Micron, Intel and other chip stocks are furthering their strong comebacks

By Britney Nguyen

Investor fears about an AI spending slowdown and the impact of interest-rate hikes are subsiding

Intel's stock was part of a rally in the chip sector on Thursday.

Chip stocks staged a sharp rally on Thursday, continuing their comeback from a bruising selloff at the start of the week.

Shares of Intel (INTC) soared 7.7% on Thursday, while those of artificial-intelligence chip makers Marvell Technology (MRVL) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) rose 4.8% and 6.5%, respectively. Arm Holdings' U.S.-listed shares (ARM) gained 8.6%.

Micron Technology's stock (MU) gained 5.5% on Thursday, while Sandisk shares (SNDK) rose 6.2%.

D.A. Davidson managing director Gil Luria said falling oil prices (CL00) (BRN00) and Treasury yields BX:TMUBMUSD10Y were likely "removing some of the concerns" investors initially had following Wednesday's Federal Reserve meeting. The central bank made the decision to raise interest rates by a quarter point, and opened the door to at least one more hike going forward.

"The data-center build-out is rate-sensitive, and therefore any sign that interest rates may not move up as much is a positive for the build-out and, by extension, semiconductor companies," Luria said in emailed comments.

The chip sector had suffered Monday following calls over the weekend from AI leaders, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, to slow the pace of AI development. Some investors initially worried such efforts would have an impact on AI infrastructure spending.

However, chip stocks and shares of server and component makers began to rebound Tuesday, as Wall Street analysts expressed that the underlying growth drivers of the AI build-out remained strong.

-Britney Nguyen

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09-17-26 1722ET