ASML’s Surge to Record High Masks Lowball Valuation Versus Peers - Bloomberg.com

ASML's recent stock surge to record highs, despite what appears to be a undervalued position relative to its peers, highlights the market's recognition of its dominant position in EUV lithography tech... Read original →

ASML’s record stock price amid a seemingly low valuation reveals market tension between its technological monopoly and cyclical semiconductor risks. Technologically, EUV’s irreplaceability deepens integration with TSMC and Samsung in Taiwan, China and Korea, forcing upstream material and metrology suppliers to accelerate High-NA EUV compatibility. Geopolitically, U.S. export controls have raised ASML’s global delivery costs, effectively imposing an 'operational tariff'—especially critical given mainland China accounts for nearly 30% of shipments. Rivals like Nikon and Canon remain sidelined, but Tokyo Electron and Applied Materials may pursue back-end lithography synergies as workarounds. Over the next 12–24 months, as 2nm nodes approach volume production, ASML will evolve from equipment vendor to process architect. Its current valuation gap is likely to close as AI chip competition intensifies—investors are betting that control over lithography equals control over computational sovereignty.