Micron, Intel, AMD add $2 trillion in market value during Q2 AI rally

Micron, Intel and Advanced Micro Devices added roughly $2 trillion to their combined market capitalization in the second quarter as investors shifted money into semiconductor companies tied to artificial intelligence. Micron led the advance, rising more than 240 percent and adding about $920 billion in market value.

Intel gained 216 percent, increasing its market capitalization by $480 billion. AMD rose 186 percent and added $615 billion.

Performance across the sector The three companies now rank as the 10th, 11th and 12th most valuable U.S. firms by market capitalization. Nvidia, still the largest chipmaker by market value, rose 15 percent during the same period. Other semiconductor-related stocks also advanced.

The VanEck Semiconductor ETF gained 71 percent, its strongest quarterly performance since the fund began trading in 2000.

Earnings and margin expansion Micron reported last week that revenue more than quadrupled in its latest quarter, driven by higher memory prices from AI chipmakers. The company's gross margin reached 84.9 percent, up from 39 percent a year earlier. Intel is expanding chip factories while seeing renewed demand for central processing units as AI workloads move to edge devices.

AMD produces both central and graphics processing units, though it trails Nvidia in the graphics segment.

Analyst commentary

“The rotation out of AI hyperscalers into AI enablers has shifted investors' euphoria into semis, driving spectacular rallies." — Barclays analyst Anshul Gupta, in a note on Tuesday. The same note said investors are betting that expanded capital spending on AI data centers will support a wider group of semiconductor suppliers.”