Mizuho has projected sustained robust expansion for the U.S. semiconductor industry in 2026, driven predominantly by developments in artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The financial services firm underscores the attractiveness of equity valuations within the sector and anticipates continued, though potentially slower, AI-related stock outperformance compared to the previous year.
The semiconductor ecosystem, including chip manufacturers and server providers, stands to benefit significantly from these dynamics. Infrastructure providers catering to data centers and networks are also expected to experience growth opportunities aligned with this trend.
Nvidia
Nvidia secures the highest ranking in Mizuho’s semiconductor list for 2026. The company continues to leverage strong demand from major cloud service providers for AI server hardware. Growth prospects are further bolstered by increasing production capacity at neocloud providers and emerging ventures within sovereign and enterprise sectors. Mizuho points out that Nvidia’s share price currently trades at a discount relative to peer companies, despite forecasts indicating superior growth. This combination of valuation advantage and chief positioning in AI acceleration underscores Nvidia’s top-pick status.
Lumentum Holdings
Lumentum Holdings is ranked second, benefiting from escalated deployment of optical technologies at noteworthy customers like Google Cloud Platform and Amazon Web Services. The company's customer relationship with Nvidia facilitates growth in optical circuit switch (OCS) and co-packaged optics (CPO) segments. Mizuho emphasizes that as AI data centers shift from traditional copper interconnections to optical solutions for both scale-up and scale-out architectures, Lumentum is well-positioned to capitalize on this transition.
Broadcom
Broadcom claims third place in the brokerage’s semiconductor rankings. The company is experiencing vigorous ramps in application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) production, notably Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) manufactured for Google. Alongside ASIC growth, Broadcom’s networking division contributes to its expansion. Additionally, its software segment yields strong free cash flow, while onboarding AI-oriented clients such as OpenAI and Anthropic offers further potential for advancement.
Beyond the top three picks, Mizuho includes Microchip Technology and Lam Research Corporation as honorable mentions. Expectations for these companies lean on improving demand trends in analog semiconductor chips and semiconductor manufacturing equipment, respectively. Each of the five highlighted firms carries an Outperform rating from Mizuho.
The outlook expressed by Mizuho indicates confidence in the semiconductor sector’s ability to sustain momentum driven by AI, though recognizing that growth rates may temper compared to the exceptional gains witnessed in 2025. Investors might find current valuations attractive amidst these evolving industry dynamics.