Cryptocurrency has been having a tough yr. Since peaking at over $122,000 late final yr, Bitcoin has tumbled to $73,986. Yr to this point, it is down 15.3% and dipped beneath $64,000 final month.
Now, Bitcoin and different cryptocurrencies doubtless have potential, however I stay skeptical of them much more than a decade after the primary Bitcoin was minted again in 2008. They will ship unimaginable features, however they’re usually so unstable that these features may be worn out relatively shortly.
I desire firms which have a transparent and apparent manner they add worth to the worldwide economic system and, by extension, generate returns for his or her holders.
The prime instance is ASML (ASML 3.62%). It is a Dutch firm working out of a comparatively small and unassuming city in southern Netherlands referred to as Veldhoven, however you and I depend on it (albeit not directly) day by day with out pondering twice.
ASML is, merely put, completely foundational to the tech business.
It operates as a silent monopoly because the world’s one and solely supplier of utmost ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines.
Picture supply: Getty Pictures.
Dynamite with a laser beam
EUV lithography machines are huge technological marvels. Each is in regards to the measurement of a bus, prices upward of $400 million to buy, and takes seven Boeing 747s or 25 vans to maneuver one to a buyer.
See, fashionable semiconductor chips are extremely small. The most superior ones are not any bigger than 7 nanometers (nm) which is about 1/10,000th the width of a human hair. They do go smaller than that, although.
To create them, ASML’s EUV lithography machines use an extremely exact and highly effective laser to etch the patterns the chips have to work onto them.
ASML may not be the one lithograph producer on this planet, however it’s the solely sport on the town for EUV machines. The older deep ultraviolet (DUV) machines you should buy from a competitor like Canon cannot create the 7nm or smaller chips wanted at the moment.
Each semiconductor firm from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing to Samsung to Nvidia depends on ASML’s lithography machines both immediately or not directly.
Meaning each firm within the tech business, whether or not hardware- or software-focused, depends on this single Dutch firm.
Right now’s Change
(-3.62%) $-49.42
Present Worth
$1316.97
Key Knowledge Factors
Market Cap
$508B
Day’s Vary
$1291.06 – $1370.00
52wk Vary
$578.51 – $1547.22
Quantity
96K
Avg Vol
1.7M
Gross Margin
52.80%
Dividend Yield
0.59%
An invite you may’t decline
ASML is more likely to preserve its dominance because the demand for semiconductor chips continues to rise.
It took the corporate 20 years to develop its EUV lithography expertise when the primary prototype got here out in 2006, and within the 20 years since then, no person has managed to copy ASML’s machines.
And it is price noting that the trendy descendants of that prototype are vastly extra superior than their 20-year-old predecessor.
In line with Deloitte, the worldwide semiconductor business ought to see its gross sales high $975 billion this yr, and it is projected to hit $2 trillion in gross sales by 2036. ASML will revenue not directly from each superior semiconductor offered, irrespective of which firm manufactured it or for what objective.
That is the potential of a real monopoly. And whereas there are various cryptocurrencies to select from except for the massive ones like Bitcoin or Ethereum, any semiconductor producer seeking to take advantage of superior chips wants to come back to ASML.
Solely China has managed to even create a prototype able to rivaling ASML’s earlier design. However any chip manufacturing from that prototype remains to be two years away. So I feel ASML’s moat stays very broad certainly.
Assured to blow your thoughts
ASML’s stability sheet is about as wholesome as you’d count on for having a monopoly on such vital expertise.
Internet gross sales for 2025 totaled 32.6 billion euros, up 15% over 2024, and the corporate’s fundamental earnings per share got here in at 24.73 euros, up 28.4% over 2024. On high of that, the corporate maintains a web revenue margin of 29.4%.
However the actual headline-stealing bit within the firm’s 2025 earnings report was that its web bookings for brand spanking new machines greater than doubled from 5,399 in Q3 2025 to 13,158 in This fall 2025.
So I feel it is protected to say that demand is surging. And with semiconductor demand at an all-time excessive and rising, demand for ASML’s lithography machines is ready to develop as nicely.
Contemplate selecting up a number of shares. In any case, for the worth of 1 Bitcoin proper now you can have about 53 shares of ASML.
