Chip equipment maker ASML cuts nearly 4% of staff while trimming 1,700 jobs
Top computer chip equipment maker ASML logged record orders in the fourth quarter on Wednesday and boosted its 2026 outlook as demand surged from its AI-focused customers even as it trimmed 1,700 jobs.
The job cuts, a rare move and representing 3.8% of staff, would mostly impact leadership in R&D departments in the Netherlands and US, said Europe’s largest company by market capitalisation, with the move needed for technical agility.
Fourth-quarter bookings, the most watched metric in the industry, leapt to a record 13.2 billion euros ($15.8 billion), from 7.1 billion euros a year ago. The orders well exceeded analyst expectations of 6.32 billion euros, according to researcher Visible Alpha.
Shares were up 4.2% in morning trading, after early jumping as much as 7.5% to a record high. The stock is up 38% this year so far.
“It will be the last time that ASML reports quarterly order intake and the company is going out with a bang,” ING analyst Marc Hesselink said, referring to ASML’s plans to discontinue revealing the bookings figure, arguing it causes unnecessary volatility in shares.
The company raised its 2026 sales guidance to 34 billion to 39 billion euros, beating analyst expectations of 35 billion euros, according to LSEG data. It previously forecast flat-to-higher sales than 32.7 billion euros in 2025.
Customers have in recent months been more optimistic “of the medium-term market situation, primarily based on more robust expectations of the sustainability of AI-related demand,” ASML’s Chief Executive Christophe Fouquet said in a statement.
Net profit in 2025 at the sole maker of the EUV lithography machines – used to print the world’s most advanced chips – jumped 26.3% to 9.6 billion euros, from 7.6 billion euros a year earlier, on sales of 32.7 billion, up 15.5% from a year earlier.
Orders beat Expectations
The orders beat comes as ASML customers TSMC, Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron boost investment plans amid demand for AI logic and memory chips needed by cloud computing giants such as Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet’s Google.
South Korea’s SK Hynix also reported record quarterly earnings Wednesday amid the AI boom.
“Overall there is good fourth-quarter orders and 2026 outlook, driven by AI demand for EUV in both logic and DRAM,” or memory chips, Mizuho analyst Kevin Wang said in an email.
ASML also said it would buy back 12 billion euros worth of shares through 2028.
Job cuts
The cull in jobs was the largest at ASML in absolute numbers, following prolonged expansion in the 2010s and 2020s, CFO Roger Dassen said on a call with journalists.
“Job cuts amidst record bookings should make for fascinating talks with the labour unions,” said analyst Michael Roeg of Degroof Petercam.
Analysts had expected the Dutch giant to benefit from stronger demand of top customer TSMC, which manufactures chips for Nvidia, amid tight global supply of memory and AI-accelerator chips.
China is the world’s largest buyer of chipmaking equipment, and was ASML’s single-largest market in 2025, representing 33% of sales, a figure that has dropped from 41% in 2024.
Dassen forecast that would fall further to 20% in 2026.
US-led export restrictions prevent Chinese chipmakers from buying ASML’s most advanced EUV tools and Nvidia’s best chips.
ASML kept longer-term guidance to 2030 untouched, CEO Fouquet said, anticipating revenue of between 44 and 60 billion euros and a gross margin of 56% to 60% in 2030.
