TLDR
- ASML has boosted its EUV light source from 600W to 1,000W, potentially enabling 50% more chip output by 2030
- The upgrade allows chip factories to process around 330 wafers per hour, up from 220 currently
- ASML sees a path to 1,500W and eventually 2,000W, extending its technological lead
- US startups and China are developing rival EUV machines, but ASML aims to stay ahead
- The stock is trading around €1,228, up ~10% over the past month, consolidating after record 2025 results
ASML has unveiled a major upgrade to the light source at the heart of its EUV chip-making machines — and it could reshape how many chips the world can produce.
The Dutch company’s researchers have found a way to boost EUV light source power from 600 watts to 1,000 watts. That jump translates directly into more chips per hour, at a lower cost per chip.
Michael Purvis, ASML’s lead technologist for its EUV light source, was clear this isn’t a lab stunt. He said the system can produce 1,000 watts “under all the same requirements that you could see at a customer.”
The advance was announced on February 23, 2026, and is being reported by Reuters for the first time.
With the higher-powered light source, ASML says chip factories will be able to process around 330 silicon wafers per hour on each machine by the end of the decade. That’s up from 220 today.
Each wafer can hold anywhere from dozens to thousands of chips, depending on chip size — so the productivity gains here are real.
The way EUV printing works is a bit like photography. Light is shone onto a silicon wafer coated in special chemicals, and the pattern of the chip is transferred onto it. More powerful light means shorter exposure times and faster throughput.
How ASML Hit 1,000 Watts
To generate EUV light, ASML’s machines shoot molten tin droplets through a chamber, where a massive CO₂ laser heats them into plasma hotter than the surface of the sun. That plasma emits EUV light at a wavelength of 13.5 nanometers.
To reach 1,000 watts, ASML doubled the number of tin droplets to around 100,000 per second. They also switched from a single laser shaping burst to two smaller ones — a technical detail that turns out to matter a lot.
Jorge Rocca, a professor at Colorado State University who has trained several ASML scientists, called the achievement “pretty amazing.”
ASML isn’t stopping at 1,000 watts either. Purvis said the company sees “a reasonably clear path toward 1,500 watts, and no fundamental reason why we couldn’t get to 2,000 watts.”
Rivals Are Watching Closely
ASML is the only company in the world making commercial EUV machines. That monopoly has made it a geopolitical flashpoint — the US and Dutch governments have blocked shipments of these machines to China.
China has responded by launching a national effort to build its own EUV technology. In the US, startups Substrate and xLight have raised hundreds of millions of dollars to develop American alternatives. xLight has also received government funding from the Trump administration.
ASML’s 1,000-watt advance is a direct move to stay ahead of those efforts. The EUV light source is widely considered the most technically challenging part of the machine.
Teun van Gogh, EVP for ASML’s NXE EUV line, put it plainly: “We’d like to make sure that our customers can keep on using EUV at a much lower cost.”
On the market side, ASML stock closed around €1,228 on Euronext Amsterdam on February 23, within an intraday range of roughly €1,223–€1,238. The stock is up about 10% over the past month and around 35% over the past year.
The gains follow ASML’s record 2025 results: net sales of €32.7 billion, net income of €9.6 billion, and gross margin of 52.8%. Management has guided 2026 net sales to €34–39 billion.
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