It has been a big year for executives and investors at 15 companies in the S&P 500 (^GSPC), and it’s all because of one factor.
You guessed it: the Great AI Boom.
There are now 15 companies in the S&P 500 up 100% or more this year (see chart below), per Yahoo Finance analysis. Sandisk (SNDK) is leading the way with an almost 600% gain on the year amid strong demand for its memory chips at ever higher prices.
The list is interesting for several reasons.
First of all, chip king Nvidia (NVDA) isn’t on the list, as its stock is “only” up 18% year to date.
Second, on the list are old tech giants that have pivoted hard to partaking in the AI infrastructure build-out — see Dell (DELL), Intel (INTC), and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE).
Finally, the list is a sign that the AI trade is broadening beyond hyperscalers like Amazon (AMZN) and the aforementioned AI chip leader Nvidia.
Marathon Petroleum (MPC) and Valero (VLO) are front and center here. If you don’t think the many AI data centers being built in this country need a lot of fuel, well, then you are seriously missing a screw.
To be sure, this has been another impressive year on the AI front.
Nvidia alone hit an all-time high of $236 on May 14, per Yahoo Finance AlphaSpace data. That briefly made CEO Jensen Huang’s company the most valuable enterprise on earth before a brutal summer sell-off wiped out more than $1 trillion in market cap and sent the stock back into the $190s.
The stock has since rallied back to near record highs.
The SpaceX (SPCX) IPO raised a record $86 billion in June and minted CEO Elon Musk as the world’s first trillionaire on the strength of AI-driven Starlink and data center revenue — before the stock plunged back to some form of reality.
Microsoft (MSFT) has committed $190 billion in capital expenditures for this year, Amazon has guided to $200 billion, Google (GOOG, GOOGL) to $175 billion, and Meta (META) to $145 billion. This is a combined $700 billion-plus spending pledge from four tech beasts aiming to dominate the future of AI.
More recently, Nvidia signed a $500 billion financing commitment with Apollo Global Management (APO), Blackstone (BX), BlackRock (BLK), Brookfield, Goldman Sachs (GS), and KKR (KKR). (Disclosure: Yahoo is a portfolio company of funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management.)
Next on the AI docket: possible fourth quarter IPOs for Anthropic (ANTH.PVT) and OpenAI (OPAI.PVT).
Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance’s Executive Editor, host of the ‘Power Players With Brian Sozzi’ podcast and a member of Yahoo Finance’s editorial leadership team. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Tips on stories? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.
Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
