For once, the man who loves “easy-to-win” trade wars decided to leave Silicon Valley’s silicon alone—at least for now.

AMD surged nearly eight percent, making it the belle of the ball on the S&P 500, while Nvidia added a more modest four percent. NXP, Micron, and Qualcomm joined the party, pushing the broader PHLX Semiconductor Index up by more than three per cent. Apparently, not being directly targeted by economic sabotage counts as a win in 2025.

This relief rally comes after a dismal start to the year for chip stocks, which have been struggling under the fear of 25 per cent tariffs and the usual threat of export controls.

The SOX index has already taken a five per cent hit since January, thanks to Washington’s itchy trigger finger and Beijing’s growing obsession with homebrewed AI, such as DeepSeek—which, to the horror of American chipmakers, worked and didn’t require a $5 million investment per node.

Adding to the mix, Big Tech’s AI binge seems to be back on track. Amazon is preparing to allocate $100 billion for capital expenditures this year, and Alphabet, Microsoft, and Meta are all following suit—despite the availability of lower-cost Chinese alternatives.