![\"Photorealistic](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/f0d81858d613d6f24b1b26d4be533402.png\")
Photorealistic ASML semiconductor wafer-processing machine in a cleanroom, with ASML logo above a silicon wafer. Key Points <\/p>\n Photorealistic ASML semiconductor wafer-processing machine in a cleanroom, with ASML logo above a silicon wafer. Key Points <\/p>\n
ASML Holdings has a stranglehold on Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) light technology, which is necessary for making complex semiconductors.<\/p>\n
The company’s EUV machines cost between $200 million and $400 million, and no current competitor can match its precision or accuracy.<\/p>\n
ASML raised its 2026 revenue guidance as it introduces a new, higher-tech model to clients, but is the stock still a buy after a 30% rally in January?<\/p>\n
Interested in ASML Holding N.V.? Here are five stocks we like better.<\/a><\/p>\n Would you invest in a company that sells only about 40 units of its product annually? If it’s a large defense contractor selling jets to the government, that is a substantial sales quota. But what about a machine that shoots lights onto semiconductors? That might not seem impressive at first, but you could buy a squadron of F-35Bs from\u00a0Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) for the price of a single Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machine. And like the F-35B, there\u2019s only one company on the planet making EUV machines: ASML Holdings N.V. (NASDAQ: ASML). Today, we\u2019ll look at how this company has become the Netherlands\u2019 most powerful tech firm and one of the linchpins holding the entire semiconductor industry together.<\/p>\n Monopolizing a Crucial Area of Chip Development <\/p>\n Perhaps someday there will be a competitor to the mammoth EUV machines that ASML produces every year. After all, the company does little offensively to keep regulators at bay or to smother new entrants. Rather, ASML has a monopoly because no one else can do what it does: blasting silicon with high-intensity light to construct the most sophisticated and detailed chips in the\u00a0semiconductor space.<\/p>\n \u2192 How Long Can Equal-Weighted ETFs Keep Outperforming the S&P 500?<\/a><\/p>\n It works by focusing lasers onto small pieces of tin, igniting them to extremely high temperatures that generate a wave of ultraviolet light. This light bounces off a precise layout of mirrors to create a pattern that\u2019s embedded into silicon wafers. Light of this magnitude doesn\u2019t occur naturally, and ASML has a tight agreement with Carl Zeiss ZMT, the world\u2019s only supplier of the refractive mirrors.<\/p>\n It may sound like a Rube Goldberg machine, but EUV units cost between $200 million and $400 million. The machines are so complex that competitors simply can\u2019t afford the R&D required to develop their own model.<\/p>\n \u2192 Insiders Rang in the New Year Selling These Stocks, Buyers Beware<\/a><\/p>\n Even the shipping process is complicated, requiring 40 different shipping containers and on-site assembly by a platoon of ASML engineers. In 2026, the company also hopes to begin producing its new High-Numerical Aperture (NA) EUV machines, which increase the aperture size to enhance resolution. These new machines will reduce process complexity and cost more than $400 million per unit.<\/p>\n Story Continues <\/p>\n Strong 2025 Earnings and Guidance Raise for 2026 <\/p>\n ASML closed out its fiscal year 2025 with a flourish during its Jan. 28 earnings release. Fourth quarter revenue came in at 9.7 billion euros (approx. $11.5 billion), putting the company\u2019s full year sales figure at \u20ac32.7 billion (approx. $38.8 billion), a 16% year-over-year (YOY) increase. Gross margins for 2025 were 52.8%, and the company earned \u20ac24.73 per share (approx. $29.3) on the year.<\/p>\n