ASML will award a €20,000 bonus to each employee as record sales are driven by the demand for AI.

      ASML announced that it will grant all 45,000 global employees a one-time share award of €20,000 ($22,862), with the shares vesting on January 1, 2030, for those who remain with the company until then. This move aligns with a trend of AI-related bonuses in the semiconductor industry, where Samsung has offered average bonuses of $340,000 to its chip workers following record profits, and SK Hynix has made similar distributions. TSMC has pledged to increase profit-sharing by over 30% on average this year. As AI infrastructure investments rise, there is increasing pressure on companies to distribute profits to their workforce. In May, South Korea’s deputy prime minister cautioned that AI-related labor disputes are likely to continue as "super-large companies" emerge.

      Additionally, ASML has revised its annual sales forecast upwards for the second time this year, projecting between €43 billion and €45 billion, and plans to increase its production capacity by 30% by 2027. The company is also reducing the build time for EUV machines by one third and is nearly sold out through 2028. As the sole producer of extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, ASML's equipment is vital for all advanced chips from TSMC, Samsung, and Intel.

      The share award also serves as a retention strategy, as ASML is undergoing a restructuring that streamlines management levels while simultaneously needing to recruit and retain engineers who manufacture sophisticated machines in the semiconductor supply chain. With a vesting period lasting nearly four years, coinciding with ASML’s significant capacity expansion plans, this total payout of approximately €900 million is poised to be one of the largest single employee compensations in European technology history.