1 Under-the-Radar Stock Riding the AI Boom (Hint: It's Not Nvidia)
Written by Daniel Sparks for The Motley Fool -> Amkor is expanding its advanced packaging capacity. The company just signed a 10-year agreement with TSMC. The stock has more than doubled this year. Artificial intelligence (AI) investors usually start with Nvidia . That makes
Artificial intelligence (AI) investors usually start with Nvidia . That makes sense. The chipmaker sells the graphics processing units (GPUs) that have become the defining hardware of the AI boom.
But the AI supply chain doesn't stop with the chip designer. As accelerators become more complex, semiconductor companies increasingly need advanced packaging -- the step that helps multiple pieces of silicon, memory, and other components work together inside one finished device.
Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue »
Shares of Amkor have more than doubled in 2026 as of this writing, helped by rising interest in advanced packaging and a new 10-year agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing . The move has turned a relatively quiet packaging and test company into one of the more interesting ways to play AI infrastructure without buying Nvidia .
Amkor is an outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) provider. In simpler terms, chip companies and foundries use Amkor to help package and test chips before they make their way into end products.
The company's latest quarter showed why investors are paying attention. Amkor's first-quarter revenue rose 27% year over year to a first-quarter record $1.68 billion. Advanced products, which include flip chip, memory, and wafer-level processing, accounted for $1.37 billion of that revenue. Computing, which includes data center, infrastructure, PCs, laptops, and storage, represented 21% of net sales.
Even more, management said revenue from AI data center applications reached a record in the quarter, driven by strength across multiple customers.
"Leading chip companies continue to trust us for their advanced packaging and test needs," said Amkor CEO Kevin Engel in the company's first-quarter earnings call.
