AI-related stocks made a strong comeback on Tuesday as investors returned to chip and memory companies across the market.
Sandisk, which makes memory cards, led the gains by rising 7.5% in premarket trading and was one of the top performers. Marvell, a networking and chip company, went up 6.7%. Micron, which makes memory chips, gained 6%, and Intel rose 5.2% before the market opened.
The rally included more than just those companies. Chip equipment makers like Applied Materials, KLA Corp., and Lam Research also saw gains. Optical component suppliers Coherent and Lumentum, glassmaker Corning, and hard-drive makers Seagate and Western Digital were up as well.
This broad rally suggests that AI-related stocks may still have momentum, even after recent ups and downs caused by worries about cheaper Chinese chatbot models. Last week, Moonshot AI launched a new large-language model that reportedly did better than those from Anthropic and OpenAI, but at much lower cost per token. This has led some to question how long U.S. spending on AI infrastructure can keep growing at the current rate.
There was no clear reason for Tuesday’s rebound, but some investors may have seen the recent drop as a chance to buy after some major tech stocks became more affordable.
Sandisk could be an indicator for the wider AI market. Its stock fell 21% last week as worries about slower AI spending grew, but it is still up a lot this year thanks to strong demand for flash memory products.
