Chip Stocks on Track for Best Quarter Ever | Bloomberg Tech 6/30/2026

Historic quarter for semiconductor stocks

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index gained 86% in three months, marking its best quarterly performance on record despite recent 3% daily swings driven by AI infrastructure debates.

Memory emerges as the AI bottleneck

Companies like Micron, SK Hynix, and Western Digital are leading the rally as data center demand for high-bandwidth memory outstrips supply, likely remaining elevated through 2027-2028.

Peak earnings debate intensifies

While strategists remain confident in fundamentals, questions persist whether current valuations reflect peak earnings or a structurally different cycle, with stocks like Intel and Arm appearing expensive on traditional metrics.

Capex drives infrastructure demand

With hyperscalers growing capital expenditure at 20-40% annually, demand for memory, storage, liquid cooling, and networking will mirror these growth rates according to Tortoise Capital.

Power as the foundational layer

Electricity represents the base commodity of AI data centers, with the U.S. holding a competitive advantage in low-cost power generation critical to sustaining the AI trade.

Memory margins surpass NVIDIA

Micron posted 85% gross margins, exceeding NVIDIA by 10 percentage points, signaling severe undersupply in the memory market and validating the shift from consumer cyclicality to data center dependence.

Taiwan raids Super Micro offices

Taiwanese authorities raided six residences and three companies, including Super Micro's Taiwan office, investigating alleged smuggling of NVIDIA servers to China in violation of U.S. export controls.

Lobbying firms abandon Chinese clients

Major U.S. lobbying firms are dropping Chinese tech giants like Alibaba and Tencent to retain Pentagon defense contracts under restricted entity list rules that force a choice between the two client bases.

Apple seeks blacklist exemption

Apple is reportedly lobbying the Trump administration for approval to purchase memory chips from blacklisted Chinese manufacturer CXMT to offset costs, drawing criticism from lawmakers including Senator Tom Cotton.

Korean firm misses billion-dollar allocation

Asset Securities failed to submit formal orders for the SpaceX IPO despite $1 billion in client interest, receiving zero shares due to a paperwork misunderstanding regarding indications of interest versus actual orders.

Revenue projected to surge 800% by 2030

Bloomberg Intelligence models suggest SpaceX revenue could reach $160 billion by 2030, driven by xAI data center agreements, though valuation may normalize compared to hyperscaler peers.

Telecom stocks react to Starlink threat

AT&T and Verizon shares declined significantly following reports of SpaceX and Charter Communications discussing consumer mobile phone partnerships leveraging Starlink infrastructure.