{"id":33373,"date":"2026-07-23T16:49:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T16:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/33373\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T16:49:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T16:49:30","slug":"could-ai-chip-boom-make-asml-europes-first-trillion-dollar-firm-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/33373\/","title":{"rendered":"Could AI chip boom make ASML Europe\u2019s first trillion-dollar firm?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The global artificial intelligence boom has propelled ASML (ASML-Q<\/a>) to the top of Europe\u2019s stock market, \u200bas soaring demand for AI computer chips flows to the \u200cDutch company that dominates the market for the equipment needed to make them.<\/p>\n

After blowout second quarter earnings, investors and analysts are asking a once far-fetched question: could ASML become Europe\u2019s first ever trillion-dollar firm?<\/p>\n

Key obstacles include doubts over how long Google, Amazon, and other hyperscalers \u2060will keep \u200bspending heavily on data centres, and whether ASML, its suppliers and customers such as TSMC and Samsung can execute expansion plans.<\/p>\n

But after ASML shares spiked 60 per cent this year to push the firm close to a US$700-billion valuation, investors and analysts say the trillion-dollar scenario is plausible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it has a really good chance of being the first company \u200bin Europe to hit the trillion mark,\u201d said Carolyn Bell, lead portfolio manager \u200cfor Stonehage Fleming\u2019s Global Best Ideas, adding ASML accounted for about 8 per cent of the portfolio.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t know when.\u201d<\/p>\n

Analyst upgrades after the second quarter show it\u2019s no pipe dream. Barclays, Susquehanna and Bernstein now have 12-month price targets above US$2,600 per share – a 49-per-cent rise from current levels and the rough threshold for a US$1-trillion market cap.<\/p>\n

ASML is the only seller of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography tools required \u200cto print the \u200bminute circuitry of the most advanced logic \u200cand memory chips. Investors compare its business to selling picks and shovels during a gold rush.<\/p>\n

John Lamb of Capital Group, \u200bwhose funds hold around 5 per cent of ASML shares worth US$35-billion, praised it \u2060as a long-term holding for its \u201cunique assets and wide moats\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fundamentals for the industry as a whole \u2060appear stronger than ever and ASML occupies a critical space,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

ASML has overtaken and is now streaking away from other leading European companies Roche, \u200bLVMH, Novo Nordisk, AstraZeneca and SAP.<\/p>\n

Shares trade at 38 times forecast earnings for 2027, according to LSEG data, well above multiples for top ASML customer TSMC, which manufactures the AI chips designed by Nvidia and used by OpenAI, Anthropic and the hyperscaler firms.<\/p>\n

ASML investors and analysts said to justify the premium and grow into that valuation several things need to go right, notably continuing hyperscaler \u2060demand.<\/p>\n

Trent Masters of Alphinity Investment Management, which has about 3 per cent of its portfolio in ASML, warned that \u201cany cooling of this will flow through to ASML\u2019s earnings\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said other threats include ASML\u2019s ability to manage its supply chain and geopolitical risks, though he is \u201con balance very positive\u201d about the company\u2019s outlook.<\/p>\n

U.S. lawmakers have proposed the MATCH Act, a law that could curtail ASML\u2019s sales and servicing of equipment in China – a market where ASML expects to have 20 per cent of sales in 2026.<\/p>\n

Analysts \u2060said there are also reasons ASML could keep growing even amid an \u200bAI slowdown.<\/p>\n

Kinngai Chan of Summit Insights Group said AI memory chip makers such as SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron are shifting \u2060production away from processes that use ASML\u2019s older DUV tools toward new and pricier EUV tools, a profitable \u201cupgrade cycle\u201d.<\/p>\n

ASML \u201ccan surely be\u201d Europe\u2019s first trillion-dollar firm, ING analyst Marc \u200cHesselink said.<\/p>\n

And then there is the possibility that chip demand accelerates. The new Terafab plant planned by Elon Musk in Texas to \u200bsupply SpaceX and Tesla represents a new source of revenue for ASML.<\/p>\n

Antoine Hucher of Aviva Investors said if the company executed its strategy well and AI demand held up, ASML would keep growing, though nothing was certain.<\/p>\n

\u201cASML could well become the first European company to reach a US$1-trillion market cap,\u201d he said. \u201cHowever, the volatility we \u200bhave seen with AI stocks in the last few weeks suggests the journey to this achievement won\u2019t be a straight line.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The global artificial intelligence boom has propelled ASML (ASML-Q) to the top of Europe\u2019s stock market, \u200bas soaring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[2191,2181,65,2192,2174,2172,2193,1256,2171,2186,2187,2183,2173,2170,74,1425,206,2185,2180,2204,2175,2176,587,2182,696,155,2194,2178,2199,2200,2202,2197,2201,2195,2198,2177,2189,2190,802,2188,2196,893,670,305,2184,2179,831,2203],"class_list":["post-33373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-asml","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-asml","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}