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Top 2025 Semiconductor Trades: Buy NVIDIA & TSM, Skip AMD

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In 2025, the global semiconductor market is positioned to expand, igniting enthusiasm among market participants. Notably, a couple of semiconductor stocks — NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA - Free Report) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSM - Free Report) , or TSMC — have seen substantial gains for quite some time, but Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD - Free Report) has had a terrible run. Let’s, thus, see how investors should bet on these three companies –

Semiconductor – A Growing Market in 2025

The increase in demand for Internet of Things (IoT) devices, digitalization of economies, and heavy investments in semiconductor manufacturing hubs are expected to help the semiconductor market expand this year and beyond. 

According to Statista, revenues from the semiconductor markets worldwide are estimated to reach $702.40 billion in 2025, up from $607.41 billion last year. Revenues are projected to reach $980.80 billion by 2029 at a CAGR of 8.70%. The integrated circuits market will drive revenues, followed by discrete semiconductors, optoelectronics, and sensors and actuators.

Semiconductor stocks have already begun to gain momentum this year, with the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX - Free Report) gaining 9.2% year to date after advancing 12.2% last year.

2 Semiconductor Stocks to Invest in: NVIDIA & TSMC

SOXX’s top holdings, NVIDIA and TSMC, have been performing well and are poised for further growth in the semiconductor market. Strong demand for NVIDIA’s newer and older chips is expected to drive its share prices higher. 

Shipments for the new generation cutting-edge Blackwell chips have surged this quarter due to their enhanced energy efficiency and 30 times faster AI interface than older chips. At the same time, CEO Jensen Huang confirmed that the demand for the older Hopper chips remains steady due to its superior quality compared to rival Intel Corporation (INTC - Free Report) .

NVIDIA’s dominant global market share in the graphic processing units (GPU) space provides a competitive advantage, which bodes well for its shares. This is because the GPU market worldwide is estimated to increase to $101.54 billion in 2025 from $75.77 billion in 2024, added Precedence Research. 

With NVIDIA’s shares poised to climb, it’s smart to consider buying the NVDA stock now. NVIDIA currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and the $2.94 Zacks Consensus Estimate for NVDA’s earnings per share (EPS) is up 46.3% from a year ago (read more: 2 AI Stocks to Buy for Potential 2025 Gains: NVIDIA & Palantir).  

Zacks Investment Research

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

TSMC’s dominance in the global foundry market, meanwhile, is expected to boost its stock performance. The uptick in demand for TSMC’s custom artificial intelligence (AI) chips among the likes of Broadcom Inc. (AVGO - Free Report) has bolstered its future growth. The increase in pre-order demand for the highly anticipated TSMC’s 2-nanometer (nm) chips this year is also expected to boost the TSMC stock. Its demand has exceeded that of the existing 3 and 5nm chips.

With the TSMC stock likely to rise, it surely is a must-buy as well. TSMC presently has a Zacks Rank #2 and its EPS is estimated to increase by 21% from last year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate is $9.12 (read more: 3 Reasons to Buy TSMC Stock Beyond Record Q4 Net Profit).

Zacks Investment Research

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Shun Semiconductor Stock AMD for Now 

Unlike NVIDIA and TSMC, for now, it’s best to avoid investing in Advanced Micro Devices, another key holding of SOXX. This is because AMD stock’s performance has been below par in the past five years due to weakness in the personal computer market aggravated by the pandemic. The chipmaker’s inability to take advantage of the AI bandwagon like NVIDIA, along with sluggish demand for gaming consoles, has failed to lift the AMD stock.

AMD’s bulk revenues from outside the United States expose the company to exchange rate fluctuations, a headwind for its near-term prospects. AMD, at present, has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 (Strong Buy) Rank stocks here.

 


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