Four semiconductor stocks enabling the AI era

Artificial intelligence is only as powerful as the hardware it runs on. Behind every breakthrough in generative AI, there is a complex supply chain of silicon, memory, and manufacturing technology pushing the limits of what machines can compute. While most headlines go to the end applications, the companies building the physical foundation of AI are often overlooked.

As demand for faster, more efficient chips accelerates, semiconductor firms with deep domain expertise are moving into the spotlight. From cutting edge lithography to AI optimised memory and infrastructure level custom silicon, the enablers of AI are clear.

Here are four semiconductor companies helping to power the next phase of artificial intelligence.

Key takeaways

• ASML continues to dominate advanced chip production with its EUV tools, making it an indispensable player in the global AI supply chain
• Micron is emerging as a key memory supplier for AI workloads, with high bandwidth memory and DRAM demand driving a structural upturn
• Marvell is leaning into custom AI silicon for cloud and data centre customers, providing the hidden infrastructure behind the boom
• Tokyo Electron is benefiting from foundry and memory capex linked to AI, with strength across both logic and DRAM segments

ASML (NYSE: ASML) 

ASML is a Dutch semiconductor equipment company and the only supplier of extreme ultraviolet lithography systems used in advanced chip production

These systems are essential to producing the logic and accelerator chips that drive artificial intelligence(1). Whether it’s GPUs used for training large models or custom processors optimised for inference, nearly all rely on chips fabricated using ASML’s tools. Its lithography equipment defines the smallest possible features on silicon, which translates directly into higher compute performance and energy efficiency.

Its importance in the AI stack goes beyond any single customer. From foundries to integrated device makers, the world’s most advanced fabs depend on ASML to enable their most critical processes. As the semiconductor industry moves to smaller nodes and new design architectures, the company’s role becomes more embedded.

Without ASML, there is no scale-up in AI silicon. It is not just enabling chipmakers, it is defining what they can build.

Micron (NYSE: MU) 

Micron is a US memory company specialising in DRAM, NAND and advanced packaging solutions

High bandwidth memory is emerging as one of the most important enablers of AI performance. Models cannot deliver real time results without a memory system fast enough to feed data to the processor. Micron is one of the few companies globally with the technology to support this, supplying multiple types of memory including HBM, DDR and GDDR, each suited to different parts of the AI stack.

HBM is used for training large models, where enormous bandwidth is needed. GDDR and DDR are increasingly used in inference and AI at the edge, where latency and power consumption matter more. Micron’s strength lies not only in its product set, but in its packaging and interconnect expertise, which help customers achieve density and performance without overheating.

AI’s scaling limits are often dictated by memory. Micron is making sure those limits are pushed further.

Marvell (NYSE: MRVL) 

Marvell is a US based semiconductor company designing custom compute and connectivity solutions for cloud and AI infrastructure

Unlike general-purpose chipmakers, Marvell partners with large data centre operators to develop application-specific silicon tailored to their own AI workloads. These custom chips are built for performance, power efficiency and scale, giving cloud providers an edge in delivering AI services. For many, it is the most efficient path to deploying inference and training workloads at a lower total cost.

Marvell also plays a key role in network infrastructure. Its technologies support high-speed data movement within AI clusters, especially important as models become more distributed across chips and nodes. Optical interconnects and custom digital signal processors help reduce latency and bottlenecks across increasingly complex architectures.

Marvell is not selling the most chips. It is helping the biggest players in AI build the most efficient systems, and that is where its strategic value lies.

Tokyo Electron (8035.T)

Tokyo Electron is a Japanese semiconductor equipment company supplying process tools for logic and memory manufacturing

Its systems are used throughout wafer fabrication, particularly in deposition and etching steps essential for creating dense, high-performance chips. Tokyo Electron serves the world’s leading foundries and memory producers, giving it deep exposure to the capital spending driving AI related capacity expansion.

The company’s importance to AI is tied to its role in enabling both cutting edge logic and stacked memory technologies. AI chips are increasingly using chiplet architectures and advanced packaging to overcome physical limits(3). Tokyo Electron’s tools help support these shifts by enabling precision fabrication and integration at the micro scale. As chip design becomes more complex, the manufacturing behind it must evolve. Tokyo Electron sits at that intersection, helping to translate design ambition into production reality.

Looking ahead

AI is driving a re-architecture of computing. That re-architecture is not just happening in software, but in the design, production and deployment of silicon. ASML, Micron, Marvell and Tokyo Electron are not just suppliers to the AI economy. They are shaping its physical infrastructure from the fabs and tools that enable chip production to the components that move, store and process AI data.

As the world builds out the next generation of compute, these companies are helping turn the promise of AI into something real.

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