US Stocks Open Higher; Intel Up 6%, SK Hynix Up 3% as Chip Stocks Rally

The rally is broad across semis, memory and optical names, suggesting positioning around an AI-driven demand narrative rather than a single catalyst — SK Hynix explicitly left its US partnership with Intel undecided, so the move rests on sentiment, not confirmed news. The sharper signal sits elsewhere: the transportation index at its lowest since March points to a split market, where chip enthusiasm diverges from freight and logistics weakness. Whether that divergence persists, or the transport slide starts dragging on the broader indices, is the open question.