The surge in demand for AI technology has significantly boosted the market values of the world's top 100 companies in the first half of the year. A study by EY reveals that while 60 of these companies are based in the US, only 19 are European, with SAP and Siemens being the sole representatives from Germany.

The combined market value of the top 100 companies grew by 17% to $42.3 trillion. Major tech firms like Nvidia, TSMC, and Broadcom saw substantial gains, with Microsoft leading the pack at $3.32 trillion, outperforming all DAX companies combined by 77%.

Eight of the top ten companies are American, with SAP as the highest-ranked German company at 47th, and Siemens falling to 95th. In Europe, other beneficiaries of the AI boom included Dutch chip equipment maker ASML and British chip designer Arm.