New York, Jan 16, 2026, 10:14 EST — Regular session
- Broadcom shares rose about 2% in early Friday trade as chip stocks extended a week-end rally.
- The stock is trying to claw back losses after a China-linked software report rattled sentiment midweek.
- RBC kicked off coverage with a “Sector Perform” rating, flagging open questions on parts of AI demand.
Broadcom Inc shares were up 1.8% at $349.27 on Friday morning, after trading as high as $352.94, as chip stocks helped lift Wall Street at the open.
The timing matters because semiconductors have taken the wheel again in a market that has been quick to punish anything tied to big capital spending. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s forecast-beating results and a plan to lift 2026 capital spending — money set aside for factories and equipment — have been read as fresh evidence that AI hardware demand is still pulling.
Broadcom’s mix makes it a tricky read-through. It sells chips and networking gear into data centers, but it also owns VMware, a software franchise now caught up in U.S.-China tech tension.
Chinese authorities have told domestic firms to stop using cybersecurity software from more than a dozen U.S. and Israeli companies, including Broadcom-owned VMware, according to three people briefed on the matter. Broadcom fell more than 4% in Wednesday trading after the report.
On the Street, RBC Capital initiated coverage of Broadcom with a Sector Perform rating and a $370 price target. Analyst Srini Pajjuri said TPUs — custom AI chips used in data centers — “appear to have a lot of momentum” near term, but he called the sustainability of the Anthropic ramp a “question mark” and said the OpenAI opportunity was “less clear.” TipRanks
Broadcom has also been in the bond market. A Simpson Thacher release on a deal completed this week said the company issued $4.5 billion in senior notes and planned to use proceeds for general corporate purposes and debt repayment.
The bid on Friday was not just Broadcom. TSMC’s results helped push up a slate of chip names tied to AI servers and data centers, including Nvidia and AMD, as investors leaned back into the sector.
But it’s a narrow trade, and it can flip fast. The AI boom is pulling the whole supply chain into heavier spending, and that raises the cost of being wrong if orders cool or budgets get pushed out.
For Broadcom specifically, traders are still trying to handicap two unknowns at once: how sticky the AI-driven demand curve is for custom silicon and networking, and how much of the China software push would land on VMware’s business in practice.
There were also signs of opportunistic buying. ARK’s daily trade disclosures showed Cathie Wood’s funds bought Broadcom shares during the tech pullback this week.
The next clean catalyst is earnings. Nasdaq’s earnings calendar lists March 5 as Broadcom’s estimated report date, and investors will be listening for updates on AI networking demand and VMware subscription trends.
