First it was memory chips, then optical-networking, and now power semiconductor stocks are booming as investors look for the next sector to play the artificial-intelligence boom. Navitas Semiconductor and Vicor are among the beneficiaries.

Navitas shares were up 10% in early trading on Wednesday, having gained 49% in just the past five trading sessions. Vicor was up 15%, set to add to 27% gains in the previous five sessions.

While there was no obvious trigger for the latest moves higher, power semiconductors have come into focus due to the energy demands of increasingly larger AI data centers.

"Rising rack power densities are accelerating a shift from alternating to direct current architectures. Industry consensus is that direct current adoption is inevitable, with initial deployments likely in 1H27-1H28," wrote BofA Securities analysts in a research note on Tuesday.

Navitas in particular has risen more than 750% in the past 12 months as it has updated on its work with Nvidia to enable the 800-volt direct current power that the chip maker has said will power its next-generation AI systems.

Multiple other power-chip stocks were gaining early Wednesday. Wolfspeed was up 10%, Alpha & Omega Semiconductor was gaining 14% and Power Integrations was rising 8.3%.

Monolithic Power Systems, the largest of the companies with a roughly $75 billion market value, was rising 1.5%.

Monolithic Power was a top pick among the chip sector for Oppenheimer analyst Rick Schafer in a recent research note, arguing 800 volt-power would be a growth driver from 2027.