The S&P 500’s earnings story this quarter has a very specific main character, and it runs on silicon. Semiconductor and semiconductor equipment companies are projected to post 133% year-over-year earnings growth in Q2 2026, according to LSEG data. That single sector is expected to account for roughly 44% of the entire index’s earnings gains for the quarter.
The overall S&P 500 is forecast to deliver 26% earnings growth year-over-year. The semiconductor sector isn’t just participating in the rally. It is the rally.
The numbers behind the chip boom
LSEG’s earnings research head Tajinder Dhillon highlighted the outsized contributions of companies like NVIDIA, AMD, Broadcom, and Micron in driving these numbers.
The sector’s dominance is showing up in index composition too. As of mid-June 2026, semiconductor stocks hit a record 18.8% of the S&P 500’s total market capitalization, according to data cited from Bloomberg, S&P, and Citadel Securities.
