ASML and TSMC Report This Week as AI’s Memory Squeeze Reaches Your Phone

The two most important companies in chips report this week — ASML on Wednesday, TSMC on Thursday — and the question hanging over both is the same: who’s paying for AI’s appetite? Increasingly, the answer is you.

ASML’s bookings are the cleanest early read on how much new chipmaking capacity customers are ordering, with analysts expecting Q3 revenue up 56% to $13.13 billion. TSMC already posted a record quarter of about $46.7 billion in monthly sales — so all eyes are on its Q4 guidance and what it says about 2027 AI-chip demand.

Here’s the twist: the AI buildout is sending part of its bill to the checkout counter. Samsung made roughly $80 billion in operating profit last quarter selling memory to AI data centers — while analysts expect its own phone business to lose money buying the same chips. Apple has told suppliers to cut October component orders for the iPhone 18 Pro by 15 to 20 percent after memory costs helped push the starting price up $100.

That’s the memory squeeze in one paragraph: data centers are bidding memory away from phones, and phone buyers are starting to feel it. This week’s earnings will show whether the squeeze is a blip or the new normal.