The troop is small, but full of energy. Among the European titles di artificial intelligence there is a small one group of companies which has seen huge gains this year.
Among the top performers of theStoxx Europe 600 index this year there are the chip maker stmicroelectronics, which has more than doubled, Prysmian, a specialist in optical fibers and electrical cables, which has grown by more than 70% this year, semiconductor equipment manufacturers Aixtron e Be Semiconductor Industries, which respectively grew by approximately 200% and almost 100% and Nokia, which is growing by more than 100% and provides hardware that connects cloud services and data centers.
These data show how the fervor for artificial intelligence in the United States and Asia it has also spread to Europe, say the analysts interviewed by Financial Times, with investors eager to find the next AI winners in a European market that has so far lagged Wall Street's tech rally.
“Anyone investing in Europe is desperately looking for AI assets to bet on,” he told FT Emmanuel Cau, head of European equity strategy at Barclays, indicating a “gold rush” in the sector"The fact is that Europe's market is small and there aren't millions of AI champions," he added. "But the group is doing very well." The Stoxx Europe Total Market sub-index Semiconductors è almost doubled this year, while the entire Stoxx Europe 600 is up around 2%.
After the US hyperscalers, investors are now focusing on Europe
“The first stage in this AI sector was dedicated to American hyperscalers, but now it is natural that investors start to look outside the United States too,” said Kasper Elmgreen, chief investment officer for fixed income and equities at Nordea Asset Management.
Thus, investor attention in Europe has shifted from “Granolas,” a term coined by Goldman Sachs to describe 11 large European stocks focused on healthcare and luxury consumption, to the continent's push for so-called strategic autonomy, even in the technology sector. Until now, “those [Granola] were the only names you really wanted to own in Europe. This has changed“Elmgreen said. “There's a theme around Europe related to the structural need for strategic autonomy.”
While theDutch Asml remains the largest European technology stock, some smaller titles they got good results this year with investors looking for companies that can produce the “picks and shovels” so necessary for the AI boom, Elmgreen said. French Soitec, Specializing in special silicon wafers that help reduce chip power consumption, the company has seen its growth quintuple since the end of last year. The strong rebound of the company, based near Grenoble, came after the price of both shares had collapsed 90% by early 2025 from its peak in November 2021. The French chip designer also Kalray, has increased more than fivefold, while Ribs, which makes equipment used to add layers of atoms to wafers, has more than tripled in price this year.
“The reduced presence of opportunities compared to the United States has meant that in Europe money has been concentrated on “key suppliers… in a sort of niche"" said Roland Kaloyan, head of European equity strategy at Société Générale. "In recent years, the way the market has interpreted the topic of artificial intelligence in European markets has been mainly through the sector energetic and that of the electrical components“. The Italian Prysmian, a specialist in optical fibres and electrical cables, has grown by more than 70% this year, while the German Siemens Energy about 40%.
Kaloyan believes that in some cases the European sector is “quite expensive”. STMicroelectronics for example, it has a price-earnings ratio of about 37 times, while Aixtron It's on 47 times, according to Bloomberg"Obviously, you need more selectivity now than you did six months ago," Elmgreen acknowledged. "But I think there's still good opportunity."
