Shares of U.S. and European semiconductor companies climbed on Wednesday after ASML Holding (EU:ASML) reported stronger-than-expected quarterly net bookings, even as its financial outlook came in softer than hoped.
Early in European trading, ASML shares advanced 3.3%, lifting other chip stocks in the region including Infineon Technologies AG (TG:IFX), Siltronic AG (TG:WAF), and STMicroelectronics N.V. (NYSE:STM). In the U.S., NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), and Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) also traded higher in the premarket session.
Despite the positive surprise on bookings, ASML warned of a sharp decline in sales to China, clouding an otherwise upbeat earnings report buoyed by sustained demand tied to artificial intelligence. The Dutch company recently became Europe’s most valuable publicly listed firm, driven by strong global demand for its lithography machines, which are essential in advanced chip manufacturing.
CEO Christophe Fouquet said the company was seeing “positive momentum” in investments into AI. September and October saw a flurry of deals between AI developers and chipmakers, fueling both excitement around the technology’s potential and concerns about a speculative bubble reminiscent of the late-1990s dotcom boom.
ASML’s third-quarter net bookings — the company’s key performance indicator — reached €5.40 billion, beating estimates of €5.36 billion according to Visible Alpha data cited by Reuters. Net income came in at €2.12 billion, slightly above the €2.11 billion expected.
However, the firm cautioned that Chinese demand, which represented nearly a third of new equipment sales in the first nine months of 2025, is expected to weaken next year. That outlook contributed to a forecast for flat or modestly higher revenue in 2026 — a muted projection for a company seen as a key beneficiary of the AI boom.
Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group noted that the results and outlook do not “give too much ammunition to either bulls or bears,” but with ASML shares already up more than 26% this year, a “lack of confidence in growth in 2026” could be “insufficient” to push the stock “much further.”
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