The AI Boom’s Chipmaker Moment Ignores History

Semiconductors are pulling ahead of everything else in the stock market, including the vaunted hyperscalers that helped drive extraordinary returns from 2022 through 2025. The divergence is part of a high-stakes tussle among investors to pick the winners and losers of the artificial intelligence revolution.

In recent months, investors have piled into the companies getting rich from the technology right now — and grown less patient with those banking on big payoffs down the line. Still, history suggests the greater risk may be in assuming that today’s leading beneficiaries will remain on top.