Dutch technology giant ASML reached a market value of $668 billion on Wednesday, June 3, becoming the most valuable company in European history. With this success, the company surpassed Novo Nordisk, which broke a record of $650 billion in June 2024.

ASML, which is the sole supplier of EUV lithography machines used by giants such as TSMC, Samsung and Intel for advanced chip production, rose with the optimistic expectations of analysts regarding its production capacity. JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley revised their price targets upwards, stating that the company’s production capacity was above market assumptions.

Production Capacity and Market Expectations

JPMorgan analyst Sandeep Deshpande predicts ASML will be able to produce more than 110 low-NA EUV systems without needing new construction capacity. This number, which investors previously assumed to be a maximum of 90 units, has a critical value for the chip industry.

EUV technology continues to pose a valuable bottleneck in the advanced chip supply chain. Every silicon wafer used to train and run AI models passes through an ASML scanner at some stage in the manufacturing process.

Morgan Stanley, on the other hand, bases its confidence on the information shared at ASML’s annual general meeting in April. Planned expansion works at the Brainport Industries Campus in Eindhoven will start in the third quarter of 2026.

The bank emphasizes that this campus should be the beginning of a multi-phase structuring process in order to fully address capacity concerns. ASML left SAP behind and became Europe’s largest publicly traded company, exceeding the combined value of HSBC and Roche.

Competition and Future Vision

Although ASML is currently in a monopoly position, its long-term dominance is being challenged by different enterprises. A startup called Substrate is working on a particle accelerator X-ray lithography system for 2nm class features and aims to reduce costs.

While Canon offers commercial nanoprinting tools, Nikon has entered the market with lower-end products and Chinese manufacturers are also considering alternative solutions. But ASML’s systems, which cost between $235 million and $380 million, still appear unrivaled in high-volume logic chip production.

ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet states that the difference between Competitors’ desire to access technology and the ability to implement this technology is huge. Pointing out the difficulties of developing a lithography system from scratch, Fouquet focuses on maintaining their leadership in the industry.

How do you evaluate this historic market price reached by ASML and its exclusive position in the chip industry?