AMSTERDAM, Jan 15 (Reuters) - ASML, the world's biggest maker of equipment used to manufacture computer chips, crossed $500 billion in market value for the first time on Thursday, after top customer TSMC announced larger than expected capital spending plans to keep up with booming demand for artificial intelligence chips.
TSMC hiked its planned capital spending to between $52 billion and $56 billion in 2026, blowing past market expectations of $46 billion according to analysts polled by Visible Alpha. That means up to 21% more money that could be used to buy chipmaking equipment.
The news pushed ASML's shares 5.4% higher by 1106 GMT, totalling a rise of 24% in January alone, as it extends its lead as Europe's most valuable company.
Analysts have said ASML is a clear beneficiary of the AI boom, which has led to expansion plans by many chipmakers, notably Samsung and SK Hynix, which make memory chips used in AI technology, and now TSMC, the main manufacturer of chips for Nvidia and Apple.
"The market has underestimated again how large is the demand for AI, and the implementation is going faster than everybody expected," said Han Dieperink, chief investment officer at investment firm Aureus which has a stake in ASML.
Heightened spending from TSMC comes on top of increased demand seen from Micron and Korean memory chip manufacturers, as a manufacturing bottleneck for AI memory forms, Dieperink said.
ASML, which is due to report fourth-quarter earnings on January 28, has so far forecast only tepid growth for 2026 or flat sales at worst.
That reflects the relatively slow rate at which new plants are being built, compared to the massive demand for AI, analysts said.
But TSMC's capital spending plans mean ASML's outlook into 2027 and beyond is strengthening, Citi analysts said, as the Taiwanese group plans to hasten its factory building process.
(Reporting by Toby Sterling and Nathan Vifflin, additional reporting by Leo Marchandon, Danilo Masoni and Ozan Ergenay; editing by Anna Pruchnicka and Milla Nissi-Prussak)