The semiconductor sector didn’t just ride the AI wave in 2025, it practically surfed it. Chip stocks climbed roughly 40% on the year, driven by AI servers, memory shortages, and a relentless push to build more compute capacity. But some names didn’t just outperform. They lapped the field.
Here are the 10 best-performing U.S. semiconductor stocks of 2025 and why each one crushed it.
Micron Technology (+182%): The undisputed winner. Micron sits at the center of the AI memory crunch, supplying high-bandwidth memory that powers AI accelerators. Tight supply and pricing power turned what used to be a cyclical business into a margin machine.
Lam Research $LRCX (+127%): Lam sells the tools used to manufacture advanced chips. As foundries raced to expand capacity for AI demand, Lam benefited from every new fab build and node transition.
KLA Corporation $KLAC (+94%): KLA specializes in inspection and process control. As chips become more complex, defect detection becomes mission-critical. More complexity equals more demand for KLA’s software and equipment.
Intel $INTC (+87%): A comeback year. Intel rallied on foundry optimism, government subsidies, and renewed confidence that it can play a role in domestic chip manufacturing and advanced packaging.
Rambus $RMBS (+81%): A quiet AI winner. Rambus designs memory interface IP and security solutions that sit inside next-generation data center chips, giving it leverage without needing to manufacture silicon itself.
Advanced Micro Devices $AMD (+72%): AMD continued taking share in data center CPUs and made meaningful progress in AI accelerators. Not Nvidia-level dominance, but enough momentum to keep investors leaning in.
Amkor Technology $AMKR (+71%): Amkor focuses on chip packaging and testing, a critical bottleneck as AI chips grow larger and more power-hungry. Advanced packaging became one of the most overlooked winners of the AI boom.
Applied Materials $AMAT (+61%): Another fab equipment giant. Applied benefits from both leading-edge and mature-node spending, giving it broad exposure to global chip expansion.
Monolithic Power Systems $MPWR (+61%): MPWR designs power management chips. AI servers consume massive amounts of electricity, and someone has to regulate it efficiently. That someone is MPWR.
Teradyne $TER (+55%): Teradyne provides automated test equipment used to validate chips before they ship. As volumes and complexity rose, testing demand followed.
ETF exposure for the lazy or diversified: VanEck Semiconductor ETF $SMH, iShares Semiconductor ETF $SOXX, Direxion Semiconductor Bull 3x $SOXL, First Trust Nasdaq Semiconductor ETF $FTXL, SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF $XSD, ProShares Ultra Semiconductors $USD, Invesco Dynamic Semiconductors ETF $PSI, and iShares MSCI Global Semiconductors ETF $SEMI.
The common thread across all ten names is simple: AI didn’t just boost chip demand, it reshaped where the profits show up. In 2025, memory, equipment, power management, and packaging mattered just as much as flashy GPUs.