US Lawmakers Question ASML Holding N.V. (ASML)’s Deals with Chinese Firms, Citing National Security Concerns Over Advanced Chip Tech

We recently compiled a list of the 14 AI News You Should Pay Attention To. In this article, we are going to take a look at where ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) stands against the other AI stocks you should pay attention to.

A lot has been made of the recent efforts by the United States government to tighten chip exports to China. This coordinated effort, just before Donald Trump takes office, includes stricter license restrictions on US chip firms doing business with China, added scrutiny on those that assemble their hardware in China, and an appeal to allies in Europe and Asia to follow suit. These efforts have only served to further bolster the semiconductor index in China, which leaped to a record high on November 11 amid reports that a recent US order to halt TSM chip supplies to China would accelerate efforts in Beijing to set up advanced chip manufacturing companies in the Asian country.

Read more about these developments by accessing 10 Best AI Data Center Stocks and 10 Buzzing AI Stocks According to Goldman Sachs.

Chinese brokerage Cinda Securities, in a note published on the China chip situation on November 10, has said that in the medium and long term it will force the reorganization of the supply chain, increase the demand for domestic advanced process production capacity, and promote technological breakthroughs in upstream semiconductor equipment and materials. Many Chinese firms are reliant on TSM chips – 11% of TSM revenue is linked to China – and analysts expect these firms to undergo short-term pain from the US measures, but back them to emerge stronger in the long term due to improvement of domestic chip manufacturing.

Read more about these developments by accessing 30 Most Important AI Stocks According to BlackRock and Beyond the Tech Giants: 35 Non-Tech AI Opportunities.

For this article, we selected AI stocks by combing through news articles, stock analysis, and press releases. These stocks are also popular among hedge funds. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into?

The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

A technician in a clean room working on a semiconductor device, illuminated by the machines.

ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML)

Market Capitalization: $268 Billion 

ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) makes and sells advanced semiconductor equipment systems. The company was among a host of semi-stocks that recently received letters from US lawmakers over their business deals with Chinese firms. In the letter, the chief of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, John Moolenaar, and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi, voiced their concern that the semiconductor equipment firms could be used to give the People’s Liberation Army an advantage to build advanced processors and reinforce China’s domestic chip capacity.

Overall ASML ranks 7th on our list of the AI stocks you should pay attention to. While we acknowledge the potential of ASML as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than ASML but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 8 Best Wide Moat Stocks to Buy Now and 30 Most Important AI Stocks According to BlackRock.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.