ASML Plans to Raise Equipment Prices, TSMC Pushes Back
Claire Weston
ASML is raising DUV lithography prices by roughly 10% and negotiating EUV hikes with TSMC — but its biggest customer is resisting on both fronts, putting the semiconductor supply chain's most consequential pricing standoff squarely in the open.
What is ASML raising, and by how much?
ASML has told select customers that DUV lithography systems — machines that etch chip circuits with deep-ultraviolet light, cheaper than EUV but shipped in far greater volume — will cost roughly 10% more.
Some Chinese chipmakers have already accepted the new prices. Separately, ASML is negotiating with TSMC over hikes on EUV systems — extreme-ultraviolet machines only ASML can build at scale.
This means → ASML is pushing price increases on both core product lines simultaneously, something it has rarely done in its history.
Why is TSMC digging in?
TSMC is resisting price hikes on both DUV and EUV — it is defending its entire cost structure, not just one machine's sticker price.
DUV tools are critical to TSMC's advanced packaging business: TSMC relies on DUV capacity to scale CoWoS packaging — a technology that bonds multiple chips together — to assemble AI accelerators for Nvidia, Google, and others.
In plain terms = a DUV price hike does not just raise chip-fabrication costs; it directly inflates the cost of assembling AI chips. TSMC's volume on this line is so large that accepting higher prices would cut into margins across the board.
What gives ASML the leverage to raise prices?
The backdrop: surging AI and memory-chip demand is driving chipmakers worldwide to expand capacity, and ASML's tools are in short supply.
ASML's Q2 revenue grew 21% year-on-year. It raised its 2026 full-year sales guidance to €43–45 billion, up roughly 35% from 2025.
CEO Christophe Fouquet said the company will boost annual capacity for two core tool types by 30% each this year and is evaluating another 30% expansion each by 2028.
This reflects a shift in pricing power from buyer to seller: ASML holds the world's only scaled EUV production capability, and the AI cycle has tightened supply further.
What did ASML's own CFO say?
CFO Roger Dassen acknowledged pricing upside on the Q2 earnings call: the company sees "quite some potential for price increases" on low-numerical-aperture EUV tools.
But he cautioned that long order-to-delivery lead times mean "it won't immediately translate into pricing".
This means → the intent to raise prices is on the table, but it may take one to two years to show up in financials — which is exactly why TSMC is pushing back now, while the window to influence terms is still open.
Where does this standoff go?
In 2025, ASML's DUV net system sales totaled roughly €12 billion; EUV came in at about €11.6 billion. The two lines are nearly equal in scale — a pricing shift on either one moves the needle.
Whether the hikes ultimately stick, and whether TSMC's resistance alters ASML's pricing pace, are the key variables to watch.
In plain terms = ASML has exclusive technology and a backlog that exceeds supply; TSMC is its single largest customer. Whoever blinks first sets the pricing benchmark for semiconductor equipment for the next several years.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.