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Introduction

This article highlights the week-ending October 17th (in descending order), month-to-date (MTD), and year-to-date (YTD) performances of each of the 6 sub-portfolios, totaling 26 constituents, in our model AI Semiconductor Stocks Portfolio. The article also includes the focus of each portfolio, the constituents in each, and the catalyst(s) contributing to their stock price changes.

Our Model AI Semiconductor Stocks Portfolio

1. The Pure-Play Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) Model Portfolio: up 11.9% w/e October 17th; up 11.4% MTD; up 23.1% YTD
   • Focus: The constituents in this portfolio assemble chips into finished semiconductor components, tests for defects and do the very specialized packaging of the chips for shipping. Amkor is positioned as a U.S.-friendly OSAT partner, benefiting from reshoring and CHIPS Act incentives while ASE is more diversified, with EMS capabilities and a stronger presence in consumer electronics and networking.
   • Constituents: Amkor Technology (AMKR) and ASE Technology (ASX)
   • About Constituents: The global AI boom, smartphone refresh cycles, and automotive chip growth has resulted in a surge in demand for advanced semiconductor packaging, resulting in a corresponding surge in the stock prices of Amkor and ASE.
   • ​​​​​Price Change Catalyst: 
     • President Trump’s October 17th remarks signaling constructive talks with China and a planned meeting with President Xi helped ease fears of further tech decoupling with markets interpreting the tone shift as a possible precursor to relaxing tariffs on semiconductor equipment and services, which would benefit the cross-border OSAT operations of Amkor and Ase.
2. The Pure-Play Semiconductor Supplier Model Portfolio: up 10.7% w/e October 17th; up 4.9% MTD; up 60.6% YTD
   • Focus: The constituents in this portfolio provide essential equipment for manufacturing chips such as lithography machines, etching, test and packaging equipment, automation and inspection systems and production materials such as chemicals, gases, wafers and packaging.
   • Constituents: Applied Materials (AMAT); ASML Holding (ASML); KLAC Corp. (KLAC); and Lam Research (LRCX)
   • About Constituents: Lithography (ASML), etching (LRCX), metrology (KLAC), and deposition (AMAT) are needed to manufacture advanced nodes and investors see these companies as essential enablers of the AI hardware wave, with long-term tailwinds from data centers, edge computing, and automotive chips.
   • ​​​​​Price Change Catalyst(s): 
     • ASML surged ahead of its October 15 earnings report, buoyed by a Barron’s feature highlighting its EUV dominance and limited exposure to U.S.–China tariff risk; 
     • KLAC benefited from strong performance in its wafer inspection segment, driven by rising process control intensity in advanced packaging and foundry nodes, while 
     • AMAT and LRCX saw positive momentum from Morgan Stanley’s strategic rotation thesis, which emphasized capital intensity and long-cycle demand for deposition and etch tools
3. The Pure-Play Fabless Semiconductor Companies Model Portfolio: up 8.3% w/e October 17th; up 9.3% MTD; up 50.6% YTD
   • Focus: The constituents in this Portfolio design and sell hardware devices and semiconductor chips themselves while outsourcing their fabrication (i.e. are fabless) to a specialized manufacturer. Each plays a distinct role in powering AI, data centers, edge devices, and automotive systems.
   • Constituents: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD);  Broadcom (AVGO); Marvell (MRVL); Monolithic Power (MPWR);   Nvidia  (NVDA);  and Qualcomm (QCOM)
   • ​​​​​About Constituents: All six companies are deeply embedded in the AI hardware stack - from GPUs and NPUs to networking ASICs and power management ICs - and the increase AI infrastructure demand, their strong executions, and their strategic positioning across cloud, edge, and automotive markets show continuing strength.
   • ​​​​​Price Change Catalyst(s): 
     • Broadcom's ​​​​​​​co-development with OpenAI of custom AI chips boosted sentiment across the fabless space, especially those with exposure to AI accelerators and custom silicon; 
     • Marvell and Monolithic Power gained on expectations of increased demand for power management and networking silicon in AI-centric data centers and analysts highlighted strong momentum in AI server buildouts, and
     • AMD and Nvidia benefit from GPU and CPU socket wins in hyperscale deployments
4. The Integrated Device Manufacturer (IDM) Model Portfolio: up 6.3% w/e October 17th; up 1.4% MTD; up 21.4% YTD
   • Focus: The constituents in this Portfolio do everything themselves in house to control the entire production process of supplying memory, analog, mixed-signal, and embedded compute that are critical for AI servers, edge inference, and sensor fusion.
   • Constituents: Analog Devices (ADI); Infineon Technologies (IFNNY); Intel Corp. (INTC);  Microchip Technology (MCHP); Micron Technology (MU); NXP Semiconductors (NXPI);  STMicroelectronics (STM); and Texas Instruments (TXN)
   • About Constituents: Infineon, NXP, and STMicroelectronics are key suppliers for ADAS, powertrain electrification, and vehicle connectivity and EV penetration and silicon content per vehicle continue to rise, lifting analog and embedded chip demand. In addition, Texas Instruments and Microchip saw renewed demand in factory automation, smart grid, and medical devices while Micron benefited from rising demand for HBM and DDR5 memory in AI workloads, ADI reported a 25% YoY revenue jump to $2.88B, driven by EV battery management systems and industrial automation, and Intel’s foundry push and AI accelerator roadmap are gaining traction. 
   • ​​​​​Price Change Catalyst(s):
     • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ADI, MCHP, NXPI, TXN, STM all saw renewed demand for power management, signal conversion, and edge compute ICs tied to AI server deployments and industrial automation;
     • IFNNY benefited from strong EV and industrial demand, with analysts highlighting its power semiconductor leadership in silicon carbide (SiC) and IGBT modules; and
     • MU gained on expectations of DRAM and NAND pricing recovery, especially for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in AI accelerators.
5. The Pure-Play Semiconductor Foundries Model Portfolio: up 4.8% w/e October 17th; up 4.0% MTD; up 37.7% YTD 
   • Focus: The constituents in this Portfolio concentrate all their efforts in the manufacture of chips based on the designs provided by other semiconductor companies. GlobalFoundries and United Microelectronics focus on fabricating mature nodes (12nm–90nm and 28nm-90nm, respectively), Tower Semiconductor focuses on analog, RF, power and mixed-signal nodes for the automotive, industrial and medical markets and Taiwan Semiconductor specializes in fabricating leading-edge (3nm, 5nm, 7nm) nodes as well as mature nodes.
   • Constituents: GlobalFoundries (GFS); Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM); Tower Semiconductor (TSEM); and United Microelectronics  (UMC)
   • ​​​​​About Constituents: Constituent stock prices are benefiting from overflow demand and specialty nodes for edge AI, automotive, and IoT and are seen as indispensable players in the next wave of semiconductor innovation.
   • ​​​​​Price Change Catalyst(s):
     • ​​​​​​​TSM led the rally on expectations of a 40% jump in Q3 profits, driven by booming demand for AI chips with analysts citing tripled AI chip sales in 2024 and projected another doubling in 2025.
     • GFS benefited from increased demand for specialty nodes used in edge AI, RF, and automotive applications as customers diversify away from cutting-edge nodes.
     • TSEM saw momentum from analog and mixed-signal demand, especially in industrial and power management segments.
     • UMC gained on expectations of stable utilization and pricing in mature nodes, which are increasingly used in AI-adjacent applications like connectivity and control.
6. The Pure-Play EDA Software Chip Design Model Portfolio: up 1.0% w/e October 17th; DOWN 8.4% MTD; DOWN 1.5% YTD
   • Focus: The constituents in this Portfolio design complex semiconductor chips using sophisticated electronic design automation (EDA) software. Synopsys is a full-stack chip design, IP licensing, and software security while Cadence Design concentrates on system-level integration, packaging, and simulation-heavy workflows.
   • Constituents: Cadence Design Systems (CDNS); and Synopsys (SNPS)
   • ​​​​​Price Change Catalyst(s):
     • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​CDNS was added to several top-performing mutual fund portfolios, marking its third consecutive inclusion in elite buy lists and this institutional support helped stabilize the stock despite broader tech volatility.
     • SNPS was dropped from several mutual fund buy lists contributing to short-term selling pressure and, despite strong fundamentals, SNPS’s AI narrative was seen as less direct than Cadence’s, leading to a sentiment gap in the short term.

Summary

The above 6 sub-portfolios in our model AI Semiconductor Stocks Portfolio were up 7.8% w/e October 17th; up 3.9% MTD; up 39.4% YTD, on average. In comparison, the Nasdaq, which was only up 2.4% w/e October 17th; is only up 0.6% MTD, and up 18.1% YTD.