What Happened?
A number of stocks jumped in the afternoon session after the US-Iran ceasefire eased fears of a major disruption to global tech supply chains.
Semiconductors are the backbone of the modern economy, and any threat to global shipping lanes like the Strait of Hormuz creates immediate "scarcity premiums." With the strait reopened, the logistical path for raw materials and finished chips becomes far more predictable and cost-effective. The rally was also fueled by the continued "AI revolution," which remains a primary growth driver regardless of oil price swings.
However, the cooling of energy-driven inflation provides a more favorable backdrop for the massive capital expenditures required to build new fabrication plants. As the "geopolitical discount" evaporates, chipmakers are seeing strong buy-side interest across both the logic and memory markets.
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:
- Semiconductor Manufacturing company IPG Photonics (NASDAQ: IPGP) jumped 4.9%. Is now the time to buy IPG Photonics? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Semiconductor Manufacturing company Photronics (NASDAQ: PLAB) jumped 5.3%. Is now the time to buy Photronics? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Analog Semiconductors company Power Integrations (NASDAQ: POWI) jumped 5.6%. Is now the time to buy Power Integrations? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
Zooming In On Power Integrations (POWI)
Power Integrations’s shares are very volatile and have had 22 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 17 days ago when the stock gained 3.9% on the news that Nvidia announced a strategic partnership and a $2 billion investment in fellow chipmaker Marvell Technology.
Following the news, Marvell's stock surged 6.9%, while Nvidia's shares also climbed, providing a lift to the broader semiconductor sector. The collaboration aims to connect Marvell to NVIDIA's AI ecosystem through its NVLink Fusion technology, giving customers more flexibility in developing advanced infrastructure. This significant investment by the AI chip leader stressed the continued rapid expansion and high-stakes competition within the artificial intelligence hardware industry, boosting investor confidence across the sector.
Power Integrations is up 58.9% since the beginning of the year, and at $59.27 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $59.54 from July 2025. Despite the year-to-date gain, investors who bought $1,000 worth of Power Integrations’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at only $737.13.
WHILE YOU’RE HERE: The Next Palantir? One satellite company captures images of every point on Earth. Every single day. The Pentagon wants it. Hedge funds are using it to beat earnings. You’ve probably never heard of it.
This is what the early days of Palantir looked like before it became a $437 billion giant. Same playbook. Different technology. If you missed Palantir, you need to see this. Claim The Stock Ticker for Free HERE.
