Zeiss, the German optics maker whose mirrors are critical to ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML)’s most advanced chipmaking machines, said this week that it’s confident it has the capacity to handle booming AI-driven demand. The statement pushes back on investor worries about bottlenecks in the AI supply chain, worries that touch nearly every company racing to build AI infrastructure right now.
Why One Supplier’s Confidence Matters So Much
ASML is the only company in the world that makes machines capable of producing the most cutting-edge AI chips. Zeiss’s ultra-precise mirrors, which take months to build, are one of the most delicate links in that chain. Zeiss says its components already play a role in producing about 80% of the world’s chips, and it’s building out its headquarters and a new factory to keep pace. Zeiss’s semiconductor division head, Frank Rohmund, called this “the real, long-term items when it comes to capacity expansion.” The timing matters: this comes right as ASML raised its own 2026 sales outlook, and as its biggest customer, TSMC, reported record profits driven by that same AI demand.
This makes you wonder: if the industry’s most critical, hardest-to-replace supplier says it can keep up, does that put AI bottleneck fears to rest, or is Zeiss’s confidence just one link in a chain with plenty of other places to break?
ASML’s Bull and Bear Case
ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) raised its 2026 annual sales outlook to between $49.3 billion and $51.6 billion, citing “extremely strong” AI-driven tool orders. It holds a complete monopoly in EUV lithography, with no real rival at the high end of the market, and shipped 48 systems last year, with 65 forecast this year and 85 in 2027. That’s made it Europe’s most valuable company, as per Reuters. Its critical mirror supplier now says it’s confident it can handle demand too, addressing one of the biggest fears investors have had about the AI supply chain. Rohmund even said ASML and Zeiss have a roadmap that extends to “2040 or so.”
However, ASML depends entirely on a small number of irreplaceable suppliers for parts that take months to build, Zeiss for mirrors, Germany’s Trumpf for lasers, which means a single bottleneck anywhere in that chain could delay ASML’s own delivery schedule. Rohmund’s own confidence came with a warning attached: “Sooner or later, most likely, there will be some kind of correction,” he said.
ASML also carries real geopolitical risk. U.S. export restrictions already block its most advanced tools from China, and lawmakers have proposed expanding those curbs to cover more of its older machines too, which would also hit Zeiss’s own business supplying lenses for them.
TSMC’s Bull and Bear Case
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) is ASML’s biggest customer, buying the very machines these Zeiss-supplied mirrors help build. It just posted its fifth straight quarter of record earnings: second quarter profit jumped 77% to $21.98 billion, revenue rose 36%, and gross margin hit a new high of 67.7%. The stock has climbed over 27% year to date as of August 3, 2026. Citi raised its price target on sustained demand and improving visibility.
Still, TSMC describes itself as capacity-constrained too, racing to expand advanced-node and packaging capacity at the same time its equipment supplier races to keep pace. That shows how tightly linked and how strained the AI chip supply chain has become from top to bottom.
Insider Monkey’s Hedge Fund Data
Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database shows Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) had 178 hedge fund holders as of Q1 2026, up from 165 the quarter before, with the dollar value hedge funds held rising from about $40.2 billion to $46.2 billion. ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) had 133, up from 101. So, hedge funds favor TSMC over ASML.
Conclusion
Zeiss’s confidence is good news for everyone downstream of it, from ASML to TSMC to every AI chip buyer waiting on both. But a supply chain this tightly wound only needs one weak link to prove Rohmund’s own warning about a correction right.
Overall, hedge funds are bullish on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM).
While we acknowledge the risk and potential of ASML as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than ASML and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
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