Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra speaks at the groundbreaking ceremony for the company’s semiconductor manufacturing facility in Clay, New York, on January 16, 2026.
Heather Ainsworth | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Chip manufacturer name unknown Nvidia It soared in the second quarter as investors expanded their artificial intelligence portfolios. micron and intel The value has more than tripled, advanced micro device It’s not far away.
These three companies gained a combined market capitalization of approximately $2 trillion during this period and are now the 10th, 11th, and 12th most valuable tech companies in the United States.
AI chipmaker Nvidia remains the largest company by market capitalization and continues to see strong revenue growth, but its stock price rose just 15% in the second quarter. Hyperscaler customers — Amazon, alphabet, Meta and microsoft — Performance was mixed during the period, with Meta down about 2%, the worst performer of the group, and Alphabet, up 24%, topping the list.
“The rotation from AI hyperscalers to AI enablers has transferred investor euphoria to semis, driving impressive stock gains,” Barclays analyst Anshul Gupta said in a note on Tuesday.
Micron, one of the three largest manufacturers of computer memory, rose more than 240% during the quarter, adding about $920 billion to its market capitalization. The company reported last week that its revenue more than quadrupled in its latest quarter due to higher memory prices for the AI chip maker. Micron’s gross profit margin (profit remaining after taking into account cost of goods sold) rose to 84.9% in the third quarter from 39% a year earlier.
Intel, a traditional maker of central processing units (CPUs), soared 216% in the quarter, adding $480 billion to its market capitalization. As Intel builds out its U.S. chip factories, it also benefits from new demand for CPUs as more AI moves into devices.
Intel’s rival in CPUs, AMD, increased in value by $615 billion after its stock price nearly tripled. AMD also makes graphics processing units, but lags far behind Nvidia in that market.
Analysts previously said the quarter’s market moves may represent a “change of caution in the AI space,” with investors flocking to companies that make semiconductors to complement Nvidia’s chips and betting that a significant increase in capital spending in AI data centers will support broader corporate growth.
Beyond memory and processors, other parts of the AI infrastructure supply chain have also boomed.
marvelThe company, which makes network equipment, rose about 200%. armThe company, which supplies technology and designs to other chipmakers, rose 134% in the quarter. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) rose 71% in the same period, marking the fund’s best quarterly performance since it began trading in 2000.
Attention: Chinese memory chips flooding the market are not a short-term threat to Micron
