Cryptocurrency has been having a rough year. Since peaking at over $122,000 late last year, Bitcoin has tumbled to $73,986. Year to date, it's down 15.3% and dipped below $64,000 last month.
Now, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies likely have potential, but I remain skeptical of them even more than a decade after the first Bitcoin was minted back in 2008. They can deliver incredible gains, but they're generally so volatile that those gains can be wiped out rather quickly.
I prefer companies that have a clear and obvious way they add value to the global economy and, by extension, generate returns for their holders.
The prime example is ASML (ASML 3.62%). It's a Dutch company operating out of a relatively small and unassuming town in southern Netherlands called Veldhoven, but you and I rely on it (albeit indirectly) daily without thinking twice.
ASML is, simply put, utterly foundational to the tech industry.
It operates as a silent monopoly as the world's one and only provider of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines.
Image source: Getty Images.
Dynamite with a laser beam
EUV lithography machines are enormous technological marvels. Each one is about the size of a bus, costs upward of $400 million to purchase, and takes seven Boeing 747s or 25 trucks to move one to a customer.
See, modern semiconductor chips are incredibly small. The most advanced ones are no larger than 7 nanometers (nm) which is about 1/10,000th the width of a human hair. They do go smaller than that, though.
To create them, ASML's EUV lithography machines use an incredibly precise and powerful laser to etch the patterns the chips need to work onto them.
ASML might not be the only lithograph producer in the world, but it is the only game in town for EUV machines. The older deep ultraviolet (DUV) machines you can purchase from a competitor like Canon can't create the 7nm or smaller chips needed today.
Every semiconductor company from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing to Samsung to Nvidia relies on ASML's lithography machines either directly or indirectly.
That means every company in the tech industry, whether hardware- or software-focused, relies on this single Dutch company.
NASDAQ: ASML
Key Data Points
An invitation you can't decline
ASML is likely to maintain its dominance as the demand for semiconductor chips continues to rise.
It took the company 20 years to develop its EUV lithography technology when the first prototype came out in 2006, and in the 20 years since then, nobody has managed to replicate ASML's machines.
And it's worth noting that the modern descendants of that prototype are vastly more advanced than their 20-year-old predecessor.
According to Deloitte, the global semiconductor industry should see its sales top $975 billion this year, and it's projected to hit $2 trillion in sales by 2036. ASML will profit indirectly from every advanced semiconductor sold, no matter which company manufactured it or for what purpose.
That's the potential of a genuine monopoly. And whereas there are many cryptocurrencies to choose from aside from the big ones like Bitcoin or Ethereum, any semiconductor manufacturer looking to make the most advanced chips needs to come to ASML.
Only China has managed to even create a prototype capable of rivaling ASML's earlier design. But any chip production from that prototype is still two years away. So I think ASML's moat remains very wide indeed.
Guaranteed to blow your mind
ASML's balance sheet is about as healthy as you'd expect for having a monopoly on such critical technology.
Net sales for 2025 totaled 32.6 billion euros, up 15% over 2024, and the company's basic earnings per share came in at 24.73 euros, up 28.4% over 2024. On top of that, the company maintains a net profit margin of 29.4%.
But the real headline-stealing bit in the company's 2025 earnings report was that its net bookings for new machines more than doubled from 5,399 in Q3 2025 to 13,158 in Q4 2025.
So I think it's safe to say that demand is surging. And with semiconductor demand at an all-time high and growing, demand for ASML's lithography machines is set to grow as well.
Consider picking up a few shares. After all, for the price of one Bitcoin right now you could have about 53 shares of ASML.
