beschouwer schreef op 25 augustus 2025 13:08:
Ga gerust lekker pootje baden in Scheveningen, want het komt wel goed met ASML
2 Magnificent Dividend Stocks Down 17% and 27% I'm Buying Right Now
Josh Kohn-Lindquist, The Motley Fool
Mon, August 25, 2025 at 12:30 PM GMT+2
1. ASML: Powering the "Magnificent Seven" alongside AI's rise
ASML (NASDAQ: ASML) is one of the most critical cogs in the global semiconductor supply chain. The company mastered the art of lithography, a process where ultraviolet light etches tiny patterns onto the silicon wafers used in semiconductor chips.
If ASML and its products disappeared overnight, the technological world would be almost unrecognizable. Most smartphones, advanced computers, artificial intelligence (AI) systems, data centers, and other complex technologies wouldn't exist.
A portion of an ASML lithography machine is loaded onto an airplane for transport.
Image source: ASML.
While the Magnificent Seven gets most of today's investing fanfare, ASML quietly enables these behemoths.
Further solidifying its critical importance to the semiconductor industry, ASML is the clear leader in market share for the more mature (less advanced) deep ultraviolet lithography niche. It also holds a virtual monopoly in the leading-edge extreme ultraviolet lithography niche, which sits at the center of AI's rise.
Simply put, barring a currently unforeseeable technological breakthrough that renders the company's lithography less critical over the coming decades, the future's most tech-dense ideas will likely rely upon ASML in some form.
However, despite ASML's dominance in its niche, its stock sits 17% below its 52-week high.