What Does ASML Do? The Only Maker of EUV Chip Machines

ASML is a Dutch company that makes the machines which print circuit patterns onto computer chips. In 2025 it sold 44 of its standard extreme ultraviolet (EUV) machines, which brought in an average of €237.4 million of revenue each.

ASML's 2025 annual report, filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Form 20-F, states that ASML is "currently the world's only manufacturer of EUV lithography systems". That position shapes everything else, from its margins to the export licences it needs.

Lithography is the printing step in chipmaking. The machine shines light through a patterned mask onto a silicon wafer coated with light-sensitive chemicals, which copies the circuit pattern onto the wafer.

ASML reports as a single segment, so there is no divisional profit to split out. It does split sales by product.

Systems produced €24.5 billion of 2025 net sales. EUV machines were €11.6 billion of that, or 35.5% of everything ASML sold. Deep ultraviolet (DUV) immersion machines, the workhorse for less advanced layers, were another €10.3 billion.

Metrology and inspection tools, which measure and check the printed wafers, brought in €0.8 billion of that €24.5 billion.

The buyers fall into two camps. Logic chipmakers, who make processors, took €16.1 billion of system sales in 2025, or 65.6%. Memory chipmakers took €8.4 billion, or 34.4%.

ASML is one link in a longer chain. Our guide to the semiconductor value chain covers the other links, from chip design to the factory floor. The 11 stock market sectors guide shows where chip companies sit.

The difference between the two families is the wavelength of the light. EUV light has a wavelength of 13.5 nanometres. A shorter wavelength draws finer lines, so EUV prints the critical layers on the most advanced chips.

DUV prints the rest, in the three forms the next chart names. Immersion machines use an argon fluoride (ArF) laser at 193 nanometres, with a thin layer of water between lens and wafer. Dry ArF machines leave the water out.

KrF machines use a krypton fluoride laser at 248 nanometres. i-line machines use a mercury vapour lamp at 365 nanometres. Both print coarser lines than ArF machines, so both sell for far less.

ASML sells a bigger-lens version of EUV too, with a larger numerical aperture (NA), called High NA.

The price gap is the point. In 2025 an EUV machine brought in an average of €237.4 million, against €78.7 million for an ArF immersion machine and €12.8 million for a KrF machine. The four High NA machines sold in 2025 averaged €289.2 million.

The gap matters because the units are not comparable. ASML sold 327 lithography machines in 2025, along with 208 metrology and inspection tools. The 48 EUV machines among the 327, 44 standard and 4 High NA, produced close to half of system sales.

One supplier sits inside every EUV machine. ASML's annual report calls Carl Zeiss SMT its sole supplier of lenses, mirrors and other optics, under an exclusive arrangement. ASML states that if Carl Zeiss SMT ended the supply relationship, or could not keep producing optics over a prolonged period, ASML would effectively cease to be able to conduct its business.

Every machine sold is a machine to be serviced and upgraded for years. ASML reports this as net service and field option sales. Field options are its term for upgrades fitted to machines already installed.

In 2025 that line came to €8.2 billion, or 25.1% of net sales. It grew 26.2% in the year, against 12.4% for system sales.

ASML attributes the growth to a bigger installed base, heavier machine use by some customers and more upgrades in the field. In the three months to 27 September 2026 the line reached €3.3 billion, above ASML's own guidance.

The installed base barely shrinks. ASML's annual report states that approximately 95% of the systems it has sold in the last 30 years are still in use. Older machines get refurbished and resold, which keeps them on the service books.

Customer concentration is extreme. Four customers accounted for €20.0 billion of net sales in 2025, or 61.2% of the total, up from 53.8% in 2024. The Form 20-F does not name them.

The regional split is the next best read. ASML attributes net sales to where the customer's own facilities sit. Customers in China took 29.1% of 2025 net sales, Taiwan 25.5%, South Korea 25.0% and the United States 12.5%.

One customer is named elsewhere. ASML's second-quarter 2026 investor presentation quotes Intel Foundry, the contract chipmaking arm of Intel. Intel Foundry has approved High NA EUV for production use on selected layers of its Intel 18A chip process.

Under Dutch, US and other laws, ASML needs export licences for EUV machines, specific DUV immersion machines and some other products.

China's share of net sales has swung with those rules and with demand. Customers there took 14.7% in 2021, 26.3% in 2023, a record 36.1% in 2024, then 29.1% in 2025.

Two changes came from Europe in 2025. The Netherlands widened its licence rules on 15 January to cover more equipment, mainly certain metrology and inspection tools.

The European Union took those Dutch controls into its own list in November 2025, which changed nothing for ASML.

The third change came from the United States. Its Department of Commerce introduced the Affiliates Rule on 1 October 2025, extending Entity List restrictions to companies at least half-owned by listed parties.

As at 14 October 2026 the rule is suspended until 10 November 2026 under a trade agreement with China. ASML's annual report states that it currently has no impact on its operations.

The 2026 quarterly releases up to the quarter ended 27 September give no China figure. Its last published view came on 15 October 2025, when it said it expected lower China net sales in 2026 than in 2024 and 2025.

ASML reports in euros, under US generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).

For 2025: net sales were €32.7 billion, up 15.6%. Gross margin was 52.8% and operating margin 34.6%. Net income was €9.6 billion, or 29.4% of sales. Research and development cost €4.7 billion, which is 14.4% of sales.

Free cash flow was €11.0 billion. ASML defines that non-GAAP measure as operating cash flow minus purchases of property, plant, equipment and intangible assets. Our guide to free cash flow explains why definitions differ.

Order intake is harder to follow now. ASML booked €28.0 billion of net system orders in 2025, including €13.2 billion in the fourth quarter. It ended the year with a backlog of €38.8 billion.

The 2026 quarterly releases up to the quarter ended 27 September leave the bookings figure out. In that quarter net sales were a record €11.7 billion at a gross margin of 57.5%. Net income was €5.0 billion, including a €509.7 million gain on equity investments.

On 14 October 2026 ASML guided to full-year 2026 net sales between €44 billion and €45 billion, at a gross margin of around 56%.

ASML's shares trade in Amsterdam in euros and on Nasdaq in dollars. The figures below are Nasdaq closes, so a euro-based holder's return differs.

Applied Materials, which ASML's annual report names as a competitor in patterning, is another US-listed maker of chipmaking equipment.

Over the five years to 13 October 2026 ASML's shares rose 130.8% in dollars, against 262.1% for Applied Materials and 78.8% for SPY (the S&P 500 ETF). These are closing prices, with dividends not counted.

The chart sets all three lines to 100 at the start. ASML closed 13.7% below its highest close of the five years, $1,989.44 on 30 June 2026.

Three things move the stock. Customer spending plans come first, because a handful of chipmakers decide the order book. Export rules come second, because they decide what can ship where. Order intake comes third, which is harder to follow while ASML leaves the bookings figure out.

ASML sells the one tool its most advanced customers cannot buy anywhere else. The 48 EUV machines it sold in 2025 produced close to half of its €24.5 billion of system sales.

A standard EUV machine brought in an average of €237.4 million in 2025. ASML publishes no price list, so revenue per system sold, taken from its filing, is the closest guide. The four High NA machines averaged €289.2 million. ArF immersion machines averaged €78.7 million, KrF machines €12.8 million.

ASML is the only maker. Its 2025 Form 20-F states that it is "currently the world's only manufacturer of EUV lithography systems". Other companies make DUV machines, which handle less demanding layers. ASML depends on a single supplier, Carl Zeiss SMT, for the optics inside its EUV machines.

Yes. Customers in China took 29.1% of ASML's net sales in 2025, down from a record 36.1% in 2024. EUV machines and specific DUV immersion machines need export licences under Dutch and US rules. In October 2025 ASML said it expected lower China net sales in 2026.

ASML is Dutch. Its shares trade in Amsterdam and on Nasdaq. As a foreign company listed in the US, it files an annual report on Form 20-F instead of the Form 10-K that US companies file. It reports in euros under US generally accepted accounting principles.

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