ASML to Award €20,000 Stock Bonus to 45,000 Employees Amid Record AI-Driven Chip Sales

ASML announced a one-time €20,000 stock bonus for its 45,000 global employees, vesting in 2030, to retain talent during an AI-driven industry boom. The €900 million program follows record Q2 2026 results, where ASML beat estimates with €9.3 billion in sales and €2.9 billion in profit. Driven by surging AI infrastructure demand, ASML raised its full-year sales guidance to €43–45 billion and committed to expanding its EUV and DUV production capacity by 30% annually over the next two years.

ASML Q2 2026 earnings beat

• ▪ASML's second-quarter 2026 gross margin reached 54.0%, exceeding the company's own guidance of 51% to 52%.
• ▪ASML reported second-quarter 2026 net sales of €9.326 billion and net profit of €2.918 billion, surpassing analyst consensus estimates.

Full-year guidance raised €43-45B

• ▪ASML raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to a range of €43 billion to €45 billion, marking its second upward revision of the year.
• ▪ASML projected third-quarter 2026 net sales between €11.0 billion and €12.0 billion with a gross margin of 55% to 57%.

AI infrastructure chip demand and employee stock bonuses

• ▪The ASML restricted stock award will vest on January 1, 2030, requiring employees to remain continuously employed at the company until that date.
• ▪ASML will grant a one-time restricted stock award worth €20,000 to each of its approximately 45,000 global employees on January 1, 2027.
• ▪Chip industry competitors including Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and TSMC have also launched employee profit-sharing or bonus plans amid the AI boom.
• ▪The total value of ASML's restricted stock award program is approximately €900 million, representing one of the largest single employee payouts in European tech history.

High-NA EUV production milestone

• ▪High-NA EUV raises the numerical aperture from 0.33 to 0.55, enabling the resolution of features needed for chip nodes below 2 nanometers.
• ▪High-NA EUV lithography machines cost approximately $380 million to $400 million each, roughly double the price of standard EUV tools.

Intel Panther Lake deployment

• ▪Intel Foundry shipped a high-volume logic product manufactured using High-NA EUV lithography, utilizing selected layers of its Panther Lake chips on the 18A process node.
• ▪Intel's Panther Lake layers running on High-NA EUV are dual-qualified to also run on standard EUV tools to ensure production flexibility and match yields.

30% annual capacity expansion

• ▪ASML's capacity expansion plans include increasing standard EUV system capacity to approximately 85 systems and DUV immersion system capacity by 30% in 2027.
• ▪ASML plans to expand its EUV and DUV production capacity by 30% annually for each of the next two years.

7 sources