ASML Remains the Undisputed King in an Exceptional Year for Chips: 'This Is Only the Beginning'
It's freezing cold in Veldhoven, but inside ASML's walls, it feels like a scorching summer has just erupted. Anyone driving through the Brainport region in recent weeks could see it not just from the cranes jutting out above the new buildings โ the numbers coming out of Asia don't lie. The hunger for chips is back, and not just a little. Samsung, one of the world's biggest players, has hiked prices for its DDR5 and HBM memory by a whopping 30 percent. That's not a correction anymore โ that's a statement.
For true market insiders, this has been clear for a while. The 'dip' earlier this year was nothing more than holding your breath before a massive dive. The South Korean giant's profit figures have simply exploded, driven by demand for memory chips that is just insatiable. And guess who's the only company on earth that supplies the most advanced machines to make those things? Exactly. That's where ASML has its golden grip.
From ASML Building 3 to the Eindhoven Marathon: a region focused on the future
It's almost symbolic. On one side of Eindhoven, thousands of runners are preparing for the Eindhoven Marathon, an event that turns the city upside down every year. It's the ultimate metaphor for endurance. On the other side, just a few kilometres away in Veldhoven, ASML Building 3 is rising. This won't be just any office block; it's a fortress of innovation, built to keep meeting demand for the next ten years. The marathon of tech, you might say.
The contrast with what's happening elsewhere in the world is massive. While regions like the Middle East are caught up in distracting conflicts โ I'm thinking of groups like the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz which have entirely different priorities โ the sandy soil of Brabant is simply too fertile for technology. There, they don't fight over ideology, but over nanometre switches and light intensity. No gunshots, but wafers being exposed at the speed of light.
What I find so bizarre about ASML is how un-Dutch it actually is. We're a country of trade, water management, and 'just act normal'. And yet, in our own backyard, there's a company that dictates the entire global semiconductor order. Without the EUV machines from Veldhoven, no top-tier data centre or high-end smartphone would run. That's not showing off โ that's just reality.
Why this autumn will decide everything for the chip giant
Let's take a look at the figures coming in now. Samsung's profit explosion isn't the result of one-off windfalls. It's the new normal. AI models gobble up HBM memory like it's free beer at a Brabant fair. The 30 percent price hike is a direct consequence of that scarcity, even as the Korean production lines are already running at full tilt.
This is the point where I want you to pause for a moment and consider the supply chain.
- Step 1: Samsung can't make its chips fast enough.
- Step 2: To make more, they need the most advanced lithography machines.
- Step 3: Those machines only come from Veldhoven.
- Step 4: So ASML can literally set the price for the future of AI and computing.
That position of power is unique. And as construction of Building 3 progresses, I'm looking forward to the Eindhoven Marathon. They seem like two separate worlds, but it's exactly the same principle: you can't win if you haven't trained for the long haul. ASML understood that, long before the rest of the world realised that chips are the new gold. The fourth quarter of 2024? It's going to be a party. Get your running shoes ready โ and your wallet.