European AI-linked tech stocks surge as investors target infrastructure enablers

A small group of European technology stocks tied to AI infrastructure has surged in 2026 as investors expand beyond U.S. and Chinese companies that have dominated the artificial intelligence boom.

Chipmaking equipment company Aixtron has risen 189% year to date. Technoprobe, which makes equipment used in the chipmaking process, has gained 129%, while chipmaker STMicroelectronics is up 133% in 2026. Nokia, which has shifted from its legacy as a phone maker toward AI-related infrastructure, has climbed 108% this year.

In recent years, U.S. and Chinese companies have been the biggest beneficiaries of the AI boom because they lead in frontier models and the most powerful processing chips. But as demand for computing capacity rises, investors are widening their focus to include companies providing the infrastructure behind AI, including data centers, networking, chip equipment, power, cooling and software tools.

Fabio Bassi, head of cross-asset strategy at J.P. Morgan, told CNBC that this has broadened the push into European stocks. “In Europe, scarcity amplifies the trend,” he said. “There are few large, liquid AI pure-plays, so flows concentrate in a small group of perceived AI proxies, combining real AI-linked demand with crowded positioning.”

Germany’s Aixtron, which designs and manufactures advanced deposition equipment used to apply ultra-thin layers of materials onto silicon wafers, has seen its stock rise more than 300% over the past 12 months. That makes it the second-biggest mover on the Stoxx 600 in that period, behind pharma company Abivax.

Citi raised its target price on Aixtron by more than 66% in an April note, saying the company is seeing stronger demand and margins. Citi said AI is the primary revenue driver of Aixtron’s 2026 guidance.

“The [AI] buildout is consuming semiconductors of all types, which bodes well for STMicroelectronics and its peers,” Brian Colello, senior equity analyst at Morningstar, told CNBC.

Colello said STMicroelectronics has exposure to AI through two channels: power semiconductors tied to the coming 800-volt power transition, and optical products used for faster data center connectivity.

Nokia is repositioning itself as a provider of hardware used in AI infrastructure. The company supplies networks used by AI data centers as well as optical equipment.

Nokia completed its acquisition of Infinera early last year, making it one of the world’s largest vendors of optical networking equipment. Nvidia announced in October that it would buy $1 billion in Nokia shares, lifting the stock 22% at the time.

Italy’s Technoprobe makes probe cards, electromechanical interfaces used to test silicon wafers. In May, Bank of America upgraded the company to a buy rating, saying it expects earnings to grow over the next few years on demand linked to graphics processing units.

The Stoxx Europe Total Market Semiconductor index has risen 84% so far this year, compared with a 3% increase for the Stoxx 600.

Analysts said that, so far, the main winners from AI have been the companies supplying the infrastructure needed for the buildout. Over time, however, companies deploying AI could also post large gains.

“These might be firms in software, fintech, healthcare, robotics,” said Colello. “Since every nation will want to deploy AI in their native languages, we suspect there will be local AI winners in each region of the world.”

Still, analysts told CNBC that gains in a handful of European stocks do not yet point to a broad boom in Europe’s lagging AI sector.

Martin Szumski, equity analyst at Morningstar, said regulatory hurdles in Europe will probably slow the rollout of AI infrastructure. “There is growing interest in supporting AI infrastructure in Europe, of which Nokia can play a part, but it will likely happen under a fundamentally different regulatory framework than in the US.”

He said power grid constraints, data center moratoriums and compliance with the EU AI Act are limiting factors for AI expansion in Europe.

“There are simply fewer places [than in the U.S.] where you can buy 500+ acres of land with the needed power and water availability to support an AI-enabled data centre,” Szumski added. “For the time being, the winners of the AI trade are still those companies selling into the US.”

Bassi said it is still too early to view the recent gains as proof that AI will become a broad and durable driver of European growth or equity performance.

He said the rally in select European AI stocks should not be read as a broad European technology revival, but rather as a narrow channel into companies with genuine exposure to data center expansion and the ability to convert demand into earnings.