Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights: Micron Technology and Qualcomm
Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights: Micron Technology and Qualcomm
Publish Date: 2026-07-09 04:24:00
Source Domain: www.theglobeandmail.com
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – July 9, 2026 – Today, Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights Micron Technology MU and Qualcomm QCOM.
Qualcomm AI Factory Bet: The Semiconductor Pendulum Swings
Since the start of the AI boom in 2023, there have been several moments where the narrative around the buildout and long-term potential of this emerging technology has swung sharply from exuberance to doubt. Over the last few weeks, we appear to have entered another one of those doubt phases.
But it is important not to lose sight of how far this theme has come, not just over the last three years, but even over the last three months. In April, equities looked like they were entering a broader correction as geopolitical tensions flared and risk appetite deteriorated. Yet just weeks later, stocks found their footing and rallied aggressively.
That move was led by technology, AI-adjacent stocks, and, most notably, semiconductors. The SOXX semiconductor ETF more than doubled from those lows, while some of the biggest winners in the group, such as Micron Technology, rallied more than 300% from depressed levels.
That kind of move naturally invites a reset.
The “Narrative Pendulum” is a concept I picked up from analyst Alex Barrow, and I think it is a useful framework for understanding this market (detailed here). The basic idea is that even when a powerful secular trend remains intact, the market’s perception of that trend can swing dramatically between extremes. In the case of AI, investors move from believing the opportunity is nearly unlimited to worrying that the entire buildout is excessive, wasteful, or unlikely to generate adequate returns.
That is where we are now. Concerns around overspending, capital misallocation, falling LLM costs, hyperscaler margins, and the ultimate return on invested capital are beginning to weigh on the AI trade. These concerns are not necessarily fatal to the long-term thesis. In fact, they are probably healthy. Periods of doubt help cool…
