The Semiconductor Play Nobody Owns Just Lapped Wall Street’s Biggest Names

The article explains why the Invesco Semiconductors ETF (PSI) dramatically outperformed the market in early 2026, doubling from Dec 31, 2025 to May 26, 2026, and outpacing both the S&P 500 and iShares SOXX. The driver was an AI-driven broadening of capital spending beyond GPU designers like NVIDIA to memory manufacturers (Micron) and semiconductor equipment makers, where PSI is overweight due to its equal-weight structure (only 3.86% in NVDA). While the structural tailwinds (memory pricing, wafer fab equipment spending, reshoring) support further gains, valuations are rich and recent strong moves price in a lot of positive news. Key indicators to watch are memory contract pricing, hyperscaler/TSMC capex guidance, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index for signs of a continuation or reversal.