The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) is up roughly 79% year to date and 152% over the past year, as of June 5, 2026.1 The rally reflects an escalating race among chipmakers to capture AI infrastructure spending through partnerships, IPOs, and new memory technology.
AMD is expanding its market position through Meta's Helios data-center partnership, part of a broader push by Western semiconductor firms to lock in AI compute demand.1 SK Hynix and Phison are racing alongside AMD to solve AI compute and memory bottlenecks, using partnerships and IPO activity to grow market capitalization even as rising leading-edge design costs raise the barrier to entry for new competitors.1
Phison is deepening a separate alliance with Intel. Its aiDAPTIV technology expands memory capacity for AI workloads on Intel AI PC platforms.2 "AI PCs are evolving into platforms for more sophisticated local AI workloads, including agentic applications and larger MoE models that place increasing demands on memory capacity," said KS Pua of the collaboration.2 The partnership lets OEMs and developers run larger AI applications locally while preserving privacy and infrastructure efficiency, Pua said.2
The rally extends beyond AI accelerator makers. Vicor Corporation, a power semiconductor supplier, reported trailing-twelve-month revenue of $471.7 million and net income of $136.7 million, giving it an $11.3 billion market capitalization as of the July 6, 2026 close.3 That valuation shows AI-driven demand lifting semiconductor companies beyond the largest chipmakers.
The expansion is unfolding alongside rising geopolitical friction. New US rare-earth procurement restrictions and China's domestically developed Zhenwu AI chip line signal accelerating decoupling in strategic semiconductor and defense supply chains. That divide is pushing Western firms toward partnerships and capital raises, such as the Meta-AMD Helios deal, to defend market share as design costs and entry barriers climb.
