Chip Stocks Rally as Micron Plans $250B Investment, Boost AI Boom

U.S. stocks closed higher on Thursday, with the Dow adding more than a quarter of a percent, the S&P 500 climbing more than eight-tenths of a percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gaining 1.3%.

Chip Sector Performance

Chip stocks rallied, sparked by a 4.5% jump in shares of Micron Technology (MU). The memory chip maker laid out plans to invest more than $250 billion in domestic chip manufacturing through 2035 to boost supply amid the AI boom.

Micron's peers also joined the rally, with Applied Materials (AMAT) climbing more than 3% and SanDisk surging over 7.5%.

Other Tech Stocks

Shares of Meta Platforms rose more than 4.5% after Reuters reported that the company plans to manufacture AI chips starting in September.

Other Sectors

Elsewhere, shares of PepsiCo fell more than 3% despite beating second-quarter revenue estimates, after warning of higher commodity costs. Costco sank more than 4% to a six-month low on decelerating comparable sales for June.

Context

AI-related stocks have been volatile lately as investors worried about the sustainability of a rally that has helped Wall Street reach record levels in 2026. Gina Martin Adams, chief market strategist at HB Wealth, noted: "Tech has obviously been in the limelight of equity markets for a while, but that worked against stocks in June. We'll see if July brings something different. The sector is dealing with high earnings expectations and a tremendous amount of new shares coming to market."