Chip Stocks Roar Into 2018 With Gains Topping All S&P Sectors

(Bloomberg) -- Chip stocks are rolling again.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has gained 4.4 percent in the first two days of the year, beating all other S&P 500 sectors. By contrast, in the same span a year ago, the chips stocks rose just 0.4 percent. The hot start comes after a late-2017 selloff put a damper on what had been a record-breaking bull run.

The 2018 rally is being led by Advanced Micro Devices Inc., which was a top performer for most of last year before disappointing earnings caused the stock to lose about a quarter of its value in October. AMD rose 5 percent on Wednesday on a report that rival Intel Corp.'s microprocessors are vulnerable to hackers. That brings AMD's two-day gains to 12 percent.

Nvidia Corp. and Micron Technology Inc., the index's top performers in 2017, are both up 9 percent to start the year.

The market capitalization-weighted semiconductor index would be even higher if not for Intel's 4 percent decline on Wednesday. The Santa Clara, California-based chipmaker is the fourth-heaviest weighted stock in the 30-member index.

Global semiconductor sales reached a record $37.7 billion in the month of November, up about 22 percent compared to the previous year, the Semiconductor Industry Association said on Tuesday.

“Current growth rates are a good sign for the semiconductor industry, though if this continues to sustain at a mid/high-teens rate, we think that investors could begin to worry about inventories building,” RBC analyst Amit Daryanani said in a note after the data were released.

--With assistance from Beth Mellor

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeran Wittenstein in San Francisco at jwittenstei1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Arie Shapira at ashapira3@bloomberg.net, Scott Schnipper

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