Europe seeks its first trillion-euro tech champion

Europe has yet to create a company worth more than a trillion euros, despite ASML becoming its clear standout in advanced chipmaking. The Dutch lithography group is worth about €600bn ($680bn) after more than doubling in value over the past year, while U.S. companies including Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Meta and SpaceX have already crossed much larger valuation thresholds.

The gap has sharpened concerns that Europe could become dependent on foreign-controlled AI infrastructure and platforms. The EU’s Scaleup Europe Fund, with EQT selected to lead it in May, is designed to back European technology companies from Series B onward, providing around €100m per investment.

European officials and investors argue the region has strong founders, universities and technical talent, but struggles to allocate capital and help companies expand across fragmented markets. Research from EQT and McKinsey forecasts the number of European scale-ups will grow by more than 2.5x to around 1,900 by 2030, with momentum in AI, robotics, energy and quantum computing.

Proposed fixes include easier cross-border distribution, better stock-option taxation, simpler hiring rules and broader access to institutional and private capital. Supporters say those changes could help more European firms scale globally while keeping their roots in Europe.