ASML Holdings, the Netherlands-based giant in semiconductor lithography systems, has announced ambitious sales forecasts for 2026, expecting revenues between €34 billion and €39 billion. This projection underscores escalating global demand for advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment, particularly those used to produce chips for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing applications.
The company’s outlook reflects strong order momentum from leading chipmakers such as TSMC, Samsung, and Intel, who are scaling up production to meet rising needs for next-generation AI accelerators and data center processors. To support this growth, ASML also revealed plans to expand shareholder returns through higher dividends and a larger share-buyback program — a signal of confidence from management in the robustness of the semiconductor market.
Industry analysts view ASML’s forecast as an important indicator of the health of the global semiconductor ecosystem. With AI technologies driving demand for increasingly powerful and efficient chips, capital expenditure on cutting-edge fabrication tools is expected to grow throughout 2026.
As chipmaking becomes ever more central to modern economies and cutting-edge technology sectors — including autonomous systems, cloud computing, and generative AI — the performance of equipment suppliers such as ASML will continue to shape the pace of technological innovation worldwide.