New Delhi, Feb. 20 -- The best tech trade in 2026 has been to buy semiconductor stocks and sell software makers. The iShares Semiconductor exchange-traded fund is already up 19%, building on a 40% gain in 2025. Software companies have gotten clobbered this year, as seen in the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF, down 22% this year after falling 8% in the fourth quarter.

They are both part of the same story, just about the only story in tech: artificial intelligence, and the rise of autonomous agents.

Semiconductor stocks that are connected to AI data centers are the center of the bullish action, with no signs of the investment train slowing down. In the past few weeks, Amazon.com projected 2026 capital expenditures of around $200...