The Hague (AFP) – Dutch tech giant ASML, which sells cutting-edge machines to make semiconductor chips, reported a significant gain in annual net profit Wednesday but said it would cut hundreds of management jobs to improve internal organisation. Shares in the firm soared more than seven percent at the opening bell as it forecast another record sales year in 2026 driven by insatiable demand for artificial intelligence. ASML is a critical cog in the global economy, as the semiconductors crafted with its tools power everything from smartphones to missiles.
The company, Europe’s biggest tech firm by market value, posted an after-tax profit of 9.6 billion euros ($11.5 billion) for last year, up from 7.6 billion euros in 2024. CEO Christophe Fouquet said ASML customers were bullish on the medium-term outlook “primarily based on more robust expectations of the sustainability of AI-related demand.” Fourth-quarter net bookings, the figure traders track most closely, came in at 13.2 billion euros, a sharp rise from the 5.4 billion euros in orders booked in the previous quarter. Total 2025 net sales were a record 32.7 billion euros. The firm had previously said it did not expect sales to be below the 28.3 billion euros banked last year.
“ASML just delivered a thumping set of numbers, with new orders blowing past expectations and pointing to a market gearing up for the next leg of growth,” said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. The company expects net sales this year to reach 34 billion to 39 billion euros, it announced in new forecasts, with first-quarter sales hitting 8.2 billion to 8.9 billion euros. “We expect 2026 to be another growth year for ASML’s business,” Fouquet said.
Separately, ASML announced an organisational shake-up aimed at speeding up working methods that Fouquet said had become “less agile.” The firm expects to cut around 1,700 jobs in the Netherlands and the United States, mostly from leadership roles, Fouquet said. “As with any company that grows rapidly, however, we need to be mindful that the way we have grown does not slow us down,” he said. ASML employs around 44,000 staff worldwide. Fouquet told reporters it was “probably the most difficult decision the management team ever had to make.” But given the firm’s positive financial outlook, he added: “We are not doing that…because we are in trouble or because we need to save money.”
– US-China Tech War –
ASML is caught in the middle of a US-led effort to curb high-tech exports to China over fears they could be used to bolster the country’s military. Beijing has been infuriated by the export curbs, calling them “technological terrorism.” In a case unrelated to ASML, the Dutch government briefly seized control of Nexperia, a Chinese-owned company that makes low-tech semiconductors. That move sparked a major row between Beijing and the West that threatened to cripple car manufacturers that rely on Nexperia chips.
In late October, following trade talks between China’s President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump, Beijing agreed to resume exports of some Nexperia chips halted over the row. ASML had already warned when presenting third-quarter results that China sales would “decline significantly” this year compared with “very strong business” in 2024 and 2025. A breakdown of sales showed 33 percent of sales going to China last year, compared to 41 percent in 2024. China was ASML’s top customer in both years.
Chief Financial Officer Roger Dassen said “we expect that decline to continue,” predicting a share of 20 percent from China this year. “It’s not falling off a cliff, it’s more of a normalisation than anything else,” Dassen told reporters. Longer-term, ASML believes that the rapidly expanding AI market will push up its annual sales to between 44 billion and 60 billion euros by 2030.
© 2024 AFP
