October DealsAmazon USOctober deal check: compare before you payAmazon US: current deals, useful picks and tech finds.Check DealsWindows FixRecommendedWindows errors stealing your time? Find the fix fastScan stability, cleanup and performance issues.Fix NowOctober DealsAmazon USDeal season is back - check today's better picksAmazon US: current deals, useful picks and tech finds.See Picks×
Skip to content
The Finance Base
The Money Desk · Blog
Re:

ASML vs. TSMC: How Their Revenue Sources and Business Models Differ

ASML sells chipmaking equipment and lifecycle services; TSMC manufactures customer-designed chips. Their 2025 revenue figures reflect different businesses and currencies.
From TheFinanceBase Team4 min to read
Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

ASML sells semiconductor-manufacturing equipment and earns additional revenue by servicing and upgrading tools already in use; TSMC manufactures chips designed by its customers. They are therefore partners at different points in the chip supply chain, not two companies selling the same kind of product. Their 2025 revenue totals—reported in different currencies—also measure different business activities.

How do ASML and TSMC make money?

ASML sells lithography systems and other manufacturing equipment, as well as software, metrology and inspection capabilities, support, maintenance, and upgrades. Chipmakers use its equipment to manufacture semiconductors. TSMC, or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, operates fabrication capacity to manufacture semiconductor products designed by customers. It describes this as a pure-play foundry model: TSMC says it avoids designing, manufacturing, or marketing semiconductor products under its own name so it does not compete with those customers. ASML’s 2025 annual report and TSMC’s 2025 annual report detail these respective models.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Put simply, ASML sells tools to chipmakers, while TSMC sells manufacturing services to companies that need chips made. ASML’s sales depend in part on customers’ capital-equipment orders and the equipment already installed at their facilities. TSMC’s revenue depends on demand for wafer fabrication, the technologies and capacity its customers need, and related capabilities such as advanced packaging and chip stacking.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

What do their 2025 revenue figures show?

ASML reported €32.667 billion in total net sales in 2025. System sales accounted for €24.474 billion, or 74.9%; service and field-option sales accounted for €8.193 billion, or 25.1%. Compared with 2024, ASML said total sales rose 15.6%, with system sales up 12.4% and service and field-option sales up 26.2%. ASML’s 2025 annual report links growth in service and field-option sales to its growing installed base, greater use of lithography tools by some customers, and EUV field upgrades.

TSMC reported US$122.42 billion in consolidated revenue in 2025, and also reported revenue of NT$3,809.05 billion. The company’s technology percentages are a different kind of measure from ASML’s system-versus-service revenue split: they describe technology shares of TSMC’s wafer revenue, not standalone company revenue segments. In 2025, 7-nanometer-and-more-advanced technologies made up 74% of wafer revenue, including 24% from 3-nanometer technologies. TSMC’s 2025 annual report provides these figures.

Company and year Reported revenue measure Additional 2025 figures
ASML, 2025 €32.667 billion total net sales €24.474 billion system sales (74.9%); €8.193 billion service and field-option sales (25.1%)
TSMC, 2025 US$122.42 billion consolidated revenue; NT$3,809.05 billion also reported 74% of wafer revenue from 7-nanometer-and-more-advanced technologies; 24% from 3-nanometer

The nominal totals are not a precise like-for-like ranking. ASML reports in euros; TSMC reports in U.S. dollars and New Taiwan dollars. A direct currency conversion would need a specified exchange-rate date and method, and even then the converted figures would describe different activities: equipment and lifecycle services at ASML versus customer chip manufacturing at TSMC.

How do their technology and growth drivers differ?

ASML: equipment deliveries and the installed base

ASML’s larger revenue stream in 2025 was sales of manufacturing systems. The second stream—service and field-option sales—comes from supporting, maintaining, and upgrading equipment after delivery. The annual report links that service growth to a larger installed base, increased use of lithography tools by some customers, and EUV field upgrades. Demand for new systems is tied to chipmakers’ decisions about capital investment, while service revenue is connected to tools already operating at customer sites.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

TSMC: fabrication demand and process mix

TSMC earns revenue by manufacturing customer-designed semiconductor products. Its reported 2025 technology mix shows substantial wafer revenue from advanced processes: 74% came from 7-nanometer and more advanced technologies, of which 3-nanometer accounted for 24%. Those percentages help describe the mix of manufacturing demand; they should not be read as a revenue split equivalent to ASML’s system and service categories.

TSMC identifies demand across high-performance computing, smartphones, automotive, the Internet of Things, and consumer electronics as relevant to its business. It also highlights advanced packaging and chip-stacking capabilities as part of the manufacturing services it provides.

How do customer exposure and operating scale compare?

The companies face different forms of customer exposure. ASML’s sales are concentrated among a limited number of large chipmakers making capital-equipment decisions. In 2025, its two largest customers together represented 38.0% of net sales; its largest customer alone represented 23.9%, according to ASML’s annual report.

TSMC reported 534 customers, 12,682 products, and 305 process technologies for 2025. Annual capacity at facilities managed by TSMC and its subsidiaries exceeded 17 million 12-inch-equivalent wafers. These figures indicate breadth across customers, products, processes, and manufacturing capacity; they do not make its revenue activity comparable to ASML’s equipment sales.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Support on Ko-Fi

Do their gross margins show which business is better?

ASML reported a 52.8% gross margin for 2025, while TSMC reported 59.9%. The percentages are useful descriptions of each company’s reported results, but the higher figure alone does not establish a superior business. The companies have different product and investment mixes, and gross margin reflects those differences as well as accounting and operating factors.

For an investor comparing the businesses, the more useful first distinction is what drives revenue: equipment orders and lifecycle services at ASML, versus customer demand for wafer manufacturing and related capabilities at TSMC. Their currencies and operating models should remain visible alongside any comparison of reported totals or margins.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

More post from the Money Desk

  1. The Money DeskBlogTheFinanceBase09 OCT 267 minMortgage Escrow FAQs: Taxes, Insurance, Shortages, and Refunds
  2. The Money DeskBlogTheFinanceBase09 OCT 265 minHow Mortgage Escrow Accounts Work and What Homeowners Pay For
  3. The Money DeskBlogTheFinanceBase09 OCT 265 minHow to Read a Stock Chart, Volume and Market-Cap Data
Recommended PC Tool
Recommended PC Tool
Crashes, No Sound, or Screen Glitches?Free driver scan
PC Slower Than It Used to Be?Free scan - under a minute

Two free Windows tools

One Free Minute Could Fix That PC

Before you go - each of these free tools takes about a minute and tackles what quietly slows a Windows PC down.

Special offer. View Outbyte info, uninstall instructions, EULA, and Privacy Policy.