By Jeremy Phillips
Publication Date: 2026-01-15 13:51:00
1. Wells Fargo crowns AMD the new chip king. The bank upgraded semiconductor stocks this morning with AMD as its top pick—a bold call considering Nvidia’s dominance. AMD crushed both the market and NVDA in 2025, posting 90% gains versus Nvidia’s 37%. The stock jumped 6.5% this week to $223.60, with RSI at 57 showing room to run before overbought territory. Wells Fargo sees AMD’s data center momentum and MI300 AI accelerators gaining share against Nvidia’s H100/H200 lineup. With earnings due February 3rd and analysts expecting $1.33 EPS on $9.7 billion revenue, the upgrade timing positions AMD for a catalyst-rich month. Intel rallied 14% this week on turnaround optimism, though its 0.37% profit margin and 71% YoY earnings decline suggest the comeback story remains early-stage speculation.
2. China moves to restrict Nvidia, but the damage may already be done. Beijing is drafting regulations to limit AI chip purchases from Nvidia, adding geopolitical risk to the semiconductor thesis. NVDA dropped 3.2% this week to $183.14 despite eight consecutive earnings beats and 9x EPS growth since 2023. Nvidia derives meaningful revenue from China through export-compliant chips like the H20, but prediction markets never confirmed rumors that DeepSeek used banned Nvidia hardware. That market resolved to “no” in March 2025. Startup Etched just raised $500 million to build Nvidia alternatives, and China’s AI infrastructure buildout continues regardless of U.S. export…
