If the AI trade really is a bubble, traders are clearly betting it still has room to inflate. The first days of 2026 are shaping up as a clean continuation of last year’s theme: fresh P&Ls, fresh risk appetite, and the same winners back in favor.
Big-cap AI leaders wasted no time reclaiming momentum. Chip heavyweights like $NVDA ( ▲ 1.26% ) , $AVGO ( ▲ 0.44% ) , $AMD ( ▲ 4.35% ) , and foundry giant $TSM ( ▲ 5.17% ) are all higher, signaling that investors are still comfortable paying up for the core infrastructure behind AI demand. The message so far is simple: no rotation, no hesitation, no attempt to fade the leaders.
Memory Lane Is Still Crowded
The stocks that dominated 2025 are right back at the front of the line. Memory names including $MU ( ▲ 10.52% ) , $WDC ( ▲ 8.96% ) , $STX ( ▲ 4.41% ) , and $SNDK ( ▲ 15.95% ) are surging again, reinforcing the view that AI-driven demand continues to outstrip supply. If last year was about discovering the memory bottleneck, this year is starting with traders assuming that constraint is not going away anytime soon.
That optimism is spilling into the next layer of the AI stack as well. Neocloud and compute-adjacent names like $CRWV ( ▲ 10.77% ) , $NBIS ( ▲ 7.46% ) , $IREN ( ▲ 13.05% ) , and $CIFR ( ▲ 9.76% ) are seeing aggressive buying, alongside energy plays such as $BE ( ▲ 13.58% ) , $OKLO ( ▲ 8.42% ) , and $PLUG ( ▲ 13.2% ) . Even the picks-and-shovels side is participating, with $ASML ( ▲ 8.78% ) rallying as a reminder that none of this works without the machines that make the chips.
No Catalyst, Just Conviction
There is no single headline driving this move. No earnings, no policy shift, no surprise announcement. What this looks like instead is a statement of intent. Traders are choosing to start the year by leaning into what worked, rather than searching for a new narrative.
Call it muscle memory, call it momentum, or call it belief that AI still dominates the market’s imagination. Either way, early 2026 is opening with a clear message: new year, same AI trade.