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Introduction

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), a constituent in our Pure-Play Fabless AI Semiconductor Stocks Portfolio, went up 7.2% week-ending July 18th and  is up 30.4% year-to-date, thanks to a potent mix of strong momentum in AI chip demand, bullish analyst upgrades, and technical breakout signals:

Key Reasons Behind the Surge

1. AI Chip Optimism: Investors piled into AMD amid growing excitement around its MI350 and MI400 series which are seen as credible challengers to Nvidia’s dominance in AI accelerators. Rumors of major cloud providers testing AMD’s chips added fuel.
2. Resumption of MI308 AI Chip Sales to China: Early in the week, the U.S. Commerce Department announced that it will restart reviewing AMD MI308 licenses to send chips to China which will eliminate the approx. $800 million in charges that were tied to the MI308 export controls.
3. Bullish Analyst Revisions: Several analysts raised their price targets to $165–$185, citing AMD’s improving margins, expanding AI software stack and AMD’s growing traction with hyperscalers. The stock is now trading above consensus estimates by 12.6%.
4. Technical Breakout: AMD broke through key resistance levels around $145, triggering algorithmic buying and momentum trades. It closed the week ending July 18th at $156.99.
5. Strong Volume & Institutional Buying: Trading volume spiked midweek suggesting major institutional accumulation.

Our Pure-Play Fabless AI Semiconductor Stocks Portfolio Performance w/e July 18th & MTD

1. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): up 7.2% w/e July 28th; up 9.2% MTD
2. Nvidia (NVDA): up 4.5% w/e July 18th; up 9.3% MTD
3. Broadcom (AVGO): up 3.3% w/e July 18th; up 5.2% MTD
4. Marvell Technology (MRVL): up 2.5% w/e July 18th; down 3.3% MTD
5. Monolithic Power (MPWR): down 1.5% w/e July 18th; down 1.5% MTD
6. Qualcomm (QCOM): down 1.7% w/e July 18th; down 2.4% MTD

Summary

On average, the Portfolio was up 1.0% w/e July 18th and is now up 1.6% MTD, and up 16.8% YTD.

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