What happened?
A number of stocks jumped in the afternoon session after strong demand for artificial intelligence hardware and robust corporate earnings reignited investor optimism across the broader AI technology landscape.
As reported by CNBC, this rally lifted major players across semiconductor manufacturing and cloud computing infrastructure—including AMD, Nvidia, Micron, and Marvell—after SpaceX reported a massive 161% jump in third-quarter revenue. The network noted that investors responded enthusiastically to these results as clear indications that spending on artificial intelligence remains resilient, particularly after SpaceX revealed its AI business grew ninefold to generate $7.56 billion in the quarter.
Providing a massive secondary catalyst for the tech-heavy Nasdaq, CNBC reported that Elon Musk announced SpaceX and Tesla have officially formed special committees to discuss a merger between the two companies. As corporate performance numbers demonstrate ongoing investments in technical infrastructure, CNBC observed that market sentiment shifted swiftly back toward the suppliers powering this computing ecosystem, aided heavily by anticipation of Tesla's upcoming earnings report later today.
Ultimately, CNBC highlighted that these sustained capital expenditure commitments and resulting revenues alleviate recent market concerns of an impending AI deceleration, proving that the infrastructure build-out continues to offer a long runway for component designers and infrastructure providers alike.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.
Among others, the following stocks were impacted:
- Memory semiconductors company Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) jumped 3.2%. Is now the time to buy Western Digital? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Semiconductor manufacturing company Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) jumped 3.2%. Is now the time to buy Nova? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Semiconductor manufacturing company Amtech (NASDAQ:ASYS) jumped 1.8%. Is now the time to buy Amtech? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Analog semiconductors company Monolithic Power Systems (NASDAQ:MPWR) jumped 1.9%. Is now the time to buy Monolithic Power Systems? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Analog semiconductors company Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) jumped 2.4%. Is now the time to buy Texas Instruments? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
Zooming in on Western Digital (WDC)
Western Digital’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 78 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 2 days ago when the stock gained 4.8% on the news that investors cautiously returned to beaten-down stocks following the previous week's technology retreat, helped by an analyst upgrade for Intel. The recovery follows a 4.5% tumble in the Nasdaq the previous week that snapped a four-week winning streak, per reporting from CNBC. The prior decline stemmed from emerging doubts over the durability of the artificial intelligence build-out after Anthropic recorded third-quarter revenue of $16.8 billion, coupled with widening credit spreads across debt-funded compute providers. Sentiment improved after JPMorgan upgraded Intel to neutral from underweight, while the 10-year Treasury yield retreated. Hardware suppliers sit directly exposed to hyperscaler infrastructure budgets. Because semiconductor multiples compress rapidly whenever borrowing costs climb or debt-financed data center expansions face scrutiny, easing bond yields and constructive broker adjustments quickly relieve pressure on balance-sheet-sensitive chipmakers. This rebound could reflect tactical dip-buying into oversold conditions rather than a definitive answer to the broader debate over infrastructure returns. With major platform earnings arriving later in the week, sustaining these gains depends on whether end-user software monetization can support elevated hardware orders as capital spending growth decelerates.
Western Digital is up 102% since the beginning of the year, but at $378.55 per share, it is still trading 49.3% below its 52-week high of $746.23 from June 2026. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Western Digital’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $6,665.
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