ASML (NASDAQ: ASML) is the only company on the planet that makes the machines, roughly $400 million each, that print the finest circuit patterns onto silicon. Whether the world's two largest chipmakers would actually buy its newest offerings had been an open argument about the stock for years, but on Tuesday, both said yes.
- What TSMC and Samsung committed to: Samsung will use ASML's High NA (numerical aperture) machines for memory chips starting in 2028. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) expects to adopt them around 2030 for advanced chips, citing the transistor complexity that AI demands. Barclays called adoption the central debate around the Stock Advisor recommendation and now sees ASML deciding whether to expand capacity beyond targets it already raised.
- Amazon put warrants behind its chip deal: Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) signed Amazon for multiple generations of custom AI chips. Qualcomm handed over warrants for 25 million shares at $161.26, which vest only as Amazon places orders. Those orders could reach $60 billion over a decade. Qualcomm targets $15 billion of data center sales by fiscal 2029, from roughly nothing today.
- Verizon booked fiber through 2032: Corning (NYSE: GLW) signed a multiyear agreement with Verizon (NYSE:VZ) covering more than 80 million miles of fiber, running from 2027. Shares rose 9% Tuesday.
Buyers made these commitments, not the companies selling to them. A customer saying what it will spend beats a supplier forecasting what it hopes to sell. Just remember that none of it is money in hand yet. Corning never put a precise figure on its deal, and Qualcomm's $60 billion is a ceiling, not an order.
