Braze (BRZE) shares catapulted more than 50% on Tuesday after Salesforce CRM agreed to buy the AI-powered marketing platform for $5.66 billion in enterprise value, helping lift most software stocks.
Braze deal fuels software rally
The software sector was mostly in the green, with the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) climbing about 1% by afternoon trading. monday.com (MNDY) stood out, jumping 7.5%. Atlassian (TEAM) rose 2.7%, ServiceNow (NOW) gained 2.8%, and Appian (APPN) jumped 5%. Workday (WDAY) increased 3.5%, while Accenture (ACN) inched up 1%.
The higher software stock performance could reflect investors rotating capital away from hardware amid rising concerns over AI infrastructure spending and financing. Strong earnings expectations and new AI product partnerships were also cited as supporting investor confidence in the sector.
Semiconductors mostly muted
The semiconductor sector was more subdued, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) edging up 0.2%. Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) was among the bigger movers in the group, rising about 3% as its recent acquisition of Qorvo (QRVO) appeared to be viewed positively. A report by activist investor Starboard Value highlighted the combined company is targeting at least $500 million in annual cost savings within three years, and management expects operating margins to reach 30%–35% within two to three years.
Other chip names showed modest gains: Marvell (MRVL) rose 2%, Qualcomm (QCOM) increased 1.8%, and Intel (INTC) inched up 0.3%.
Storage, memory and analog chip moves
Storage and memory stocks were mixed. Micron (MU) was flat, while SK Hynix (SKHY) dropped nearly 2% and has shed about 25% over the past month. Sandisk (SNDK) was relatively static, Western Digital (WDC) climbed 3.5%, and Seagate (STX) rose 2.7%.
Analog and mixed-signal names performed well: Onsemi (ON) increased 4%, while Analog Devices (ADI) and Texas Instruments (TXN) each gained about 1.4%. StoneX recently rated Onsemi as a Buy, saying it could benefit from a recovery in semiconductor demand and growth in automotive and AI data center power systems, and expects Onsemi’s AI data center revenue to rise to more than $2.5 billion by 2030 from about $500 million in 2026.
