it is very poor logic to assume that simply because a company is selling a piece of commercial or industrial equipment means that equipment is unprofitable to own.
The article is not making this generalization, it’s specifically about Tesla’s situation and offer.
Your ASML analogy would work, if 1) ASML already ran their own chip foundries, 2) ASML was offering you the chance to buy a lithography machine that would not work except inside an ASML foundry, 3) ASML promised they would lease “your” lithography machine back from you, on terms they set, at some unspecified future date.
The article is not making this generalization, it’s specifically about Tesla’s situation and offer.
Your ASML analogy would work, if 1) ASML already ran their own chip foundries, 2) ASML was offering you the chance to buy a lithography machine that would not work except inside an ASML foundry, 3) ASML promised they would lease “your” lithography machine back from you, on terms they set, at some unspecified future date.