Following stronger-than-expected 2026 performance guidance from its key client, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM.US), shares of lithography giant ASML Holding NV (ASML.US) soared to a record high, driving its market capitalization past the $500 billion milestone. On Thursday, ASML's stock listed in Amsterdam surged as much as 7.6%, expanding its year-to-date gain to 24%, making it the third European company to reach a $500 billion market cap after luxury giant LVMH and Danish pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk. As of press time, ASML's U.S.-listed shares were up more than 4% in Thursday's pre-market trading. ASML has grown into Europe's most valuable company because it is the sole producer of cutting-edge lithography machines required by TSMC to manufacture the chips for everything from Apple's (AAPL.US) smartphones to NVIDIA's (NVDA.US) GPUs. Financial results announced by TSMC on Thursday showed the company expects its capital expenditure for 2026 to increase significantly to $52-56 billion, up from $40.9 billion in 2025, beating market expectations of $48-50 billion. This guidance has fostered fresh optimism for continued global growth in artificial intelligence (AI) spending through 2026, indicating that TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, and ASML, which supplies it with chipmaking equipment, are both poised to continue benefiting from robust demand driven by the AI wave. Commenting on ASML's market cap surpassing $500 billion, Barclays strategist Emmanuel Cau stated, "This milestone is significant from a sentiment perspective. European equity markets are relatively small, so when a heavyweight stock like ASML rises, it automatically lifts the overall market performance. This rally in ASML also provides European investors with an entry point to participate in the mainstream AI investment theme." Ben Barringer, Head of Technology Research at Quilter Cheviot, added, "This is undoubtedly a very positive start to the earnings season for tech giants. These results provide us with good guidance for judging the performance of chip companies and semiconductor equipment suppliers." It is worth noting that J.P. Morgan recently pointed out in a research report that, driven by orders from TSMC and Samsung Electronics, ASML's fourth-quarter 2025 results, scheduled for release on January 28 EST, are expected to show strong booking figures. J.P. Morgan anticipates ASML's Q4 bookings will reach €7 billion, approximately 4% above the already repeatedly raised market consensus expectations. The firm maintained its "Overweight" rating on ASML's U.S.-listed shares with a price target of $1,518. This target price implies an upside potential of about 20% from the stock's closing price on January 14.