By Stefon Walters
Publication Date: 2025-11-18 22:09:00
Investors would have noticeably outperformed the S&P 500’s returns.
As the artificial intelligence (AI) boom expands, it is taking the semiconductor industry along with it. Semiconductor chips are to most tech products what engines are to cars. This central role helps explain why semiconductor companies like Broadcom (AVGO 0.63%) are seeing a much-appreciated boost to their top-line revenue, bottom-line earnings, and stock prices.
Over the past 12 months (ended Nov. 18), Broadcom’s stock is up about 107%, meaning a $1,000 investment made a year ago would be worth $2,066 today. For comparison, the S&P 500 — in which Broadcom is the seventh-largest holding — is only up around 12.7% in that time.
Image source: Getty Images.
The main reason semiconductor companies have flourished during the AI boom is that AI modeling and operations require huge amounts of complex computing, which relies on advanced chips that semiconductor companies design and/or manufacture. Broadcom is positioned…