The three chipmakers are now the 10th, 11th, and 12th most valuable U.S. tech companies as investors broaden AI bets
I-HWA CHENG/AFP via Getty Images
Micron $MU Technology, Intel $INTC, and Advanced Micro Devices added roughly $2 trillion in combined market capitalization during the second quarter as investors expanded their AI holdings beyond Nvidia $NVDA. By market capitalization, all three now rank among the top dozen U.S. technology companies, at positions 10, 11, and 12.
Of the three, Micron posted the steepest climb at over 240%, a run that translated to roughly $920 billion in added market value. A 216% surge lifted Intel's market cap by approximately $480 billion, and AMD $AMD's shares came close to tripling in value, contributing $615 billion to its total worth.
"The rotation out of AI hyperscalers into AI enablers has shifted investors' euphoria into semis, driving spectacular rallies," Barclays analyst Anshul Gupta wrote in a note on Tuesday, according to CNBC.
Results released last week showed that revenue at Micron — one of just three global producers of computer memory — grew more than fourfold in its most recent quarter, propelled by surging prices that AI chipmakers are paying for memory. Third-quarter gross margin expanded dramatically, moving from 39% the prior year to 84.9%.
Domestic semiconductor factory construction is a central part of Intel's strategy, and the longstanding CPU maker has also caught a tailwind from growing demand for its processors as AI workloads increasingly run on consumer devices. Competing against Intel in the CPU space, AMD has likewise expanded into graphics processing units, a segment where Nvidia continues to hold a commanding lead.
Nvidia held its position as the most valuable U.S. company overall, though its stock advanced just 15% during the quarter. Performance among the major cloud and hyperscaler operators was uneven: Alphabet $GOOGL topped the group with a roughly 24% rise, while Meta $META Platforms was the laggard, slipping close to 2%.
The broader semiconductor supply chain also posted gains in the quarter. Networking equipment maker Marvell Technology saw its stock approximately double in value for a roughly 200% gain, while chip architecture licensor Arm Holdings surged 134%. Taken together, the momentum pushed the VanEck Semiconductor ETF to a 71% quarterly return — a record for the fund in its roughly quarter-century of trading.
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