#semiconductors

#semiconductors

The Direxion NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Shares ( NASDAQ:QQQE) doesn't generate income the way traditional dividend ETFs do. With just $1.2 billion in assets and a 0.35% expense ratio, this fund tracks the NASDAQ-100 using equal weighting rather than market cap weighting. That structural difference means each of the 100 holdings gets roughly 1% of the portfolio instead of letting mega-caps dominate. The result is a growth-focused ETF where dividends are secondary.

"In the last months, many of our customers have shared a notably more positive assessment of the medium-term market situation, primarily based on more robust expectations of the sustainability of AI-related demand. This is reflected in a marked step-up in their medium-term capacity plans and in our record order intake," ASML President and Chief Executive Officer Christophe Fouquet said in a statement.

The markets are retreating today after a two-day rally in which technology stocks were out front. Today, tech is a drag, with stalwart chipmaker Intel ( Nasdaq: INTC) down by a double digit percentage as worries around chip demand resurface. All three of the major stock market averages are seeing red, including a fractional decline in the Nasdaq Composite. Nvidia ( Nasdaq: NVDA) is a rare gainer today, tacking on 1.6% and preventing the markets from further declines.

Live Coverage Updates appear automatically as they are published. Live Updates Most of the major indices are green again. The S&P 500 0.17%, as it nears record highs. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF ( SPY) is up about 0.14%. The Dow is down a fraction of a point, with the Nasdaq also up half a percent. The S&P 500 could easily hit 7,000 today, which is just a few points off.

The US and Taiwan have signed an agreement that will see a multi-billion dollar investment into domestic development of semiconductors and related infrastructure. The US Department of Commerce announced that Taiwanese businesses will make an upfront investment of at least $250 billion into their US production capacity, while Taiwan's government will provide credit guarantees of at least another $250 billion in support of the semiconductor industry and supply chain in the US.

For a world economy driven by consumerism, it's become markedly unkind to consumers. This goes double - literally - for digital tech, where memory prices have increased by between 100 and 250 percent in six months. If you think GPUs are pricey now, you'll only have to wait six weeks, during which both AMD and Nvidia are expected to demonstrate supply-side economics much as the Road Runner demonstrated gravity to Wile E Coyote.

NVIDIA ( NASDAQ:NVDA) has delivered a 23,000% return over the past decade has become the benchmark every tech investor measures against. The company created the infrastructure that made modern AI possible. Now the question: which company pulls off the next NVIDIA-like run? We analyzed 15 AI-adjacent stocks across semiconductors, software, and quantum computing to find the five with the clearest path to impressive future returns thanks to massive growth in the decade ahead. Here's what separated the contenders from the pretenders.

The enthusiasm comes as Micron delivered remarkable Q1 FY2026 results, with revenue climbing 56.7% year-over-year to $13.64 billion and net income soaring 175.4% to $5.24 billion. The company's 38.4% net profit margin is stunning. Operating cashflow reached $8.41 billion in the quarter. Attention intensified following comments from Nvidia's CEO about AI storage demand, which sent memory chip stocks surging across the board.

The biggest macro factor for DRIV isn't consumer demand or battery costs. It's trade policy: tariffs and industrial incentives that determine where EVs get built and sold. DRIV holds $340 million in assets split between US tech giants and global automakers. When tariff threats emerge or federal EV tax credits shift, the fund's diverse holdings react differently. Watch for announcements from the Office of the US Trade Representative on Chinese EV and battery component tariffs. These typically surface quarterly or around major trade negotiations.

The Roundhill Generative AI & Technology ETF ( NYSEARCA:CHAT) soared just over 45% in 2025, outpacing the S&P 500's 17% gain and the Nasdaq-100's 21% advance. The fund's 2026 performance trajectory depends on hyperscaler spending on AI infrastructure and the fund's concentrated exposure to companies building that infrastructure. Hyperscaler Capital Spending Is the Engine The biggest macro factor affecting CHAT's performance is capital expenditure by the world's largest cloud providers.

Among the winners, there are a number of stocks I think can continue to outperform in the year ahead. In this piece, I thought I'd dive into two companies that have blown away the market's return this year, and been key drivers of this performance. These are companies I think can continue to outperform in 2026, and may still be buying opportunities after their impressive 2025.

With its new Pax Silica Declaration, Washington has picked its most trusted partners in the AI sector: An array of close U.S. allies, including Australia, the U.K., and Israel. Yet despite deepening trade relations between the U.S. and ASEAN nations like Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, Singapore remains the agreement's only Southeast Asian signatory. That decision comes even as ASEAN nations like Malaysia are investing in their own AI industries, like semiconductors and data centers.

It may have been a wilder ride for the semiconductor stocks and the broader AI trade in 2025. But for the many brave investors who stayed the course, it's been a rewarding year, with the VanEck Semiconductor ETF ( NASDAQ:SMH), my favorite "thermometer" to gauge the heat of the semiconductor stocks, gaining close to 50% on the year. Undoubtedly, with Dr. Michael Burry of The Big Short fame, likely sticking with his bearish bets (and views) of AI for the new year,

The hardest part about investing in artificial intelligence isn't believing in the technology-it's deciding which companies will actually profit from it. Will chip makers dominate? Cloud providers? Software platforms? Infrastructure builders? The answer is probably all of them, which is why iShares Future AI & Tech ETF (NYSEARCA:ARTY) has become popular for investors wanting broad AI exposure without concentrated bets.

Leveraged ETFs demand a different monitoring framework than buy-and-hold funds, and SOXL's 3x daily exposure to semiconductors makes the distinction especially sharp. With $13.6 billion in assets and an extremely high portfolio turnover rate driven by daily rebalancing, this fund combines sector momentum and structural decay. As 2026 approaches, investors need to separate broad semiconductor trends from the mechanics that make leveraged products behave differently than their underlying holdings.

Intel executed a credible turnaround under challenging conditions. The company reported Q3 2025 revenue of $13.7 billion, up 3% year-over-year, with non-GAAP EPS of $0.23 crushing estimates of $0.01. Client Computing grew 5% to $8.5 billion, while Data Center and AI revenue of $4.1 billion declined 1%. Intel secured a $2 billion investment from SoftBank and announced a collaboration with NVIDIA, signaling industry validation of its foundry ambitions.

The U.S. stock market is drifting near its record levels on Wednesday following mixed reactions to profit reports from Macy's, Marvell Technologies, and other companies. The S&P 500 rose 0.2% and pulled within 0.7% of its all-time high set in late October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 174 points, or 0.6%, as of 11:50 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was virtually unchanged.

SoftBank Group confirmed on Wednesday that it has completed its acquisition of Ampere Computing. Through its subsidiary Silver Bands 6 (US) Corp., the group has acquired all shares in the American semiconductor company. The transaction, valued at $6.5 billion, was announced in March and has now been fully completed. Ampere will become a wholly owned subsidiary of SoftBank and will continue to operate under its own name.

Arizona's economy was once dominated by the "five C's": cotton, cattle, citrus, copper, and climate. But a new C has emerged that could grow to overshadow the rest: chips. New semiconductor manufacturing facilities are springing up across the greater Phoenix area, stretching across blocks of new roads with names like "Processor Parkway" and "Transistor Terrace." Just outside the facilities, developers anticipating an influx of workers are planning mixed-use residential and industrial zones like mini modern-day company towns.

Southeast Asia should be well-placed to thrive in a more geopolitically complex world. The region is rich in natural resources, has a young and increasingly wealthy population, and maintains economic and trade links with major economic powers like the U.S., China, India and the Gulf Cooperation Council. Yet during the Fortune Innovation Forum in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, Asia Partners co-founder Nicholas Nash challenged Southeast Asian entrepreneurs to be much more ambitious in their aims.