Shares of technology companies rose after strong earnings from one major chip fabrication company.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. rallied after the semiconductor manufacturer logged fourth-quarter earnings ahead of Wall Street expectations, and reiterated intentions to expand capacity to meet AI demand, targeting capital expenditure for the year between $52 billion and $56 billion. Under an agreement to avert Trump administration tariffs, TSMC has agreed to add several new factories to its cluster in Arizona as part of a $250 billion investment in the U.S.
Among chip makers and semiconductor-capital equipment makers peers, shares of Applied Materials, Nvidia and Sandisk rose sharply.
Sandisk has now risen more than tenfold since spinning off from Western Digital in February. Memory-chip price trends are moving higher so markedly they could influence overall S&P 500 earnings and performance for 2026, said David Lefkowitz, chief U.S. equity strategist at money manager UBS Global Wealth Management, in a recent note.
The semiconductor sector was also buoyed by reports the White House would exempt imported chips used to build out U.S. supply chains from new 25% tariffs. The PHLX Semiconductor Sox index rose by more than 2% to all-time highs.
Traders continue to rotate out of the mega-cap stocks that have led the stock market for much of the current bull cycle. The Roundhill Magnificent Seven exchange-traded fund was more or less flat Thursday and is down slightly for the year to date. The small-cap Russell 2000 index is up 6.7% for the year to date.
Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-15-26 1757ET
