Intel Stock Led Semiconductors up as Political Focus Grew

Intel Stock

Intel Stock (NASDAQ:INTC)

Thursday was a good day for semiconductor stocks, led higher by Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), as the industry got increasing attention from policymakers across the world amid concerns about the development of China. As a result, Intel stock surged.

By the middle of the trading day, Intel stock was up by about 3.5%, while its rivals AMD and Nvidia were up by 1.7% and 0.1%, respectively.

Gina Raimondo, the Secretary of Commerce for the United States, said on Thursday that the United States and India will sign a memorandum of understanding to better coordinate their efforts and discuss issues relevant to the industry.

At the beginning of this week, Ahn Duk-Geun, South Korea’s Minister of Trade, voiced his reservations over the United States’ $52 billion CHIPS Act, which is intended to make the local sector more competitive.

There needed to be more consistency in the performance of semiconductor foundry stocks, with Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) dropping 0.5% and Global Foundries (GFS) adding almost 1%.

Late on Wednesday, the government of the Netherlands announced that, in the interest of maintaining national security, it would be imposing additional limitations on the export of semiconductor technology.

The Netherlands Trade Minister Liesje Schreinemacher did not identify the semiconductor equipment manufacturer ASML Holdings (NASDAQ:ASML), but the company’s extreme ultraviolet, or EUV, machines have come under heightened political attention in recent months, particularly from the Biden Administration. These machines are used to print intricate patterns on chips.

The share price of ASML was up by a fraction of a point, while shares of Lam Research, Applied Materials, and KLA Corp. rose by at least one percent.

On Thursday, several other semiconductor firms, including NXP Semiconductors, Texas Instruments, Micron Technology, and ON Semiconductor, witnessed increases in their share prices.

It was reported on Wednesday that Intel was trying to acquire as much as $5.3 billion in subsidies from the German government for its planned facility in Magdeburg. This is a decrease from the previous month’s reported figure of $10 billion that the company sought.

Featured Image: Unsplash @ slavudin

Please See Disclaimer

About the author: I'm a financial journalist with more than 1.5 years of experience. I have worked for different financial companies and covered stocks listed on ASX, NYSE, NASDAQ, etc. I have a degree in marketing from Bahria University Islamabad Campus (BUIC), Pakistan.