It's starting to get silly when it comes to chip stocks.
With artificial intelligence driving up demand for chip processors, the market is getting a serious boost from robust stock movement in the industry. The PHLX Semiconductor Index, a sector benchmark also referred to as the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index or SOX, just experienced its largest 25-day rally since the 2000 dot-com bubble.
Investors could now potentially view the index as entering a historical "bubble watch" zone, with certain similarities to late 2021 and the late-1990s.
In the last 25 trading sessions, the benchmark advanced nearly 54%, its best rolling 25-day performance since March 9, 2000, when it rose 56% at the peak of the dot-com bubble, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Between the end of March 2000 and the final trading day in September 2002, the index sank 80%.
The top five performing stocks in the Philadelphia Semiconductor index over past 25 days were Intel, Credo Technology, Astera Labs, Micron Technology, and Marvell Technology.
For comparison, over the past 25-day trading period, the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 14.4% and 9%, respectively. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 21.8% in that timeframe.
Meanwhile, the SOX's best 25-day period in 2021 ended on November 16, 2021, when it rose 21.4%. The index continued to move higher in December 2021 but then booked four consecutive monthly declines, dropping 26% in that period.
However, it should be noted there have been several instances in the last few years in which the benchmark had a 25-day rolling period better than the 21.4% in November 2021.
Another chip stock tracker is the VanEck Semiconductor exchange-traded fund, which has soared 44% over the past 25 trading days, its second-best 25-day trading performance, behind its 25-day run ending November 6, 2001, when it gained 47%. The ETF's top five stocks in the past 25 days were Intel, Astera Labs, Micron, Marvell, and ON Semiconductor.
Looking more closely at the ETF, it also currently has an overbought relative strength index reading for 17 consecutive trading sessions. The RSI is a momentum indicator that measures the speed and change of price movements on a scale of 0 to 100. Generally, an index reading above 70 indicates that a stock is overbought, meaning there is potential to fall. A reading below 30 indicates it is oversold, or that there is upside potential. The ETF's current index reading is 70, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
The ETF is also extended from key levels, more than 40% above its 200-day moving average, currently right around the $366-a-share level. It is about 25% above its 50-day moving average, at $428.50 a share.
In another echo of the 2020-2021 market, the VanEck ETF has surged 215% from April 2025 lows, approaching the magnitude of the 2020-21 semiconductor run, when it soared more than 240%.
Similar to the SOX, the VanEck ETF has had substantial rallies over 25-day periods in each of the last few years. While the historic 25-day rallies could give investor's some pause, some analysts still seem bullish.
"Investors are still not fully appreciating the tidal wave of growth on the horizon from the $3 trillion of enterprise and government spending over the next 3 years around AI technology and use cases," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote Tuesday.
"The rapid pace of AI adoption is underway and the focus is finding enterprise and department level use cases to launch throughout 2026 as we are seeing no cracks in AI demand on the chips/hardware front," Ives added.
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