ASML has become the most valuable company in Europe after its share price rose on renewed optimism about demand for advanced chipmaking equipment. The Dutch company closed Wednesday with a market capitalization of about $668 billion, surpassing the previous European record set by Novo Nordisk last year.
The surge lifted ASML ahead of other major European listed firms and put it comfortably above the rest of the continent’s corporate market leaders. It is now worth more than HSBC and Roche combined, according to the source material.
The latest move came after JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley released bullish research on the company the same day. Both banks kept overweight ratings and lifted their price targets, citing expectations that ASML can produce more extreme ultraviolet, or EUV, lithography systems than investors had assumed.
JPMorgan raised its target to €1,900 from €1,515. Morgan Stanley increased its target to €1,660 from €1,400. JPMorgan analyst Sandeep Deshpande said ASML could deliver more than 110 low-NA EUV systems without expanding its factory footprint, a figure well above the roughly 90 units some investors had treated as a ceiling.
That outlook matters because EUV machines are central to the production of leading-edge chips. These tools are used by companies such as TSMC, Samsung and Intel, and they remain one of the most important bottlenecks in advanced semiconductor manufacturing.
Morgan Stanley said its confidence in near-term shipments was helped by comments ASML made at its April annual general meeting. At that meeting, the company outlined an expansion plan for its Brainport Industries Campus in Eindhoven, with construction expected to begin in the third quarter of 2026.
The bank noted that the project would need to be part of a broader multi-phase expansion to fully ease concerns about output constraints. Still, the prospect of higher production helped support the stock.
ASML’s rise comes as demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure continues to shape the chip industry. More EUV tools shipped to customers can translate into more capacity at chip fabs downstream, which is why analysts and investors watch the company’s production plans closely.
Even with its recent gain, ASML remains below the trillion-dollar valuation reached by some U.S. semiconductor companies. Its stock has climbed about 50% this year, but that still trails the broader semiconductor sector, which has advanced more sharply on AI-related enthusiasm.
ASML also remains the sole supplier of EUV lithography machines, but the company’s long-term position is drawing interest from competitors and startups trying to find alternatives. The source material points to several efforts in that direction, including a startup developing particle-accelerator-based X-ray lithography, along with commercial nanoimprint tools from Canon, a lower-end product from Nikon, and reported Chinese work on a workaround.
For now, though, investors are focusing on ASML’s near-term ability to increase output. That expectation has pushed the company to a historic milestone and reaffirmed its place at the center of the global semiconductor supply chain.