(Reuters) – U.S. semiconductor stocks rose as industry leader TSMC (TSM, 2330.TW)’s strong sales forecast fueled investor optimism about demand for processors that power artificial intelligence applications. It rose before the bell Thursday.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest contract chipmaker, raised expectations for annual sales growth, saying sales of AI chips would account for mid-teens of sales for the year.
The forecast from a major maker of advanced AI chips has strengthened investors’ confidence in the outlook for the chipmaker, whose market value has soared over the past two years due to a surge in chip spending by Big Tech.
U.S.-listed TSMC shares rose 7%, and if pre-market gains continue, the company’s market capitalization is on track to exceed $1 trillion.
TSMC customer and AI chip frontrunner Nvidia (NVDA) and smaller rival AMD (AMD) both rose more than 2%. Network chip maker Broadcom (AVGO), smartphone chip maker Qualcomm (QCOM) and memory chip provider Micron (MU) rose 1.5% to 3%.
The stock price of struggling semiconductor manufacturer Intel (INTC) also rose slightly. Intel has been expanding its chip manufacturing facilities to challenge TSMC in advanced contract manufacturing, but analysts expect the effort to take years.
TSMC’s outlook gives investors some respite after a sharp forecast cut by semiconductor manufacturing equipment giant ASML raised concerns that demand for semiconductors for non-AI applications may recover more slowly than expected. Ta.
TSMC’s U.S.-listed stock has risen more than 80% since the beginning of the year, while Nvidia has more than doubled as investors pour billions into semiconductor stocks as Wall Street picks and sells boom. There is.
(Reporter Arsheeya Bajwa in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)
