The AI rally continues! On January 28, financial results from global lithography leader ASML Holding NV revealed a record-high net sales figure of €9.7 billion for the fourth quarter of 2025, surpassing market expectations. Driven by expanded investment in AI chip manufacturing capacity, the company's Q4 2025 order intake reached €13.2 billion, double the average analyst forecast. ASML also raised its performance outlook, projecting full-year 2026 sales to be between €34 billion and €39 billion, compared to the analyst expectation of €35 billion.
Stimulated by these robust earnings, ASML's stock price surged vertically during after-hours trading in the U.S. market, with gains at one point exceeding 10%. As of 15:50 Beijing time on the 28th, ASML's gains remained close to 9%. If this upward trend holds after the U.S. market's official opening, ASML's single-day market capitalization increase would exceed $50 billion, pushing its total market capitalization past the $600 billion mark to set another historical record. Additionally, in European stock markets, ASML's share price rose over 7%, also reaching an all-time high.
Far exceeding market expectations, ASML released its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings report on the afternoon of January 28. The data showed that the company achieved full-year 2025 net sales of €32.7 billion and a net profit of €9.6 billion, both setting new historical records. Even more impressive were the Q4 2025 figures: net sales of €9.7 billion beat market expectations of €9.57 billion to hit a record high; the quarterly gross margin was 52.2%, with a net profit of €2.84 billion.
The most closely watched industry metric—Q4 order intake—reached €13.2 billion, of which €7.4 billion came from Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) systems, indicating robust demand for advanced node capacity expansion. ASML's Q4 2025 order intake surpassed analyst expectations based on Visible Alpha research, which had been €6.32 billion. Furthermore, the order value was double the average analyst forecast of €6.85 billion compiled by Bloomberg.
This record-breaking performance benefited from the rapid development of AI infrastructure, with tech giants like Meta and Microsoft investing hundreds of billions of dollars in data center construction. For the full year 2025, ASML's net sales reached €32.7 billion, with a net profit of €9.6 billion, both achieving historic highs. The full-year gross margin stood at 52.8%. As of the end of 2025, ASML's order backlog was a substantial €38.8 billion.
The financial report indicated that ASML plans to increase the total dividend for 2025 to €7.50 per share, a 17% growth compared to 2024. An interim dividend of €1.60 per share will be paid on February 18, 2026, while a final dividend of €2.70 per share, as proposed in the annual dividend plan, will be submitted for approval at the General Meeting of Shareholders. Concurrently, ASML announced a new share buyback program, effective immediately and running until December 31, 2028.
The company plans to repurchase shares for a total of up to €12 billion, of which a maximum of 2 million shares are expected to be used for employee stock plans, with the remainder to be cancelled. This program will be executed within the authority granted by existing and future General Meetings of Shareholders and may be suspended, modified, or terminated at any time.
ASML raised its performance outlook, anticipating Q1 2026 sales to be between €8.2 billion and €8.9 billion, with a gross margin between 51% and 53%. The company also upgraded its full-year 2026 forecast, projecting sales in the range of €34 billion to €39 billion, whereas analyst expectations based on LSEG data were €35 billion. Previously, the company had predicted sales would be flat or decline compared to the previous year. In 2025, ASML's sales were €32.7 billion.
ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet stated, "Over the past few months, many of our customers have become significantly more positive about their assessment of the mid-term market outlook, primarily based on stronger expectations about the sustainability of AI-related demand. This is reflected in the significant increase in their mid-term capacity plans and our record order intake." He added that 2026 is set to be another year of growth for ASML, primarily driven by a significant increase in EUV sales and growth in sales from the company's installed base business.
According to reports, as cloud computing giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google experience a surge in demand for AI logic and memory chips, some of ASML's chipmaker customers have increased their investment plans. Analysts had previously expected that ASML would benefit from top customers like TSMC and Samsung as chip manufacturers ramp up capital expenditure to expand capacity for AI-related chips. Currently, there is a tight supply of global memory and AI accelerator chips.
ASML stated that the semiconductor ecosystem is poised for significant growth in the coming years, and the company is well-positioned to capitalize on this positive development. To prepare for future opportunities, the company intends to strengthen its focus on engineering and innovation in key areas by streamlining its technology and IT organizations.
ASML is the world's only company capable of manufacturing cutting-edge lithography machines. Its equipment is a core tool for producing advanced semiconductors and is critical for manufacturing NVIDIA's AI accelerators. Leading global chip manufacturers like TSMC and Intel are among its customers. The company's order data is considered a key barometer of chipmakers' confidence in future AI demand.