ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) CEO Christophe Fouquet sees the artificial intelligence chip boom potentially lasting beyond 2028, but Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) chief Hock Tan warns that financing may become the industry’s biggest obstacle.
“[What] I think might be the biggest constraint is capital,” Tan said Monday at a Singapore conference, Benzinga reported Monday, citing CNBC.
Tan suggested wafer shortages may improve by 2028 or 2029, while demand for computing power could continue exceeding supply through 2029 or 2030.
ASML Sees Chip Demand Stretching Beyond 2028
ASML makes the machines that chipmakers need to manufacture the world’s most advanced processors. It reports earnings this week as demand for its equipment stretches into 2028.
Fouquet said the industry’s outlook had transformed dramatically, from expectations of a relatively flat market to a scramble to meet AI demand.
“What you see now is the whole industry trying to catch up on a pretty significant backlog,” Fouquet said in a June interview published last week.
He expects AI infrastructure construction to last two to five years, potentially fueling semiconductor demand beyond 2028.
Most new orders for ASML’s advanced chipmaking machines are already scheduled for 2028 delivery, according to JPMorgan’s September assessment.
ASML said in July it planned to increase annual production capacity for its current-generation extreme ultraviolet (EUV) machines by 30% in 2027, with another 30% expansion under consideration for 2028.
Broadcom’s Multibillion-Dollar Financing Push
Broadcom isn’t just supplying chips for the AI boom. It’s also helping find the money to pay for them.
The company is in preliminary talks to arrange more than $50 billion in financing so OpenAI can purchase its custom AI chips, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.
And the sums could be even larger elsewhere. A proposed $60 billion financing package for Anthropic’s use of Google chips includes $42 billion in debt backed by Broadcom, the Financial Times reported.
The deals illustrate Tan’s concern: demand for AI chips may be booming, but sustaining that growth increasingly requires enormous amounts of borrowed money.
That could eventually affect ASML. The company warns in its annual filing that high interest rates and volatile markets could make it harder for customers to raise money to buy its machines. Economic uncertainty could also lead to delayed or canceled orders.
On Polymarket, traders see a 6% chance of a qualifying AI industry downturn by December, rising to 19% by June 2027. The contract requires three specified events within 90 days, potentially including a 50% share-price decline in ASML or Broadcom.
ASML reports earnings Wednesday, October 14.
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