ASML, the company that essentially holds a monopoly on the machines that make the world’s most advanced chips, just told investors it expects to sell even more of them than previously thought. The Dutch semiconductor equipment maker raised its full-year 2026 net sales guidance to a range of €43B to €45B on July 15, marking the second time this year the company has revised its outlook upward.

The culprit, if you can call it that, is AI. Demand for the advanced logic and DRAM chips that power everything from data center GPUs to next-generation computing infrastructure continues to outpace supply, and ASML makes the only machines capable of producing them at the cutting edge.

The numbers behind the confidence

ASML’s Q2 2026 results came in well above what analysts expected. The company reported net sales of €9.3B for the quarter, a gross margin of 54%, and net income of €2.9B.

EUV systems generated €3.8B in system sales during the quarter. These extreme ultraviolet lithography machines are the only tools capable of printing transistors small enough for the most advanced chips on the planet.

Looking ahead, the company guided Q3 2026 sales in the range of €11B to €12B.

ASML is also planning a roughly 30% increase in Low-NA EUV capacity for 2027.

Why crypto investors should pay attention

Companies like Core Scientific and Hut 8, once pure-play Bitcoin miners, have been aggressively pivoting toward AI and high-performance computing. Their business model now depends on access to cutting-edge chips and the GPU hardware those chips enable.

The geopolitical wildcard

ASML continues to navigate export restrictions that prevent it from shipping its most advanced EUV tools to China. Demand from Taiwanese, South Korean, and American manufacturers, think TSMC, Samsung, and Intel, has more than compensated for lost Chinese revenue.