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.

AMD August 2026 Update

Since this July 21 recap, AMD reported its strongest quarter in company history. In Q2 2026 (reported August 5, 2026), AMD posted revenue of $11.5 billion, up 50% year-over-year, with data center revenue of $6.7 billion, up 107% YoY. Gross margin expanded to 54% GAAP. The stock initially surged roughly 9% pre-earnings before pulling back about 8.8% in after-hours trading as investors digested guidance. As of August 24, 2026, AMD closed at $456.75 (Eastern Herald).

A notable commercial development: OpenAI, AMD's largest AI customer, holds a warrant to acquire up to 160 million AMD shares (roughly 10% of the company at current prices) written into the same agreement under which OpenAI committed to deploying 6 gigawatts of AMD MI450 accelerators. The first gigawatt of MI450 chips began shipping in H2 2026. StartupHub.ai data tracking the AI chip ecosystem shows AMD's data center growth is outpacing the broader semiconductor index, which fell roughly 20% from its late-June 2026 peak as investors rotated.

Intel and Chip Sector: Late August 2026 Context

For Intel, the story since July 21 has been one of sustained momentum. Semiconductor stocks hit turbulence on August 24, 2026, when the chip sector sold off broadly ahead of Nvidia's earnings: Intel fell 5.47% to $85.14, and AMD slid 4% to $454.36 as investors trimmed positions before the Nvidia print (Invezz, August 24). One day later, the sector recovered sharply. Intel rose 3% to $90.13, retaining a year-to-date advance of 136% through August 25. AMD rebounded 3% to $469.89, reflecting a 113% year-to-date gain, bolstered by a Raymond James upgrade to Strong Buy with a price target of $641 (247 Wall St., August 25). Nvidia's blowout Q2 FY2027 results on August 26 - revenue of $96.2 billion, up 106% year-over-year - validated the broader chip infrastructure thesis and provided a post-earnings tailwind for the sector.

StartupHub.ai data tracking semiconductor and AI chip companies shows the sector's breadth has widened significantly in 2026. Of the chip-adjacent companies in our ecosystem, capital efficiency metrics have improved as foundry relationships stabilized following the 2025 export controls cycle.

Frequently Asked Questions

What factors are influencing AMD's stock performance recently?

AMD's stock has been driven by data center GPU demand, particularly its MI450 accelerator ramp with OpenAI as the anchor customer, and Q2 2026 revenue of $11.5 billion (up 50% year-over-year). In late August 2026, semiconductor volatility ahead of Nvidia's earnings caused a brief 4% dip before a 3% rebound, with Raymond James upgrading AMD to Strong Buy and setting a $641 price target.

What is the current outlook for AMD stock given recent performance?

AMD entered late August 2026 with a 113% year-to-date gain, sitting around $469 after recovering from the pre-Nvidia earnings dip. The MI450 production ramp, the OpenAI warrant agreement (160 million shares tied to a 6-gigawatt deployment commitment), and continued data center expansion are the key catalysts analysts cite for 2026 through 2027.

How does AMD compare to other major semiconductor companies like Nvidia?

Nvidia reported Q2 FY2027 revenue of $96.2 billion (up 106% year-over-year) with Q3 guidance of $107 to $108 billion, far above AMD's scale. AMD competes most directly in AI inference and training at the margins, where its open-source ROCm software ecosystem and price competitiveness give enterprise buyers an alternative to Nvidia's CUDA lock-in. Intel, meanwhile, is targeting AI workloads through its Gaudi accelerator line.

What happened to Intel stock in mid-to-late 2026?

Intel's stock surged 136% year-to-date through August 25, 2026, driven by improving data center division margins and anticipation of further restructuring. The stock dipped 5.47% on August 24 in the sector-wide pre-Nvidia-earnings pullback, before recovering 3% the following day. Intel's transformation plan, including foundry spin-off discussions and Gaudi AI chip ramp, has kept investor sentiment constructive.

Why did chip stocks sell off on August 24, 2026?

Investors reduced semiconductor exposure ahead of Nvidia's fiscal Q2 FY2027 earnings report on August 26. The nervousness was typical pre-earnings positioning: a miss or weak guidance from Nvidia would have implied weaker-than-expected AI chip demand broadly. Nvidia's actual results beat decisively - revenue of $96.2 billion, up 106% year-over-year - which validated the bull case and supported a post-earnings recovery across the chip sector.

Last updated: August 2026