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Semiconductor stocks across the board were climbing during morning market action on Tuesday, led by memory names such as SK hynix (SKHY) and Micron Technology (MU), indicating the global memory crunch is far from over.
The South Korea-based SK hynix jumped 9% to $164. The stock first appeared on the Nasdaq on July 10, with American Depository Receipt shares priced at $149 each. It opened that day at $171 and closed at $169.
Micron moved up 7%. Its shares have surged more than 200% year-to-date, reflecting the strong demand for memory chips, which most analysts predict will extend into at least 2027 as the AI infrastructure buildout continues unabated.
Storage names also popped on Tuesday. Seagate Technology (STX) shot up 8%, Western Digital (WDC) leaped 10% and Sandisk (SNDK) surged 9.5%. Sandisk shares have rocketed by an unfathomable 3,500% over the past 12 months.
CPU and GPU makers exhibited strong gains on Tuesday as well.
AMD (AMD) advanced 5.5%. On Monday, AMD announced an expanded partnership with Microsoft (MSFT) spanning AMD's GPUs, CPUs, networking, and software on Microsoft Azure. Microsoft will deploy the AMD Helios Rackscale Solution to power frontier model AI inference for Microsoft and its AI customers and support Azure AI services. AMD is also holding an Advancing AI 2026 event on Wednesday and Thursday in San Francisco. The Lisu Su-led company will discuss advancements in AI infrastructure, architecture and development. Some analysts believe the event could feature catalysts, such as higher guidance or new deal announcements.
Intel (INTC) moved up 6% as it prepares to release its second quarter 2026 financial results post-market on Thursday.
"Of course, all eyes are really going to be on the foundry segment, which has been a big money suck over the last couple of years," said Seeking Alpha analyst Jack Bowman. "But last quarter, it impressed, even if its external customer figures are still very low. That's changing, and Intel is moving to the TSMC (TSM) model of manufacturing other firms' chips without creating competing designs of their own."
MaxLinear (MXL) had shot up nearly 12%. The stock has now gone into orbit this year, spiking nearly 400% year to date.
"MaxLinear's growth outlook is increasingly supported by both its Keystone and upcoming Rushmore optical interconnect roadmaps, as well as the emerging Panther V storage accelerator opportunity," said Seeking Alpha analyst Summit Research. "Panther V strategically aligns with intensifying AI memory and storage bottlenecks and looming server CPU supply constraints in the agentic shift."
The broad gains across the sector were exemplified by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX), which jumped 4%.
Wall Street's major indices were all in the green during Tuesday trading as well. The benchmark S&P 500 (SP500) was up 0.6%, the heavy-tech Nasdaq Composite (COMP:IND) increased 1%, and the blue-chip Dow (DJI) edged up 0.4%.
