Shares of networking chips designer Marvell Technology (NASDAQ: MRVL) jumped 6.9% in the afternoon session after reports surfaced that the company was in talks with Alphabet’s Google to co-develop two new custom chips for artificial intelligence (AI).
The potential partnership involved Marvell designing two specialized processors. One was a memory unit intended to work with and speed up Google’s existing Tensor Processing Units (TPUs). The other was a new, dedicated chip built specifically for AI inference, which is the process of using a trained AI model to make predictions. This development was seen as a move that would deepen Marvell’s integration into the Google Cloud ecosystem and solidify its role as a key hardware partner for major tech companies building out their AI infrastructure.
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Marvell Technology’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 35 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 3 days ago when the stock gained 4.2% on the news that the US-Iran ceasefire eased fears of a major disruption to global tech supply chains.
Semiconductors are the backbone of the modern economy, and any threat to global shipping lanes like the Strait of Hormuz creates immediate “scarcity premiums.” With the strait reopened, the logistical path for raw materials and finished chips becomes far more predictable and cost-effective.
The rally was also fueled by the continued “AI revolution,” which remains a primary growth driver regardless of oil price swings. However, the cooling of energy-driven inflation provides a more favorable backdrop for the massive capital expenditures required to build new fabrication plants. As the “geopolitical discount” evaporates, chipmakers are seeing strong buy-side interest across both the logic and memory markets.
Marvell Technology is up 66.9% since the beginning of the year, and at $149.22 per share, has set a new 52-week high. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Marvell Technology’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $3,255.
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