The Challenge
As a global leader in semiconductor lithography, ASML operates at the intersection of advanced technology, international trade policy, and geopolitical competition. Media coverage of the company spans financial markets, technology journalism, trade policy analysis, and political commentary across a dozen countries and multiple languages. The communications team needed to understand not just what was being said, but how narratives were forming and shifting across markets — particularly as semiconductor export controls became a central theme in US-China-EU relations.
Traditional media monitoring provided volume without insight. The team received thousands of clippings per week but lacked a systematic way to identify which narratives were gaining momentum, how coverage in one market was influencing reporting in another, and where emerging storylines presented either risks or opportunities for proactive engagement.
Our Approach
We designed a multi-market media analysis framework that monitored over 1,200 sources across 12 markets, covering financial press, technology publications, policy journals, and mainstream news outlets in English, Dutch, German, Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin. The system used AI to categorise coverage by theme, sentiment, geographic origin, and narrative trajectory.
The core deliverable was a weekly strategic briefing that went far beyond clipping summaries. Each briefing mapped the dominant narratives across markets, identified emerging themes before they reached critical mass, and tracked how specific storylines — such as export control developments or supply chain diversification — were being framed differently in different regions. We also provided rapid-turnaround analysis on breaking developments, delivering contextualised briefings within 24 hours of a significant news event.
The Outcome
The communications team gained a genuinely global view of their media landscape for the first time. Rather than relying on market-by-market reports that arrived on different schedules and used different frameworks, they could see the full picture in a single, consistent format. This enabled faster and more coordinated responses to cross-market narratives, particularly on sensitive topics where messaging consistency across regions was critical.
The early-warning capability proved particularly valuable during periods of heightened geopolitical tension. On several occasions, the system identified narrative shifts in Asian markets that preceded coverage in European and American outlets by 48-72 hours, giving the communications team time to prepare positioning and brief senior leadership before inquiries arrived. The 24-hour turnaround on breaking analysis meant the team was never caught without context, even on fast-moving stories.