New York, Jan 6, 2026, 21:27 EST — Market closed
- Microchip shares jumped after the chipmaker lifted its quarterly sales outlook in a late-day business update.
- The update added to hopes the analog chip downturn is easing after a long customer inventory drawdown.
- Investors now turn to Feb. 5 results for margin and March-quarter guidance.
Microchip Technology shares closed up 11.6% at $74.87 on Tuesday, after the company lifted its quarterly sales outlook and struck a more upbeat tone on demand. 1
The move matters because Microchip is closely tied to industrial and automotive demand, where customers have spent months working down chip stockpiles instead of placing new orders. A shift there can change expectations for a broad slice of the analog and microcontroller supply chain.
The update also lifted sentiment across analog semiconductors, with shares of Texas Instruments and NXP Semiconductors rising in sympathy, Barron’s reported. Needham analyst N. Quinn Bolton reiterated a buy rating and raised his price target to $77, while Citi analyst Christopher Danely kept a buy rating and an $80 target, according to the report. 2
Microchip, which sells embedded control chips into markets including industrial and automotive, said it now expects net sales for its fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, 2025 to be about $1.185 billion, above its prior forecast range of $1.109 billion to $1.149 billion. CEO Steve Sanghi said the company was seeing a “fairly broad-based recovery” and “very strong” bookings, and pointed to a better starting backlog — orders already on the books — for the March quarter. Microchip said it was preparing to ramp factories to cut under-utilization charges, which hit margins when plants run below capacity, and said it would release full results on Feb. 5 with no conference call tied to Monday’s update. 3
Technicians noted the rally put the stock within about 3% of its 52-week high of $77.20, after spending much of the past year well below that level. 4
The stock also sits above its 50-day moving average of about $60.68, a line some traders use as a quick read on momentum. 5
The risk is that the booking strength proves short-lived if customers stay cautious on factory spending and vehicle builds, keeping pricing tight and plant utilization soft. Any disappointment on margins would likely pressure a stock that has just repriced higher in a single session.
Investors’ next test is Microchip’s Feb. 5 earnings report, when the market will focus on March-quarter revenue guidance, the pace of inventory reductions, and whether higher factory loading feeds through to gross margin.
