Lease or Moat · Worked cases · PNDK Solutions Ltd
ASML: competitive advantage — moat or lease?
Owned closure Lease or Moat reading · YES · as of September 2026
Owned closure (YES).
Observed: sourced facts, as of September 2026
Protocol reading: interpretation, not a fact
Decisive object → controller The EUV lithography system → ASML.
Reasoning The object is the accumulated technical system and supplier integration, not the scarce components it buys in.
What would overturn this reading A rival reproduces the integrated EUV system, or a new technology removes EUV's decisive role.
What it shows The scarcest input is not automatically the constraint. ASML buys critical inputs and still owns the object rivals would have to reproduce.
From the annex of the paper (Europe), which records the decisive object, the reading and the falsifier for each case.
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An analytical classification by PNDK Solutions Ltd, applied to public information and dated. The sourced facts are kept separate from the interpretation. It is not a statement the company makes about itself, and it is not investment advice: no view on share price, valuation or whether to buy or sell.
From the Lease-or-Moat protocol: Nsonzi (2026), Lease or Moat , SSRN . © 2026 PNDK Solutions Limited. frances@pndksolutions.com