--- title: Chip and Materials Suppliers Lead Europe's Stocks to Record Highs description: Soitec and AT&S top the STOXX Europe 600's 2026 performers as the index sets fresh records, with no luxury or pharmaceutical name in the top ten. author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief) updated: 2026-08-07T21:21:09.434Z canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/europe-stocks-record-high-chip-suppliers-2026 image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/europe-stocks-chip-suppliers-record-120207.webp categories: Markets content_type: News region: Europe publication: Sovereign Magazine schema_type: Article --- European share indices set fresh records this week, and the STOXX Europe 600 climbed again on Friday, [trading between 658.32 and 663.41 on the index provider's own figures](https://www.stoxx.com/index-details?symbol=SXXP), above the 658.19 high it carried into the session. Its published closing series runs 657.14 on Wednesday, 658.19 on Thursday and 660.25 on Friday. The EURO STOXX 50 set an all-time high on Wednesday and has gained about 10% since the start of the year. Germany's DAX broke above 26,100 for the first time, France's CAC 40 reached a record 8,700 and Italy's FTSE MIB reached 53,540. The companies pulling hardest are not the ones Europe is known for. [Euronews ranked the ten best-performing European stocks worth €1 billion or more by share price gain through 5 August](https://www.euronews.com/business/2026/08/06/european-stocks-hit-record-highs-the-10-best-performers-of-2026), and the list is led by suppliers of the materials, machinery and testing equipment behind [the AI data centre build-out](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/inside-europe-s-30bn-progress-on-ai-sovereignty). ## Semiconductor Suppliers Take the Top Positions Soitec, the French maker of semiconductor wafer materials, tops the ranking with a gain of 414.5%, even though annual revenue fell 34% to €592 million as the industry worked through excess inventory. Its photonics business passed $100 million in revenue for the first time, free cash flow reached €63 million ahead of analyst expectations, and management expects revenue to return to growth this year. AT&S, the Austrian maker of the advanced substrates that connect AI processors to memory chips inside high-performance servers, is second at 343.5%. Reporting on 4 August, it forecast revenue growth of 30% to 35% this year on data centre investment. Its shares are still about 40% below the record they set in June. Three more names in the same supply chain follow. ams-OSRAM, the Austrian sensor and photonics group, is up 136.2% after selling its non-core sensor division to Infineon. Technoprobe, an Italian maker of chip-testing equipment, is up 135.1% and has raised full-year sales guidance to between €950 million and €1.05 billion after a record first quarter. AIXTRON is up 121.0% after second-quarter orders rose 81% to €214.5 million, and STMicroelectronics is up 105.7% after second-quarter revenue rose 26% to $3.49 billion and the company returned to an operating profit. ## Familiar Sector Leaders Are Missing From the List No luxury group is in the top ten, and no pharmaceutical company. Banks contribute one name, Raiffeisen Bank International, up 67.6% after first-half profit excluding its Russian business rose 25% to €708 million. The remaining entries move on their own industry stories: Tullow Oil at 136.4%, after management more than doubled its 2026 free cash flow forecast to between $170 million and $250 million on stronger oil prices; Saipem at 75.8% on offshore energy work and a record €29.9 billion order book; and ArcelorMittal at 65.3%, helped by EU import quotas that cut competition from cheaper foreign steel. ## Lower Oil Prices and Faster Eurozone Growth Have Helped Reports that Washington and Tehran are moving towards an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz pushed oil prices lower this week, easing cost pressures for European manufacturers and airlines. Eurostat's preliminary estimate put eurozone growth at 0.4% quarter on quarter in the second quarter, double what economists expected and up from flat growth in the first, with annual growth at 1.0%. Claus Vistesen, chief eurozone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the region "comfortably beat expectations yesterday, posting GDP growth of 0.4% quarter-to-quarter in Q2, after upwardly revised zero growth in Q1." Second-quarter company results have generally beaten expectations. None of that explains why chip suppliers in particular have outrun everything else on Europe's exchanges. It does show what a broad European index fund now holds: less weight in the sectors the continent is known for, and more in a small group of suppliers to the AI build-out. ## FAQ **Q: What is the STOXX Europe 600?** A broad index of 600 companies across Europe, run by the index provider STOXX and widely used as the benchmark for the region's stock market. **Q: Which European stock has performed best in 2026?** Soitec, the French semiconductor materials specialist, on Euronews's ranking of stocks worth €1 billion or more, up 414.5% through 5 August. **Q: Why are European stocks at record highs?** Lower oil prices amid reports of progress on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, eurozone growth of 0.4% in the second quarter against expectations of half that, and second-quarter company results that have generally beaten forecasts. **Q: What is the difference between the STOXX Europe 600 and the EURO STOXX 50?** The STOXX Europe 600 covers 600 companies across the wider European market. The EURO STOXX 50 tracks 50 large companies inside the eurozone, and it set its own all-time high the same week.