools, they are also paying to get more productivity from the installed base they already own.
The most telling part of the report, however, was the capacity warning that came with it. ASML said its planned supply for 2027 and 2028 is expected to fall short of customer demand, and that it is investigating additional capacity for 2028. Some customers are already expressing interest in orders for 2029 and 2030, a planning horizon that shows how far ahead leading chipmakers are trying to lock in production capability.
For enterprise IT and data center operators, the takeaway is indirect but important. Every new AI cluster depends on a long chain that starts well before servers reach a loading dock, and lithography sits near the start of that chain. When the sole supplier of the most advanced lithography systems says demand will outrun planned supply for two more years, it reinforces expectations of tight availability and firm pricing for leading-edge processors, accelerators and high-bandwidth memory well beyond the current buying cycle.
It also helps explain why hyperscalers and chipmakers keep placing orders years in advance rather than waiting for demand to soften. If ASML is still studying how to add capacity for 2028 while customers ask about 2029 and 2030, the industry is planning on the assumption that AI infrastructure spending stays elevated for years, not quarters.