Chip stocks extend rally as memory demand strengthens

Semiconductor stocks advanced Wednesday, extending the PHLX Semiconductor Index’s winning streak. Nvidia rose almost 1%, while AMD, Broadcom, and Intel gained more than 1%. Micron Technology and Samsung Electronics also climbed, alongside chip equipment makers Applied Materials and Lam Research.

The gains followed a sevenfold increase in SK Hynix’s quarterly profits. The South Korean memory maker expects supply shortages heading into 2030 as AI inference demand grows and adoption expands beyond cloud providers into robotics and autonomous driving. Improving sentiment has lifted the sector after concerns about AI spending and neocloud debt weighed on shares in recent weeks.

Storage stocks diverged. Seagate declined despite beating revenue and earnings expectations, as storage shipment volumes remained flat from the previous quarter. Investors took profits after its shares rose 140% year to date. Sandisk, due to report Thursday, gained more than 4% in premarket trading after Seagate confirmed strong AI and data center demand, with customer storage commitments locked through 2028-2030.