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February 13, 2026

Dear Subscriber,By Michael A. Robinson

What separates a $50 smartphone chip from a $10,000 AI accelerator?

Aside from the price tag, it’s three letters: EUV.

EUV is a manufacturing breakthrough.

The firm behind it all just reported record quarterly sales of nearly $16 billion.

Then again, the company makes cutting-edge semiconductors for AI and other complex tasks possible.

In other words, it pays to know more about this acronym.

EUV stands for Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography.

It’s a chip-making process that uses precise lasers to etch microscopic circuits onto silicon.

Think of it as using light to “print” the billions of transistors that make up computer chips …

But at a scale so small that the wavelengths are measured in nanometers.

We’re talking billionths of a meter.

Source: University Wafer.

Make no mistake, this tech plays a crucial role in the global chip sector worth nearly $1 trillion.

And one firm has a stranglehold on this process. Its stock has beaten the market’s returns over the past five years by roughly 90%.

Let me show you why there’s still plenty of upside ahead …

The Real Contest — the Race for AI

Forget Daytona or the Indy 500.

The real race happening right now features companies around the world.

They’re all scrambling to implement AI into their businesses.

We’re talking generative AI (AI that creates text, images and videos), large language models and other advanced workloads.

And to do it, they’re all relying on the same “fuel” — semiconductor chips designed for AI applications.

AI accelerators are among the fastest-growing segments in the chip sector.

As a result, it’s boosting sales for leading chipmakers.

And it’s driving robust demand across the tech and enterprise markets.

Arguably the biggest name in this race is Nvidia. It’s long been a dominant player when it comes to AI chips.

But recently, it’s seen extraordinary interest in its graphics processing units (GPUs).

In fact, company CEO Jensen Huang estimates that its order backlog value is somewhere around $500 billion.

Business is booming so much for Nvidia that it’s even selling modified chips to China.

Recently, China approved the sale of hundreds of thousands of Nvidia H200 chips to Chinese AI companies.

Source: Reuters.

It marked a dramatic shift in U.S. tech policy.

Of course, this article isn’t about Nvidia.

But I’m bringing this up because the company I have in mind counts Nvidia as a key customer.

Meet Europe’s Largest Publicly Traded Firm

ASML Holding (ASML) is a Dutch tech company that plays a central role in the global semiconductor industry.

Headquartered in Veldhoven, the Netherlands, the company was founded in 1984.

It began as a joint venture between Dutch firms Philips and ASM International.

Today, it’s Europe’s largest publicly traded firm.

ASML doesn’t make chips. Instead, it develops, produces and services what are called photolithography systems.

More on that in a moment.

But for now, understand that this involves highly advanced machines that create the tiny, complex patterns on silicon wafers.

Among ASML’s products are EUV machines and deep ultraviolet tools.

Both are critical for fabricating the most advanced semiconductor nodes used in AI processors, mobile devices and high-performance computing.

ASML is the largest supplier of lithography systems worldwide.

It practically holds a monopoly in EUV technology.

This makes it indispensable to major chipmakers like Taiwan Semi, Samsung and Intel.

What Is Lithography? And Why Is It So Important?

Lithography is one of the most important steps in making computer chips.

It’s the process of printing tiny patterns onto silicon wafers, which later become the transistors and circuits inside a chip.

Think of it like an extremely advanced form of printing, where light transfers a design onto a surface with incredible precision.

ASML builds the machines that make this possible.

According to ASML, its lithography systems use light, optics and a pattern called a “mask” to project chip designs onto a wafer, layer by layer.

Each layer adds more detail. And a single chip can require this process to be repeated dozens of times.

ASML’s tools combine hardware, software and optics to control this process at the atomic scale.

The firm makes two main types of lithography systems.

DUV (deep ultraviolet) machines are used for many mainstream chips, while EUV (extreme ultraviolet) machines use much shorter wavelengths of light to create far smaller features.

EUV is essential for the most advanced chips used in AI, data centers and high-performance computing.

These things are beasts. They can weigh 180 tons and cost upwards of $200 million. They require three Boeing 747s to ship.

Source: Wired.

Only one company can build them. And every major chipmaker in the world is lined up to buy them.

Lithography matters because it directly affects how powerful, energy-efficient and compact chips can be.

Better lithography enables smaller transistors, which means faster chips that use less power.

This is why ASML’s technology is so critical to the global semiconductor industry.

The Numbers Bear Out Our Investment Case

We’re seeing ASML’s importance reflected in its stock.

Over the past year, the S&P 500 has gained 14.5%.

ASML, meanwhile, has gone up 90.5% … 6x more!

Don’t worry. There’s plenty of upside ahead.

Over the last three years, earnings-per-share growth has averaged 18%.

At that rate, earnings would double in four years.

And remember, as earnings grow, stock prices often do, too.

This remains a great long-term way to play the insatiable demand for semiconductor chips fueled in large part by the AI Supercycle.

Best,

Michael A. Robinson

P.S. As you can see, ASML does pay a dividend, too.

And it has the resources to pay even more.

However, it currently doesn’t offer nearly enough to buy it for that reason alone.

There is a way to find companies with both the ability and willingnessto pay growing dividends. Check it out here.Follow us: 

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