There are 6 segments involved in the design, material supply, fabrication, testing, packaging, and distribution of semiconductor devices such as microprocessors, memory chips, and sensors involving multiple companies, each with their own specialized contributions.Our Computer Chips-related PortfolioThere are 27 pure-play stocks involved in the 6 segments and their performances are presented below, in descending order, for the week ending September 20th.
- A semiconductor foundry (also known as a fabrication or “fab” plant) does not create its own integrated circuit (computer chip or semiconductor) products but, instead, concentrates all its efforts in the manufacturing of chips based on designs provided by other semiconductor companies which allows it to specialize in manufacturing processes and technologies.
- There are only 4 pure-play semiconductor foundry companies trading on U.S. stock exchanges and below is how they performed w/e Sept. 20th:
- Taiwan Semiconductor (+0.9%);
- GlobalFoundries (-0.8%)
- Tower Semiconductor (-1.3%);
- United Microelectronics (-2.1%)
- An IDM designs, manufactures, and sells its own semiconductor products. This vertical integration allows them to control the entire production process, from design to fabrication, resulting in greater efficiency and quality control.
- Below is how the 8 largest integrated device manufacturers in the world by market capitalization, and trading on U.S. stock exchanges, performed w/e Sept. 20th:
- Intel (+11.1%);
- Why Intel Stock Popped Today
- Texas Instruments (+1.7%);
- NXP Semiconductors (+0.8%);
- Analog Devices (+0.6%);
- Micron Technology (-0.4%);
- Microchip Technology (-0.8%);
- Infineon Technologies (-1.5%);
- STMicroelectronics (-2.3%)
- Intel (+11.1%);
- Given that today’s chips contain more than a hundred billion transistors compared only a few thousand back in the 1970s, electronic design automation (EDA) software is now used to assist engineers in the custom design and development of such complex chips.
- There are only 2 pure-play electronic custom design automation software companies trading on U.S. stock exchanges, and below is how they performed w/e Sept. 20th:
- Synopsys (+3.4%);
- Synopsys is Attracting Investor Attention: Here is What You Should Know
- Cadence Design (+1.9%)
- Synopsys (+3.4%);
- The OSAT segment of the semiconductor value chain, aka assembly, test and packaging, is where chips are assembled into finished semiconductor components and tested for defects. This stage of the manufacturing process is the most labor-intensive and is usually performed in countries in Asia where labor costs are lower than elsewhere.
- Of the 10 companies in this segment only 2 trade on American stock exchanges, and below is how they performed w/e Sept. 20th:
- ASE Technology (+2.3%);
- ASE Technology Announces August Net Revenues
- Amkor Technology (+1.0%)
- ASE Technology (+2.3%);
- A pure-play semiconductor equipment and materials supplier provides essential equipment for manufacturing semiconductors exclusively to that segment which include, in this case, things such as lithography machines, etching, test and packaging equipment, automation and inspection systems and production materials such as chemicals, gases, wafers and packaging.
- There are only 5 pure-play semiconductor equipment and materials suppliers trading on U.S. stock exchanges and below is how they performed w/e Sept 20th:
- Applied Materials (+2.0%);
- Goldman Sachs Is Bullish On Applied Materials – Here’s Why
- KLAC Corporation (+1.0%);
- Lam Research (+0.5%);
- Entegris (No Change);
- ASML Holding (-2.6%)
- Why ASML Holdings Fell Today
- Applied Materials (+2.0%);
- A pure-play company is one that concentrate its efforts on one single line of business and a fabless (fabrication-less) manufacturer designs and sells hardware devices and semiconductor chips while outsourcing their fabrication (or fab) to a specialized manufacturer.
- There are only 6 pure-play fabless semiconductor companies trading on U.S. stock exchanges and below is how they performed w/s Sept. 20th:
- Advanced Micro Devices (+2.4%);
- Jim Cramer says Advanced Micro Devices is the ‘Only Company on Earth’ That Can Catch Up to Nvidia
- Broadcom (+2.0%);
- 3 Reasons to Buy Broadcom Stock Like There’s No Tomorrow
- Qualcomm (+0.7%)
- Marvell (-0.8%);
- Monolith Power Systems (-2.5%);
- Nvidia (-2.6%)
- Wall Street Analysts Are Bullish on Nvidia. Here’s Why I’m Not.
- Advanced Micro Devices (+2.4%);
ConclusionOur Computer Chips-related Portfolio went up 0.7% w/e Sept. 20th after having gone up 7.7% w/e September 13th and is now up 13.8% YTD.More By This Author:
