Semiconductor stocks were mostly higher on Friday, amid renewed enthusiasm from traders to kick off the 2026 trading year.
Micron Technology (MU) led the sector, with gains of nearly 8% in late morning trading. Micron shares rose more than 220% in 2025, amid continued demand for memory from the artificial intelligence spending boom.
AMD (AMD) shares rose more than 3%, while competitors Nvidia (NVDA) and Intel (INTC) rose 1.7% and 6.5%, respectively. Shares of all three companies jumped in 2025, with AMD and Nvidia riding the AI wave, thanks to their respective AI accelerator offerings that have become ubiquitous inside data centers. On Wednesday, it was reported that Nvidia had approached Taiwan Semicoductor (TSM) about increasing production of its H200 GPUs amid a surge in demand from China.
Analog producers such as Texas Instruments (TXN), Analog Devices (ADI) also saw gains on Friday, rising around 1% apiece.
Chip equipment makers also saw renewed enthusiasm on Friday, as ASML (ASML) jumped more than 8% on the back of a double upgrade from Aletheia Capital. Aletheia Capital analyst Warren Lau raised his rating on ASML to Buy from Sell and upped his price target to $1,500 from $750. He also increased his 2026 and 2027 earnings estimates on the belief that the company will benefit from its investments and increases in capacity.
Lam Research (LRCX), Applied Materials (AMAT) and KLA Corp. (KLAC) also saw gains of 3% or more.
Other notable semiconductor companies, including Broadcom (AVGO), Qualcomm (QCOM) and Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) also saw gains.