Chip equipment stocks strengthen, boosted by investment plans announced by Samsung and SK Hynix

ASML Holding rose 6.8% in Amsterdam, after earlier climbing as much as 8%, marking the largest gain since April 8. Among U.S. chip equipment stocks, Applied Materials rose 5.3%, Lam Research gained 4.0%, and KLA Corp climbed 5.9%. Looking at the two-day cumulative increase, these four stocks led gains among the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index components: KLA gained 18% over two days, Applied Materials rose 17%, Lam Research was up 13%, and ASML rose 10%, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index gained 7% during the same period.Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix announced plans to build two chip manufacturing plants each in South Korea, with a total investment of 800 trillion won. This news boosted chip equipment stocks.