The surge in semiconductor stocks continued last week. The industry is on pace for its best year since 2009 in just the first 4+ months of 2026! Recent earnings results and commentary from leading executives in the industry signal that the growth of artificial intelligence is no longer just boosting demand for GPUs, but is instead reshaping the entire computing stack. This broad-based fundamental strength in the industry has helped fuel their run so far this year.
Historic Returns
The semiconductor industry, as proxied by SOXX – the iShares semiconductor ETF – is on pace for one of its best years of price return ever. SOXX was trading at a roughly +72% year to date gain during trading on Friday, May 8th, 2026. Should the index hold this gain for the year, it would be the industry’s best year since 2009’s +73.5% return, as shown below.
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Earnings Highlight Strength
Semiconductor investors this past week received fundamental results and forward-looking commentary from industry executives that highlight the industry’s momentum. Perhaps the most important takeaway may have come from AMD’s results and commentary from their CEO, Dr. Lisa Su. AMD now expects “the server CPU TAM to grow at greater than 35% annually, reaching $120 billion by 2030,” and is significantly above their previous view of approximately 18% growth per annum. This large upgrade to potential growth catalyzed shares of AMD and analysts’ fundamental expectations higher. As shown below, FactSet’s consensus expectations now forecast AMD’s earnings per share to be over $17 in 2028, up from this year’s estimate of $7.32.
This widening demand picture was further validated by OnSemi. OnSemi CEO Hassane El-Khoury noted that the company’s data center business grew more than 30% sequentially during the quarter. This is especially notable because OnSemi is not traditionally viewed as a headline AI company. Instead, the firm specializes in power semiconductors, silicon carbide, and industrial infrastructure components. Yet even in these markets, AI demand is beginning to ripple through the supply chain.
Taken together, these companies are describing a world where AI computing requires vastly more processing capability distributed across CPUs, networking, and the power infrastructure required to energize it all. Commentary and results like those received last week reinforce the idea that the semiconductor cycle is surging. This buildout may be structurally larger – and broader – than prior generations and has helped fuel the historic gains for the industry.
For more content by Blake Anderson, CFA®, Director, Portfolio Management, click here.
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