By George Glover

Intel, Micron Technology and other chip stocks were rallying on Wednesday after a solid batch of earnings reports signaled that the artificial-intelligence boom is still driving demand for semiconductors.

Shares in Intel jumped 4.9% to $46.10 ahead of the opening bell, and memory-chip maker Micron Technology added 4.6%. Applied Materials climbed 3.6%, KLA rose 3.7% Lam Research advanced 4%, and ON Semiconductor gained 3.8%.

Strong guidance from a trio of semiconductor companies was driving the moves higher.

Texas Instruments missed analysts' estimates for fourth-quarter earnings and revenue late Tuesday but issued a better-than-expected outlook for the current quarter, sending its shares 7.1% higher in the premarket.

Early Wednesday, South Korean memory-chip maker SK Hynix said it would hike its capital expenditure and Dutch chip-making equipment manufacturer ASML said orders were almost double what analysts had forecast.

The quarterly results are good news for Intel, which stands to benefit if Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing can't manufacture enough chips to meet sky-high demand. The shares plummeted at the end last week after Intel offered up disappointing revenue guidance for the current quarter.

Shareholders in Micron don't have any such worries. The stock has started 2026 on a tear, surging 44% as the drive to build AI data centers boosts demand for memory chips. It jumped 5.4% on Tuesday, after the company said it would invest around $24 billion in Singapore over the next decade.

Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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January 28, 2026 05:22 ET (10:22 GMT)

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