Arm Holdings surged 3.93% and Oracle advanced 2.84% to lead the AI stock complex on Wednesday, August 26, as a Bank of America price-target raise on ARM and persistent AI cloud backlog demand for Oracle lifted chip design and infrastructure names. Broader markets ended flat - the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each off less than 0.1% - as investors parked risk ahead of NVIDIA's fiscal Q2 print due after the bell, the single most consequential earnings event on the AI calendar this week. The SOXX semiconductor ETF gained 0.26% to $515.40.
Top AI stocks today: August 26, 2026
| Ticker | Close | Day | 1mo | YTD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $ARM | $251.06 | +3.93% | +11.64% | +118.83% |
| $ORCL | $148.87 | +2.84% | +26.44% | -23.93% |
| $PLTR | $177.50 | +2.76% | +44.31% | +5.74% |
| $DELL | $463.82 | +2.73% | +25.48% | +262.93% |
| $NET | $284.89 | +2.63% | +5.37% | +45.34% |
| $SMCI | $37.39 | -2.78% | +45.49% | +20.77% |
| $NVDA | $209.66 | -1.59% | +10.34% | +11.02% |
| $GOOGL | $342.00 | -1.43% | +1.57% | +8.52% |
| $TSLA | $345.82 | -1.26% | +15.92% | -21.06% |
| $NOW | $125.80 | -0.94% | +8.67% | -14.68% |
Arm Holdings surges 3.93% on analyst price-target raise and agentic AI conviction
Arm Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARM) was Wednesday's top gainer among AI chip stocks, closing at $251.06 after Bank of America raised its price target to $335 from $245, keeping a Neutral rating. The bank cited accelerating data-center CPU royalty revenue and ARM's growing role as the default chip architecture for agentic AI inference workloads. StartupHub.ai tracks 52 private AI hardware and inference startups, most still pre-Series B, underscoring how early-stage the private buildout remains that ultimately drives licensing demand for ARM-designed silicon. ARM is now up 118.83% year to date, one of the best AI stocks 2026 has produced in the chip design category.
Oracle climbs 2.84% as AI cloud backlog drives AI infrastructure stocks re-rating
Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) held gains through the session, with TradingKey reporting the stock opened up 4.55% on the day. The enterprise cloud and database giant carries a $638 billion cloud backlog tied to AI training and inference commitments, and 44 analysts carry a consensus Buy rating with a $246.43 price target - a material premium to Wednesday's $148.87 close. ORCL remains down 23.93% YTD on a steep first-half pullback, but the AI infrastructure stocks thesis is rebuilding around its backlog depth and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure capacity commitments.
Super Micro slides 2.78% as Taiwan prosecutors name employees in AI server export probe
Super Micro Computer Inc. (NASDAQ: SMCI) fell 2.78% to $37.39 after Taiwan prosecutors indicted nine individuals over an alleged illegal AI server export scheme targeting China. Foreign Policy Journal reported on August 25 that two Super Micro employees were among those charged with breach of trust and document forgery; neither Super Micro nor Nvidia was charged as a corporate entity. The indictment adds legal overhang to a stock already contending with export-control scrutiny and equity dilution concerns. SMCI is still up 20.77% YTD on server infrastructure demand, but the headline risk is a clear near-term drag.
Nvidia eases 1.59% as AI stocks position ahead of the fiscal Q2 print
NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) slipped 1.59% to $209.66 on 145 million shares - the heaviest dollar volume in the universe today - as the tape positioned around tonight's fiscal Q2 earnings. Revenue consensus hovers near $39 billion, with the data-center segment the critical line. NVDA is up 11.02% YTD heading into the report. Also reporting tonight: CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWD) and Salesforce Inc. (NYSE: CRM), making Thursday morning a broad AI software repricing event for AI stocks to watch across chips and enterprise SaaS.