Why Elon Musk says ASML is the greatest company in Europe

By Jules Rimmer

Musk reportedly will address a private technology conference hosted by ASML Thursday

ASML , Europe's largest company by market capitalization, has a new admirer: Elon Musk.

The world's richest man has been invited as the keynote speaker for ASML's private technology conference this Thursday, according to Bloomberg and other media reports. That's the eve of the public listing of Musk's SpaceX IPO. ASML did not return a message to MarketWatch.

Terafab is a huge vertically-integrated semiconductor and compute manufacturing project, launched by Musk's biggest companies, Tesla (TSLA), SpaceX and xAI in Texas. The factory is intended to produce chips for AI applications and data centers. The scale of the investment to build the facility is enormous, with estimates ranging from $55 billion to $119 billion.

However, for this ambitious enterprise to be realized, Musk is going to need some help and the help he requires from ASML most likely will be in the form of their advanced photolithography machines that are crucial in the printing of circuits on computer microchips. The immense buildout of AI infrastructure has created a bottleneck in this technology so the demand for ASML's cutting-edge extreme ultra-violet machines is intensely competitive.

Without ASML's technology, Musk's Terafab dreams may not be fulfilled. Little wonder then that Musk has been heaping compliments on ASML, posting on X Saturday that "ASML should be treasured. It is arguably the greatest company in Europe." Musk is scheduled to host a fireside chat with ASML's chief executive, Christophe Fouquet, and discuss AI, robotics, space exploration and chip manufacturing.

Not everyone is thrilled at the prospect of Musk addressing the conference, however. Some media reports cite employees expressing strong disapproval of the decision to issue the invitation to Musk on account of his controversial political views and public statements.

In line with other AI-related technology plays, ASML shares have performed well so far in 2026, delivering a 53% return.

The stock is currently just 3% below its all-time high clocked up last week and in Monday morning trading the U.S.-listed depository receipts (ASML) were trading 3.9% better.

-Jules Rimmer

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06-08-26 0854ET