News
10 semiconductor stocks that might make you a lot of money in 2025
This year has been breathtaking for the stock market — but a mixed bag for investors in the semiconductor industry who’ve seen uneven performance between the select artificial-intelligence winners and the host of other players that have more diversified exposure.
But 2025 promises to fuel broader growth for chip-sector financials, and for the associated stocks. According to Wall Street analysts, there are many companies primed for double-digit returns for their stocks, even from here.
Below are screens of semiconductor stocks showing which companies are expected to increase revenue the most in 2025 and which industry stocks have the most upside potential.
The industry focus of course has been on Nvidia Corp. NVDA, the main provider of graphics processing units (GPU) being installed by data centers to support the development of generative artificial intelligence. Nvidia essentially pioneered this corner of the industry in 2023 and its dominance has continued. The company’s stock has returned 183% this year, following a 239% return in 2023.
That incredible growth follows a 50% decline for the stock in 2022. All of this serves as a reminder of how volatile the stock market can be, and how easily some investors might forget how important it is to be patient. Putting all those figures together, Nvidia’s stock has returned 378% since the end of 2021. (All returns in this article include reinvested dividends.)
Nvidia’s astounding growth has moved it close to being the largest component of the S&P 500 SPX. The company has been alternating with Apple Inc. AAPL in this position. The large-cap U.S. benchmark index is weighted by market capitalization. That means if you are in an index fund, you probably have a good amount of your money invested in Nvidia’s stock, which makes up 6.7% of the $633 billion SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY. It is second to Apple, which has a 7.2% weighting in the exchange-traded fund.
To illustrate how and why Nvidia’s stock has increased so rapidly, take a look at these growth rates for the company’s revenue over its past eight fiscal quarters:
January 2023 |
Sales ($mil) |
Sequential change |
Year-over-year change |
Oct. 2024 |
$35,082 |
17% |
94% |
July 2024 |
$30,040 |
15% |
122% |
April 2024 |
$26,044 |
18% |
262% |
Jan. 2024 |
$22,103 |
22% |
265% |
Oct. 2023 |
$18,120 |
34% |
206% |
July 2023 |
$13,507 |
88% |
101% |
April 2023 |
$7,192 |
19% |
-13% |
Jan. 2023 |
$6,051 |
2% |
-21% |
And here is how Nvidia’s earnings per share have increased over the same eight-quarter run:
Fiscal quarter ended |
EPS |
Sequential change |
Year-over-year change |
Oct. 2024 |
$0.78 |
17% |
110% |
July 2024 |
$0.67 |
12% |
170% |
April 2024 |
$0.60 |
21% |
629% |
Jan. 2024 |
$0.49 |
33% |
764% |
Oct. 2023 |
$0.37 |
50% |
1263% |
July 2023 |
$0.25 |
202% |
849% |
April 2023 |
$0.08 |
44% |
29% |
Jan. 2023 |
$0.06 |
110% |
-52% |
Great expectations for the semiconductor industry in 2025
While Nvidia has seen explosive sales growth this year, that trend hasn’t applied equally throughout the sector. Marvell Technology Inc. MRVL, for instance, is levered to the AI boom, but the company is expected to see essentially flat sales this calendar year as other areas of its business, including enterprise networking, have registered sharp declines. But the consensus among analysts is for revenue to surge nearly 36% calendar 2025. (All estimates in this article are for calendar years, with adjustments made by FactSet for companies whose fiscal reporting periods don’t match the calendar.)
Companies with even more depressed profiles could see big returns to growth. Take Texas Instruments Inc. TXN, which is expected to log an 11.5% sales decline this year before rebounding to 11.5% growth in 2025. Chip players exposed to recently troubled areas such as analog, industrial and automotive markets will get easier comparisons in the new year, while business conditions in some pockets could improve as well.
The consensus among analysts polled by FactSet is for the companies in the PHLX Semiconductor Index SOX to show a weighted 23.1% increase in sales per share in 2025, compared with a12.5% increase for the S&P 500 information technology sector and a 5.6% sales growth rate for the full S&P 500.
When it comes to profits, the differences in estimates are also dramatic. Analysts expect the PHLX Semiconductor group to increase earnings per share by 37.8% next year, compared with a 22.5% increase for the tech sector and a 14.8% increase for the full index. Even that last figure is impressive, and backs Black Rock Chief Executive Larry Fink’s opinion that companies are “ catching up ” to high price-to-earnings valuations for their stocks.
Screening the semiconductor industry
For a broad screen of the semiconductor industry, the initial group included 63 companies listed on U.S. exchanges, starting with the 30 in the PHLX Semiconductor Index and adding 33 more companies in the S&P Composite 1500 Index XX:SP1500 that are in the semiconductor industry, as determined by FactSet, or in the Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment Global Industry Classification Standard group. The S&P Composite 1500 is made up of the S&P 500, the S&P MidCap 400 MID and the S&P Small Cap 600 SML.
We trimmed the list to 57 companies covered by at least five analysts working for brokerage firms polled by FactSet.
Then we did two screens.
The first screen is for chip makers expected to increase sales the most during calendar 2025. We are using calendar-year estimates, as adjusted by FactSet for companies (such as Nvidia) whose fiscal reporting periods don’t match the calendar.
Here are the 10 semiconductor companies expected to show the largest revenue increases in 2025:
Company |
Ticker |
Expected sales growth in 2025 |
Estimated 2025 sales |
Estimated 2024 sales |
Nvidia Corp. |
NVDA |
54.6% |
$190,331 |
$123,124 |
Micron Technology Inc. |
MU |
38.4% |
$40,817 |
$29,490 |
Silicon Laboratories Inc. |
SLAB |
38.0% |
$806 |
$584 |
Marvell Technology Inc. |
MRVL |
32.6% |
$7,335 |
$5,530 |
First Solar Inc. |
FSLR |
32.0% |
$5,545 |
$4,201 |
Enphase Energy Inc. |
ENPH |
30.9% |
$1,748 |
$1,335 |
SolarEdge Technologies Inc. |
SEDG |
27.7% |
$1,194 |
$935 |
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. |
AMD |
27.3% |
$32,693 |
$25,683 |
SiTime Corp. |
SITM |
26.8% |
$252 |
$199 |
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. ADR |
TSM |
26.0% |
$112,551 |
$89,352 |
Nvidia tops the list with analysts expecting revenue to increase nearly 55% in calendar 2025. That’s admittedly down from the 112% growth expected for calendar 2024 but simultaneously illustrates the power of Nvidia’s business, as the company could post industry-leading growth at scale and against tough comparisons.
The next screen centers on analysts’ opinions of the stocks themselves.
Going back to our trimmed list of 57 semiconductor stocks, 10 that are rated a “buy” or the equivalent by at least 85% of analysts polled by FactSet also have double-digit price increases expected. Here they are, sorted by the upside potential based on consensus price targets:
Company |
Ticker |
Share “buy” ratings |
Dec. 2 price |
Consensus price target |
Implied 12-month upside potential |
Micron Technology Inc. |
MU |
91% |
$98.55 |
$147.25 |
49% |
Onto Innovation Inc. |
ONTO |
100% |
$170.85 |
$255.00 |
49% |
Impinj Inc. |
PI |
90% |
$187.55 |
$243.70 |
30% |
Penguin Solutions Inc. |
PENG |
100% |
$18.89 |
$24.17 |
28% |
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. ADR |
TSM |
96% |
$194.40 |
$240.26 |
24% |
Nvidia Corp. |
NVDA |
93% |
$138.63 |
$170.16 |
23% |
Entegris Inc. |
ENTG |
86% |
$108.83 |
$131.33 |
21% |
Broadcom Inc. |
AVGO |
87% |
$166.51 |
$195.78 |
18% |
Ichor Holdings Ltd. |
ICHR |
86% |
$35.40 |
$41.29 |
17% |
Semtech Corp. |
SMTC |
92% |
$62.68 |
$72.70 |
16% |
Many of those favored names saw big gains in 2024 as well, though some, like Micron Technology MU, have failed to beat the market on a year-to-date basis. With Micron, many analysts see a favorable memory cycle ahead, helped by strong demand for high-bandwidth memory, which has AI applications.
“We feel the company continues to be well-positioned with its HBM product offering and roadmap,” Piper Sandler analyst Harsh Kumar wrote recently.
The potential for upside in many pockets of the chip universe could be comfort to investors disappointed by the performance of the broader sector this year. While the PHLX Semiconductor Index is up 21.6% on the year, the S&P 500 is ahead 28.5%.
Any stock screen is only a snapshot. If you are considering any individual stocks for investment, you should do your own research to form your own opinions about how likely the companies are to remain competitive over the next decade. One way to begin your research is to click the tickers for more information.
Read: Tomi Kilgore’s guide to the wealth of information available for free on the MarketWatch quote page
Don’t miss: 10 of Wall Street’s favorite dividend stocks for 2025 with yields of at least 4%