On Wednesday, NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) led US stock trading volume, closing up 2.19% with $25.324 billion in transactions.

At the Hot Chips 2026 conference on August 24, NVIDIA unveiled three major initiatives in a single day: the Groq 3 LPX inference accelerator entered full production; the next-generation Vera Rubin NVL72 disclosed real-chip-based agent workload test data—achieving up to 30 times the throughput per megawatt compared to the previous GB300 NVL72 generation, with per-token costs reduced by up to 35 times; and SpaceXAI announced adoption of the Vera CPU, with plans to launch an optimized Vera Rubin system into low Earth orbit.

Micron ranked third, closing up 2.48% with $17.615 billion in trades. SanDisk took fifth place, closing down 0.83% with $12.98 billion in volume.

Goldman Sachs released a fresh research report, sharply raising its global wafer fabrication equipment (WFE) spending forecasts for 2026-2028 to $150 billion, $218 billion, and $281 billion respectively—corresponding to growth rates of 36%, 45%, and 29%—and judging that the current semiconductor equipment upcycle could extend through 2028. The upward revision was driven by better-than-expected earnings and capital expenditure guidance from US semiconductor companies. On the foundry side, TSMC's N2 2-nanometer process is driving massive capacity expansion, while the DRAM sector is seeing capital expenditure increases led by Samsung and SK Hynix, with DRAM supply tightness expected to persist into 2028.

Tesla ranked sixth, closing up 0.37% with $10.457 billion in transactions. Elon Musk stated that SpaceX's first batch of AI satellites equipped with NVIDIA chips will launch in the fourth quarter of next year, with large-scale deployment targeted for 2028. Musk also revealed that SpaceX has collaborated with NVIDIA to design a Vera Rubin NVL72 system optimized for space environments.

Microsoft ranked eighth, closing up 0.90% with $9.251 billion in trades. Microsoft has confirmed that the Windows 11 26H2 version will be officially released this fall. For devices currently running Windows 11 24H2 or 25H2, upgrading to 26H2 only requires downloading an approximately 174KB enablement package, eliminating the need to redeploy multi-gigabyte full installation images.

Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) ranked ninth, closing up 4.91% with $9.013 billion in transactions. Cisco announced it will provide AMD's liquid cooling and air cooling systems, marking its entry into the data center thermal management sector.

Apple ranked tenth, closing down 0.14% with $7.926 billion in trades. Apple unveiled new Mac Studio models powered by the M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips, now available for pre-order with in-store sales beginning September 22. Apple also released a new Mac Mini featuring the M6 and M5 Pro chips. According to the announcement, the M6 is Apple's first chip built on a 2-nanometer process, delivering significantly enhanced AI computing power, while the M5 Ultra is described as "the most powerful chip Apple has ever created."

Moderna ranked eleventh, surging 14.36% with $7.623 billion in transactions. Moderna and Merck jointly announced that their first personalized mRNA cancer therapy, intismeran autogene, achieved success in a global Phase III clinical trial targeting high-risk melanoma—marking a milestone breakthrough in tumor immunotherapy. Subsequently, multiple major banks raised their price targets for Moderna: Bank of America lifted its target from $40 to $170, upgrading the rating from "underperform" to "neutral"; Piper Sandler raised its target from $77 to $167, maintaining an "overweight" rating; Goldman Sachs increased its target from $67 to $120, keeping a "neutral" rating; JPMorgan raised its target from $40 to $77; and Barclays boosted its target from $48 to $125.

SpaceX ranked twelfth, closing up 2.19% with $7.248 billion in trades. At an event in Louisiana, SpaceX announced plans to construct a new Starship launch site in the southern part of the state.

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) ranked thirteenth, closing up 0.25% with $7.169 billion in transactions. Intel completed a $20 billion secondary offering, with Q2 revenue up 25% year-over-year, exceeding expectations.

Alphabet Class A shares ranked fourteenth, closing down 0.32% with $7.119 billion in trades. Google expanded its Gemini Enterprise AI platform by launching Gemini Enterprise for Legal, a tool designed for lawyers and law firms—intensifying competition among tech companies for the legal industry AI market.

Amazon ranked fifteenth, closing down 0.39% with $6.64 billion in transactions. Amazon has quietly raised prices on multiple proprietary hardware products, from e-readers and smart speakers to streaming TV sticks and whole-home mesh routers, with increases varying by product—some entry-level items seeing price hikes of up to 60%. The Echo series smart speakers serve as the entry point to Amazon's smart home ecosystem. The best-selling entry-level Echo Dot jumped from $49.99 to $79.99—a $30 increase representing a 60% rise, the highest percentage hike across all products. The Echo Show 11 with display was adjusted from $219.99 to $249.99, an increase of approximately 13.6%.

Meta Platforms ranked seventeenth, closing up 1.97% with $5.479 billion in trades. Meta plans to launch Hatch, a consumer-facing AI agent product internally codenamed OpenClaw, within the coming weeks. The company is also targeting October for the release of a new AI large language model codenamed "Watermelon."

Dick's Sporting Goods ranked nineteenth, plunging 30.68% with $5.047 billion in transactions. On August 25, Dick's Sporting Goods reported second-quarter results with revenue of $5.59 billion, up 53.2% year-over-year but below the analyst consensus of $5.65 billion—growth primarily driven by the consolidation of its Foot Locker acquisition. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $3.53, missing the market expectation of $3.78. Due to a deteriorating athletic footwear and apparel market environment, the company lowered its full-year guidance, now projecting adjusted EPS between $11 and $12—well below the analyst consensus of $14.20—and revenue in the range of $21.9 billion to $22.2 billion, with the midpoint falling short of the market's $22.35 billion expectation.

Marvell Technology ranked twentieth, closing up 4.84% with $4.837 billion in transactions.