US-listed semiconductor complex
Twenty-six companies, one demand cycle: a mechanical comparison of the listed semiconductor complex
1 min preview · 2026-09-25
Executive summary
This report compares the 26 US-listed semiconductor and semiconductor-equipment companies above $25bn of market value on eight measures, states the selection rule in full before the table, and does not rank them. Each company carries a value-chain layer label, and the table sorts by layer; the rule's date and the nearest excluded names are stated in the method, with the reason each fails the rule.
Over the twelve months to the pricing date the 26 returned between +4% (NXP) and +550% (Micron) around a median of +68%, while forward multiples run from 6.8x to 100.3x around a median of 24.4x. A sector average would describe none of them.
Scale belongs beside dispersion. The 26 sum to $15.8trn of market value, 49% of a year of US GDP, and NVIDIA alone accounts for $5.4trn. The reference fund returned +111% against the median constituent's +68%, a gap of 42pp: modified capitalisation weighting means the fund mostly tracks the top rows of this table.
- Twenty-six companies, one demand cycle, twelve-month total returns from +4% (NXP) to +550% (Micron), against +111% for the reference index.
- Forward earnings multiples span 6.8x (Micron) to 100.3x (Arm Holdings) around a median of 24.4x, so a sector-average multiple would describe none of them.
- The 26 sum to $15.8trn of market value, 49% of a year of US GDP; NVIDIA alone is $5.4trn of it.
- Gross margins run from 19.5% to 97.5% because the layers are different businesses.
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- The sector dispersion table: 26 US-listed semiconductor companies on eight stated measures
- The series, charted
- Reading the dispersion, column by column
- One cycle, many exposures
- What to watch, and when