The world's largest supplier of chip manufacturing equipment, ASML Holding NV (ASML.AS), reiterated on Wednesday that it expects to benefit from the booming investments in artificial intelligence (AI), while also cautioning that demand from the Chinese market may significantly decline next year. Analysts suggest that ASML's conservative guidance indicating "flat or slight growth" in sales for 2026 could be revised upwards next January. Michael Rog, an analyst at Degroof Petercam, commented: "A stronger signal could have been given." Shares of ASML rose over 3% on the Amsterdam stock exchange and also showed an upward trend in pre-market trading on Wall Street. According to research firm Visible Alpha, the semiconductor industry's most watched metric—net order volume—reached €5.4 billion (approximately $6.27 billion) in the third quarter of 2025, slightly above the analysts' consensus estimate of €5.36 billion. Before this earnings release, a series of large transactions were completed between AI companies and chip manufacturers from September to October. These deals are set to generate increased demand for chips, which account for about half of the total costs for data centers. ASML CEO Christoph Hsu stated that as the highest-valued tech company in Europe, ASML is witnessing "a sustained positive momentum in AI investments." This momentum is extending to a broader range of clients, including those in need of advanced logic chips (used in smartphones and AI data centers) as well as clients requiring advanced memory chips essential for AI. ASML's lithography equipment is crucial for the manufacturing of chip circuits, with customers including Taiwan's TSMC, which produces the majority of AI chips for companies like Nvidia, as well as supplying firms like China's SMIC and the US's Intel. In addition, ASML serves memory chip manufacturers including South Korea's Samsung, SK Hynix, and the US's Micron Technology. Notably, in the first nine months of 2025, the Chinese market contributed nearly one-third of ASML's new equipment sales, making the news of weakening demand from China unexpected. Hsu indicated: "We expect a significant decline in demand from Chinese customers in 2026, which will consequently lead to a considerable drop in our net sales in China." According to data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) IBES, ASML's net profit for the third quarter was €2.12 billion, roughly in line with analysts' expectations of €2.11 billion.