Thus, I remain bullish on this leading supplier for semiconductor companies, especially as it is adding capacity around a bottleneck its customers simply cannot bypass.
High-Margin Services Power a Q2 Masterclass
ASML delivered a masterclass Q2 report on July 15, mainly driven by its high-margin services. Net sales reached €9.326 billion, up 21.2% from €7.692 billion last year and well beyond management’s €8.4 billion to €9.0 billion guidance. Revenue also cleared the €8.80 billion consensus. Net income reached €2.918 billion, lifting basic earnings per share (EPS) to €7.59. On the U.S. listing, EPS was reported at $8.68 per ADR, roughly 9.6% ahead of the $7.92 analyst estimate.
The best surprise came from Installed Base Management, which includes service work and upgrades on machines already inside customer fabs. Sales reached €2.762 billion, nearly €300 million above guidance, while an especially profitable component mix helped lift gross margin to 54%. Management had guided for only 51% to 52%. This is great news because every system delivered today can become a long-lived stream of service and upgrade revenue tomorrow.
The hardware mix was just as reassuring. Net system sales were €6.6 billion, including €3.8 billion from extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and €2.8 billion from non-EUV tools. Logic represented 51% and Memory 49%, forming an almost perfect split. ASML also recorded revenue from one High-NA EUV system. To me, this balance undercuts the idea that AI investment rests on a single customer or a single kind of chip. Foundries and memory producers are building the physical base for years of heavier computing demand.
