Semiconductor stocks surge on strong AI earnings and memory demand signals

Semiconductor shares rallied Thursday following robust earnings announcements from Microsoft and Lam Research. Microsoft signaled strong Azure cloud growth and raised capital expenditure guidance, while Lam Research posted strong results driven by AI infrastructure equipment demand. Memory stocks surged with Micron and SanDisk gaining 18 percent and 26 percent respectively following earlier weakness from SK Hynix results. Arm Holdings advanced 7 percent on announced demand for its AGI CPU exceeding $2 billion for fiscal 2027 and 2028, signaling strong market appetite for inference and agentic computing.