Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share [036] Industry briefing - EUV The Focal Point
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
[036] Industry briefing - EUV The Focal Point
This post was created using AI. Please check the information if you want to use it as a basis for decision-making.
This week’s episode is about a subtle but important shift in EUV. ASML and TSMC did not just post strong quarters; they showed that the next constraint is usable output, not headline access to advanced lithography. We look at the new productivity data, the tighter capacity plans, and why the industry is now trying to get more wafers from the same installed base.
Key takeaways:
- ASML reported Q1 2026 net sales of €8.8 billion, gross margin of 53.0%, and net income of €2.8 billion.
- ASML raised full-year 2026 sales guidance to €36-40 billion and kept gross-margin guidance at 51-53%.
- ASML released the NXE:3800E productivity package, increasing throughput from 220 to 230 wafers per hour at similar overlay.
- ASML said High-NA has processed more than 500,000 wafers and achieved more than 80% availability.
- TSMC reported 1Q26 revenue of US$35.9 billion, gross margin of 66.2%, and operating margin of 58.1%.
- TSMC said 7nm and below accounted for 74% of wafer revenue in 1Q26, while HPC represented 61% of revenue by platform.
- TSMC lifted its 2026 revenue outlook to above 30% growth in US-dollar terms and said capex should land at the high end of US$52-56 billion.
- TSMC said N2 is ramping in Hsinchu and Kaohsiung, while new N3 capacity is planned for Tainan, Arizona, and Japan through 2028.
- No new official Samsung or Intel EUV disclosures materially changed the week’s core picture, so the episode centers on ASML and TSMC.
Glossary:
Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) — lithography using 13.5-nanometer light for advanced chip patterning.
High Numerical Aperture (High-NA) — the next EUV optical generation with higher resolution and tighter patterning capability.
Wafers per hour (WPH) — a scanner throughput metric showing how many wafers a tool can expose in an hour.
Overlay — how accurately one patterned layer aligns with previous layers on the wafer.
Installed Base Management — service, upgrades, field options, and support revenue from already deployed tools.
N2 — TSMC’s 2-nanometer-class process family, including follow-on variants such as N2P and A16.
High-performance computing (HPC) — processors and accelerators for data centers, artificial intelligence, and other compute-intensive workloads.
Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DRAM) — volatile memory technology used in servers, PCs, mobile devices, and High Bandwidth Memory stacks.
View all episodes
By EUV The Focal Point - TeamThis post was created using AI. Please check the information if you want to use it as a basis for decision-making.
This week’s episode is about a subtle but important shift in EUV. ASML and TSMC did not just post strong quarters; they showed that the next constraint is usable output, not headline access to advanced lithography. We look at the new productivity data, the tighter capacity plans, and why the industry is now trying to get more wafers from the same installed base.
Key takeaways:
- ASML reported Q1 2026 net sales of €8.8 billion, gross margin of 53.0%, and net income of €2.8 billion.
- ASML raised full-year 2026 sales guidance to €36-40 billion and kept gross-margin guidance at 51-53%.
- ASML released the NXE:3800E productivity package, increasing throughput from 220 to 230 wafers per hour at similar overlay.
- ASML said High-NA has processed more than 500,000 wafers and achieved more than 80% availability.
- TSMC reported 1Q26 revenue of US$35.9 billion, gross margin of 66.2%, and operating margin of 58.1%.
- TSMC said 7nm and below accounted for 74% of wafer revenue in 1Q26, while HPC represented 61% of revenue by platform.
- TSMC lifted its 2026 revenue outlook to above 30% growth in US-dollar terms and said capex should land at the high end of US$52-56 billion.
- TSMC said N2 is ramping in Hsinchu and Kaohsiung, while new N3 capacity is planned for Tainan, Arizona, and Japan through 2028.
- No new official Samsung or Intel EUV disclosures materially changed the week’s core picture, so the episode centers on ASML and TSMC.
Glossary:
Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) — lithography using 13.5-nanometer light for advanced chip patterning.
High Numerical Aperture (High-NA) — the next EUV optical generation with higher resolution and tighter patterning capability.
Wafers per hour (WPH) — a scanner throughput metric showing how many wafers a tool can expose in an hour.
Overlay — how accurately one patterned layer aligns with previous layers on the wafer.
Installed Base Management — service, upgrades, field options, and support revenue from already deployed tools.
N2 — TSMC’s 2-nanometer-class process family, including follow-on variants such as N2P and A16.
High-performance computing (HPC) — processors and accelerators for data centers, artificial intelligence, and other compute-intensive workloads.
Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DRAM) — volatile memory technology used in servers, PCs, mobile devices, and High Bandwidth Memory stacks.