It didn’t end like a fairytale, but it shook the world. We’re still feeling it nearly 60 years later in our tech-driven world… and it’s made 49% for investors in just the last two months.
William Shockley lit the spark all the way back in 1956. He and two colleagues won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their research on semiconductors “and their discovery of the transistor effect.”
He also started his own company – Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory. His clout and respect helped him woo bright young Ph.D. grads to his new business.
But things unraveled fast. His crew found Shockley a nightmare to work for – an unpopular and authoritarian leader. His research efforts lost momentum. The young scientists wanted him out, but his name was on the building they worked in and the company they worked for.
So some of them left instead.
Just one year after Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory was formed, eight brilliant minds walked out the door to form the legendary Fairchild Semiconductor.
Shockley called them the “Traitorous Eight.”
These “traitors” enjoyed immense success at Fairchild, a prolific manufacturer of transistors and integrated circuits – the building blocks of semiconductors.
Then history repeated itself… when another group of eight – several of whom were in the original group – left Fairchild 12 years later to start their own companies.
Ever heard of Intel (INTC)? Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)?
Even Nvidia (NVDA) – which just hit a record $5 trillion in market valuation – can trace its roots to Fairchild. Sequoia Capital, founded by former Fairchild employee Don Valentine, provided early funding to the chip leader.
The story from there is one of meteoric rises – in technology, demand, production, sales and earnings, and share prices.
Especially right now. Big Money is pouring into semiconductor stocks… including one I haven’t mentioned yet. And that’s where we’ve seen the best profit opportunity in 2025.
Big Money Is Buying Chip Stocks (You Can See It on This Chart)
My Quantum Edge system tracks what Big Money is up to – whether it’s buying or selling and what specifically it’s buying and selling – from the overall market down to individual stocks.
It also reveals what the biggest investors are doing in exchange-traded funds. I prefer to invest in stocks rather than ETFs, but they are quietly powerful clues about what’s going on under the surface.
ETFs let big investors buy whole sectors or themes in one shot. We learn what the big boys are buying and selling. And right now, they are buying semiconductor stocks – nearly 50 years after Shockley won his Nobel Prize.
In fact, the top five ETFs in my system all have “semiconductor” in their name. The Van Eck Semiconductor ETF (SMH), which is ranked second, is my favorite for tracking the semiconductor industry.
It has doubled since the April lows, with 15 Big Money buy signals (green bars) since early June, as you can see below. Inflows paused from mid-August to mid-September, which is not surprising since they are typically weaker months.
Source: MoneyFlows.com
As for Big Money sell signals (red bars), you can see there’s been none since the early April wipeout. That says a lot all in itself.
It makes sense that the biggest investors on the planet are buying semiconductor stocks. Chips are everywhere and in everything.
Computers. Mobile phones. Airplanes. Cars. Even your toaster, refrigerator, and washing machine.
To be honest, our dependence on semiconductors is a little bit scary. Supply chain disruptions during the COVID pandemic caused a global chip shortage, and you may remember that thousands of new cars sat on massive parking lots ready to go – except they couldn’t run because they lacked the chips necessary to power their functions.
We’re not talking just one or two chips here. Vehicles today have 1,000 to 3,000 of them.
No wonder chip sales are expected to hit $1 trillion by 2030.
Demand was exploding even before AI started taking hold in every company and household. Luckily, chips continue to get better and more efficient. And investors continue making money.
One of the Top-Ranked Stocks in My System Is Riding the Chip Wave
Semiconductors sit at the top of my system’s ETF rankings. So it’s no surprise one of the top-ranked stocks is also a chip company. What may surprise you is that it’s tied with a networking company and a solar company.
And it has been one of our biggest winners in Quantum Edge Pro over the last two months.
ACM Research (ACMR) has gained 49% since we added it on Aug. 28. Analyzing the fundamental and technical factors, along with Big Money buying activity, my system gives it a Quantum Score of 93.2. That’s firmly in our buy zone.
And not many stocks can achieve this high of a Fundamental Score plus a high Technical Score:
Within the semiconductor supply chain, ACMR is an MVP for its advanced cleaning and polishing methods. It makes machines that help prepare silicon wafers by removing tiny dust particles and defects so the computer chips made from them will work better. Most important – the chips can then be made smaller, faster, and more powerful.
ACMR’s fundamentals and technicals both score in the 90s. And no wonder. My system picked up 19 Big Money buy signals in 2025… helping drive shares up 180% in the last 10 months.
Source: MoneyFlows.com
But a red-hot stock like this can move plenty in just a few weeks, as we just saw.
Right now, generative AI and massive data center buildouts are driving the chip frenzy. As the foundation of our ongoing tech revolution, they will continue to receive big money flows. These are the stocks that directly benefit from every innovation you hear about in the news.
As you saw in my data today, they’re already in high demand, making top-tier chip stocks ripe for even more profits ahead.
Talk soon,
Jason Bodner
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Source: TradeSmith