Chip supply shifts; ASML raises guidance

ASML raised its 2026 sales outlook on April 15 as artificial intelligence spending kept pushing chipmakers to buy more lithography tools. (asml.com) The Dutch company now expects 2026 net sales of €36 billion to €40 billion, up from its earlier €34 billion to €39 billion range. First-quarter net sales were €8.8 billion, net income was €2.8 billion, and gross margin reached 53.0%. (asml.com) ASML said customers are accelerating capacity plans for 2026 and beyond because chip demand is running ahead of supply. Chief executive Christophe Fouquet said the wider guidance range still reflects uncertainty around export-control talks. (asml.com) Lithography is the step where chipmakers project circuit patterns onto silicon wafers, like using light to print a blueprint layer by layer. ASML is the only company that sells the most advanced extreme ultraviolet machines used for leading-edge artificial intelligence chips. (asml.com) Its newest High Numerical Aperture, or High-NA, machines use sharper optics to print smaller features in a single exposure. ASML says the EXE:5000 can print features 1.7 times smaller and reach transistor densities 2.9 times higher than earlier extreme ultraviolet systems. (asml.com) ASML says the first High-NA system was delivered in December 2023, and the platform is expected to support high-volume manufacturing in 2025 and 2026. Imec, the Belgian semiconductor research group, said in March that its EXE:5200 system is expected to be fully qualified by the fourth quarter of 2026. (asml.com) (imec-int.com) At the same time, Nvidia is still dealing with the policy side of the market in China. The company said in February it had not generated revenue from newly approved China chip sales, even after Washington allowed limited shipments of the more advanced H200 in December 2025. (cnbc.com) Earlier rules had already forced Nvidia to redesign products for China and then halt H20 sales after the United States imposed a license requirement in April 2025. Nvidia said at the time it expected $5.5 billion in related charges for inventory, purchase commitments, and reserves. (techcrunch.com) Those two tracks now sit side by side in the chip business: sales of finished accelerators can be blocked or delayed by export rules, while demand for the equipment used to build next-generation chips is still climbing. ASML’s results on April 15 showed that investors and customers are still funding the factory side of the artificial intelligence buildout. (asml.com) (cnbc.com)