Chip stocks pop after TSMC’s earnings beat boosts confidence in industrywide demand

Chipmakers Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices led an industrywide rally in the U.S. on Thursday, alongside semiconductor manufacturers like Applied Materials, after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. reported better-than-expected earnings.

Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company and the leader in artificial intelligence processors, closed up more than 2% on Thursday. Smaller rival AMD closed up almost 2%. Broadcom, which makes custom chips for AI workloads, was up about 1% at Thursday’s close.

TSMC, the biggest contract chipmaker, reported a 35% increase in fourth-quarter profit, beating estimates, and said it expects to boost capital spending in 2026, signaling confidence in the AI buildout. Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom are all TSMC customers.

“We expect our business to be supported by continued strong demand for our leading edge process technologies,” said TSMC finance chief Wendell Huang during an earnings call. Shares of TSMC jumped more than 6%.

The report landed ahead of tech earnings season in the U.S., which kicks off next week with struggling chipmaker Intel. Apple, Tesla, Meta and Microsoft are scheduled to announce results the following week.

The VanEck Semiconductor exchange-traded fund, which counts Nvidia, TSMC and Broadcom as its top constituents, closed up 2% on Thursday.

Memory storage maker Micron, the No. 4 member in the group, finished Thursday up about 1%. Lam Research, a maker of chip equipment, closed up 4%, while Analog Devices closed up 1%.

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