Investor interest in artificial intelligence has moved beyond the largest technology corporations and spread to semiconductor manufacturers and providers of computing infrastructure, Freedom Broker analysts note. However, after a sharp rise on September 22, the quotes corrected in the next session.
Infrastructure suppliers became the top gainers
Interest in AI continues to expand beyond the largest technology companies to semiconductor and infrastructure manufacturers, Freedom Broker analysts noted.
In trading on September 22, shares of Monolithic Power Systems (MPWR) rose 8.1%, Sandisk (SNDK) gained 6.8%, and Micron Technology (MU) advanced 5%. Analysts attribute this performance to interest in investing in artificial intelligence and growing demand for computing capacity.
Monolithic Power Systems, Sandisk and Micron Technology are part of a group of companies that support computing infrastructure. Monolithic Power Systems develops high-performance semiconductor solutions for power management and conversion in data centers, telecommunications, industrial, automotive and consumer equipment.
Sandisk develops and manufactures NAND flash-based data storage devices and systems, including solid-state drives. Micron Technology produces DRAM and flash memory chips, as well as storage for data centers and other computing systems. In June, Micron Technology reported results for the third fiscal quarter and posted record revenue of $41.46 billion and net profit of $28.85 billion. The results significantly exceeded market expectations and supported semiconductor makers’ shares. Freedom Broker analysts linked the industry’s positive momentum to strong demand for memory for AI servers and an HBM shortage.
On September 23, the stocks edged lower: Monolithic Power Systems slipped to $1 355, Sandisk to $1 816, and Micron Technology to $1 071. Thus, the initial rally did not see uniform follow-through, although the main industry driver—rising demand for AI infrastructure—remained in place.
Technology sector supported the Nasdaq
The broadening demand for shares of AI infrastructure suppliers was one of the key factors driving the market on September 22. The Nasdaq 100 index rose 0.82%, while the S&P 500 was virtually unchanged.
Freedom Broker believes the upward momentum became broader and moved beyond the megacaps. Investors began showing interest not only in the largest model developers and owners of digital platforms, but also in companies supplying processors, memory and other components.
Meta maintained positive momentum
Another source of interest in the sector was the launch of the Muse AI assistant from Meta Platforms (META), Freedom Broker experts noted. After the start of the Meta Connect conference, the company introduced new Muse features. The AI agent will get a voice mode, an interactive avatar, its own email address and integration with Meta smart glasses, while the Mac version will be able to control apps and run tasks in the background.
Meta also expanded the number of connectable services and opened the platform to third-party developers: in the first week, the company received more than 1.5 thousand applications to create connectors. Going forward, Meta expects to monetize Muse via a small fee on transactions made through the agent. As a result, Meta shares closed the latest session up 1.02%, to $744.1.
This is not an individual investment recommendation.