ASML Posts Record Bookings as Investors Ask if Momentum Can Last

ASML Holding NV failed to satisfy investors with record orders in the fourth quarter as analysts continued to question whether the Dutch semiconductor equipment maker can sustain its artificial intelligence-fueled momentum.

The company’s bookings in the fourth quarter hit €13.2 billion ($15.8 billion) as AI infrastructure needs raised demand for its most sophisticated equipment, far exceeding the average analyst estimate of €6.85 billion, the Veldhoven, Netherlands-based company said in a statement on Wednesday. Even so, analysts raised concerns about the company’s ability to expand capacity and hit the high end of its revenue guidance for the year.

“The last three months have brought a lot of clarity” about what AI means for the semiconductor industry, Chief Executive Officer Christophe Fouquet said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. But Chief Financial Officer Roger Dassen separately acknowledged in a call with analysts that reaching the high end of the firm’s revenue range hinges on overcoming two constraints: customers’ ability to finish chipmaking plants in time to receive its tools and ASML’s own ability to ramp up capacity to meet soaring demand. Bloomberg's Caroline Hyde joins Bloomberg Intelligence to discuss.

“We are ramping during the year to accommodate the demand,” Dassen said on the call. “But the demand is also a little bit dependent on the progress that our customers are making in terms of the completion of their” own chip plants during the year, he said.

ASML’s shares fell 1.9% to €1,194.40 in Amsterdam. The stock had earlier risen to a record high on the strong bookings beat. The company, Europe’s most valuable firm, also announced it plans about 1,700 job cuts, mostly in the Netherlands with some in the US, as it seeks to streamline the organization. That represents about 4% of the company’s workforce.

Net income in the fourth quarter was €2.84 billion, the company said, missing estimates.

During the call with analysts, Fouquet acknowledged the questions about the company’s manufacturing capacity for its top-end tools and how many extreme ultraviolet, or EUV, lithography machines it will sell. “I sense some concern that we may be the bottleneck for the customer,” he said. “This is not the case, certainly not this year and again for next year.”

ASML is the only producer of cutting-edge lithography machines that are needed to make advanced semiconductors, and counts all the leading chip manufacturers as customers, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. and Intel Corp. Its machinery is integral to producing the Nvidia Corp. AI accelerators that are the backbone for training and running AI models in data centers. The Dutch company’s bookings are one signal of chipmakers’ confidence in future AI demand.

Read More: ASML CEO Plots to Keep Pace With AI Demand and Nvidia’s Huang

The AI boom has continued into 2026, defying concerns about overinvestment and helping push ASML’s market value over $500 billion this month. Meta Platforms Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are among the companies that are pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into building data centers, driving chipmakers to increase capacity and in turn stoking demand for ASML’s products. TSMC said this month it anticipates capital spending of more than $52 billion in

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