ASML reported €9.3 billion in total net sales and €2.9 billion in net income for the second quarter of 2026, beating expectations and prompting the company to raise its full-year outlook to €43–€45 billion with gross margins between 54% and 56%. The Dutch chip-equipment maker also said it plans to boost low-NA EUV capacity by roughly 30% in 2027 from a base of about 65 systems, with a similar increase under investigation for 2028. DUV immersion capacity is also slated for ~30% growth from a ~130-system base. The news matters for crypto because AI chip supply remains tight — and that shortage is now directly affecting GPU availability, data center buildouts, and the miners who are branching into AI.
Q2 numbers and Q3 guidance
ASML sold 86 new lithography systems in Q2. For the current quarter, the company guided total net sales between €11.0 billion and €12.0 billion, with gross margin in the 55%–57% range. The raised full-year forecast reflects sustained demand from chipmakers racing to expand capacity for advanced logic and memory — much of it destined for AI accelerators.
Why crypto miners are watching
AI chip supply is still tight. That bottleneck hits GPU availability, which in turn pressures data center operators and crypto miners who have started experimenting with high-density AI hosting as a revenue diversifier. Several mining firms are now trialing AI workloads, but the viability of those AI token narratives depends entirely on actual GPU access — and that access is constrained by the same supply chain ASML’s tools feed into.
Power and location become the new battleground
Both AI clusters and mining rigs compete for the same power and cooling resources. In tight electricity markets, securing long-term power contracts and choosing the right location is becoming a critical differentiator. Miners that can lock in cheap, reliable power may have an edge not just in Bitcoin mining but in the emerging AI-hosting business. ASML’s capacity expansion plans suggest the chip supply crunch won’t ease overnight — meaning the competition for power, GPUs, and data center space will only intensify through 2027 and beyond.
