Intel and AMD surge ahead of earnings as semiconductor equipment rally lifts SOXX 5.5%

Intel Corp. surged 8.64% and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. jumped 8.11% on Tuesday as investors positioned ahead of two of the week's most closely watched events: Intel's second-quarter earnings release on Thursday, July 23, and AMD's Advancing AI 2026 product conference opening Wednesday. The move propelled the iShares PHLX Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) to its best single-session gain in weeks, closing up 5.45% at $552.69. The S&P 500 rose 0.89% to 7,509 and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.29% to 25,837, snapping a three-session skid.

Today's biggest movers

Intel climbs 8.64% on pre-earnings optimism ahead of Thursday report

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) posted its sharpest single-session advance in recent memory, closing at $105.45 on volume of 102 million shares, well above its daily average. The setup is a straightforward pre-earnings trade: Intel releases second-quarter 2026 results on Thursday, July 23, and Wall Street''s expectations have tilted constructive. Analysts polled by S&P Global expect earnings per share of $0.22, a sharp reversal from the year-ago loss of $0.10, on revenue of $14.43 billion, up approximately 12% year-over-year. Susquehanna analyst Christopher Rolland maintained a Neutral rating but raised his price target to $115 from $80, citing stronger-than-anticipated server CPU demand. KeyBanc''s John Vinh took a more bullish stance, reiterating Buy and lifting his target to $155. Options markets are pricing a 13.59% post-earnings move in either direction, above INTC''s 12.4% historical average over the last four quarters. The stock has now returned 167.78% year-to-date, though it remains 25% below its peak after a sharp pullback last month.

AMD jumps 8.11% as Advancing AI 2026 event and analyst upgrades converge

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) closed at $544.43, up 8.11%, in its strongest session since late June. The catalyst was double-layered: AMD''s Advancing AI 2026 conference opens Wednesday and is expected to feature the debut of the Zen 6 Venice CPU architecture alongside updates to the company''s Instinct MI400 series AI accelerator roadmap. The two-day event has become AMD''s primary forum for framing its data-center narrative directly against Nvidia. On the analyst front, Goldman Sachs analyst James Schneider raised his price target to $640 from $450 in early July, maintaining a Buy. Bank of America reaffirmed a Buy with a $620 target, and KeyBanc moved to $725, Overweight. Among 51 analysts tracked by S&P Global, the consensus is Strong Buy with an average price target of $541.66. AMD is up 143.63% year-to-date, and the stock''s next scheduled earnings date is August 4.

Arm rises 7.46% on AI edge computing re-rating, divergent analyst views

Arm Holdings plc (NASDAQ: ARM) advanced 7.46% to $289.73 as Wall Street continues to re-rate the semiconductor IP licensor for a faster-than-expected rollout of AI-enabled edge computing devices, where ARM''s power-efficiency advantages are most pronounced. KeyBanc analyst John Vinh raised his price target to $430 from $300, maintaining an Overweight rating. The move follows UBS''s decision on July 18 to lower its target to $360 from $470, illustrating the range of views on how quickly ARM''s licensing revenue converts royalty momentum into earnings. The stock is up 152.53% year-to-date but has fallen 28.94% over the past month, indicating Tuesday''s gain was partly a technical bounce from a compressed base.

Applied Materials gains 7.39% on equipment cycle optimism

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) added 7.39% to close at $564.55, joining a broad recovery in semiconductor equipment names after weeks of pressure. Industry signals indicating heavier enterprise commitment to advanced packaging and vacuum-based wafer processing sent analysts revising long-term earnings estimates upward; Stifel analyst Brian Chin was among those raising price targets. The broader consensus among 39 analysts is Strong Buy with a 12-month average price target of $623.06, representing roughly 10% upside from Tuesday''s close. AMAT also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.53 per share, with an ex-date of August 20. The stock is up 109.97% year-to-date. Applied Materials had led the chip equipment selloff last Thursday before Tuesday''s reversal.

Super Micro rebounds 7.01% but overhang from dilution and export risks persists

Super Micro Computer Inc. (NASDAQ: SMCI) bounced 7.01% to $25.50, recouping part of the 8% loss recorded on July 17 when the broader AI hardware cohort sold off sharply. The session''s recovery was technical. Underlying concerns have not changed: SMCI faces scrutiny over a Taiwanese investigation into semiconductor export restrictions, a $5 billion concurrent equity offering that markets have flagged as dilutive, and intensifying price competition from Chinese server manufacturers. Analysts expect fiscal Q4 earnings of roughly $0.59 per share. The stock is down 17.64% year-to-date and down 28.09% over the past month, leaving it well below the levels at which the equity offering was priced. Super Micro led the broader AI chip rout on July 16 and has yet to reclaim those losses in aggregate.

Notable but quieter

Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE: DELL) gained 5.83% to $404.15. Tuesday was Dell''s ex-dividend date for its $0.63-per-share quarterly dividend, payable July 31. The company''s AI server order backlog stood at a record $51.3 billion as of its most recent quarter, with AI server revenue reaching $16.1 billion. DELL weighed on the sector on Monday before recovering alongside the broader chip rally.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (NYSE: TSM) rose 5.55% to $424.61, extending post-earnings momentum from its July 16 report in which the company posted Q2 revenue up 36% year-over-year and diluted EPS up 77.4%. TSMC raised its 2026 revenue growth outlook to slightly above 40% and affirmed a $100 billion U.S. investment commitment. Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ: LRCX) gained 4.97% to $322.00, lifted by the same equipment-cycle optimism driving AMAT.

MongoDB Inc. (NASDAQ: MDB) fell 4.86% to $307.65, the session''s largest decline among tracked names, with no fresh company-specific catalyst. The stock is down 23.02% year-to-date. CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWD) dropped 3.70% to $191.15 as investors rotated out of high-multiple security software names; the stock is up 68.57% year-to-date. Datadog Inc. (NASDAQ: DDOG) lost 3.20% to $254.79 after Jefferies analyst Brent Thill downgraded the shares from Buy to Hold, citing a 90% year-to-date advance and a valuation of approximately 18 times estimated 2027 revenue; Thill raised his price target to $280.

What to watch Wednesday and Thursday

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) report after the bell on Wednesday, July 22. Wall Street expects Alphabet to deliver Q2 earnings of $2.90 per share on revenue of $116.9 billion, a 21.3% year-over-year increase, with cloud revenue projected to grow roughly 64%. AMD holds its Advancing AI 2026 conference Wednesday and Thursday, with the Zen 6 Venice CPU launch as the headline event. Intel Corp. reports Q2 2026 results on Thursday, July 23, setting up what could be the week''s most closely watched print in the semiconductor space. Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) follow the week after.

Not investment advice.