Chipmakers get a boost as AI demand heats up

Investors got excited on Wednesday night when two big chip companies shared strong predictions about future sales. Micron Technology, which makes memory chips, said its earnings would beat what experts expected this quarter. That news showed how much people really want the chips needed for AI tools. Qualcomm, known mostly for phone chips, now expects to sell $15 billion worth of data center chips by 2029 as it tries to grow beyond phones. The excitement wasn't just about those two companies. Other chipmakers like Western Digital, Sandisk, and Seagate also saw their stock prices jump by more than 8%. Even companies that build the machines to make chips, like Applied Materials and ASML, got a lift. Arm Holdings, which designs chip technology used in phones and servers, rose about 6%. Marvell and Broadcom, both working on AI-related chips, also saw gains.This sudden rise came after a rough day for chip stocks earlier in the week. The PHLX chip index, which tracks many chip companies, fell 8% on Tuesday. Some investors worried that AI spending wasn’t paying off fast enough. Building new data centers for AI is expensive, and it can take a long time before those investments bring in more money. Still, even after the drop, the PHLX index is up 90% so far in 2026. Micron has had an especially big year, with its stock up more than 260% since January. That shows how much trust investors still have in the chip industry, even when prices seem high. The big question now is whether this growth can keep going. AI is still a new and fast-changing field, and chip companies are racing to keep up. Some experts wonder if the stock prices are getting too high too fast. Others believe the demand for AI chips will only keep growing as more businesses and products start using them.