After a topsy-turvy start to the year, AI stocks just got a fresh power-up, courtesy of Marvell Technology’s (MRVL) custom chip party.
Yesterday’s “Custom AI Investor Day” brought a ton of action, and potentially an antidote for an industry limping into midyear.
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After over two years of bombastic gains, the AI rally cooled off this year, shifting to a show-me story amid U.S.–China tensions and high interest rates.
Nevertheless, AI isn’t staying down for long—but who would’ve guessed Marvell would lead its next leg higher.
Shutterstock-Valerya Zankovych
Marvell’s AI Investor Day reveals breakout custom chip wins
Marvell’s AI Investor Day event yesterday was a resounding success on multiple levels.
It’s booming custom application-specific integrated circuit, or ASIC, chips, deep cloud wins, and next-gen memory tech stamps its authority as a serious AI infrastructure play.
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Before diving into the specifics, though, it’s important to understand Marvell’s role in the AI landscape.
Unlike Nvidia, which leads with AI GPUs, Marvell has carved out a niche as the behind-the-scenes partner powering custom chips and cloud infrastructure for the hyperscalers.
Simply put, it essentially provides the critical plumbing and tailored silicon pieces that hyperscalers need to run AI at scale.
That involves stuff like high-speed networking, specialized memory technologies, and custom accelerators/ASICs.
Take Amazon’s Trainium chips, for instance.
Marvell uses its chip design skills, multi-die packaging, and advanced IP integration to bring a custom AI processor to market.
Hyperscalers want custom ASICs, but few have the full in-house firepower to create them. That’s where Marvell steps in with its deep IP portfolio and a full-stack platform for data infrastructure chips.
Marvell’s transformation, to say the least, has been nothing short of spectacular.
Just a couple of years ago, we had it talking up storage, 5G, and enterprise. Today, it’s AI and cloud all the way.
Data center is its biggest growth driver, and Marvell’s transformation into an AI-first company has been hard to miss.
Now, back to the headline-grabbing event and Wall Street pundits lavishing over it.
To kick things off, Marvell’s booming custom-ASIC business stole a lot of the spotlight.
Custom AI chips brought in a staggering $650 million in fiscal 2025 (11% of total sales). That accounted for over a quarter of data center chip sales, with that share expected to hit 50%—a multi-billion-dollar growth engine in the making.
Next, we have Marvell’s big leap in memory technology.
A 2nm custom SRAM packing 6 gigabits at an industry-leading bandwidth, slashing standby power while shrinking die size, making AI chips leaner and faster. As hyperscalers continue to scale up, this kind of custom memory is the push they need.
Perhaps the biggest flex for Marvell at the event was its major hyperscaler wins.
It revealed 18 socket wins across hyperscalers, including the likes of Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Google.
Twelve are already in production, with more expected to ramp up through 2026–27.
Moreover, Marvell continues powering next-gen AI hardware for Amazon’s Trainium chips and Microsoft’s Maia accelerator.
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To top it all off, Marvell’s leadership discussed the immense potential of its data center semiconductor business. They expect the total addressable market to rise from roughly $21 billion last year to $75 billion by 2028 (a 29% CAGR).
Those estimates may seem lofty, but they feel a lot more palatable when backed by third-party projections.
For instance, Grand View Research estimates the global AI market could grow at a 36.6% CAGR from 2023, reaching $1.8 trillion by 2030. Similarly, PwC estimates AI could potentially add $15.7 trillion to the global economy by the end of the current decade.
Wall Street showers Marvell with praise after AI event
Following the event, Marvell is drawing praise from all sides.
TheStreet Pro Portfolio’s lead portfolio manager, Chris Versace, is sticking with his $115 price tag on Marvell (which has over a 50% upside from current levels).
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Versace has stayed persistent with Marvell—buying the dips instead of bailing out. He feels that even though margins might get squeezed early, the real profit will come once custom chips scale.
Though less upbeat, Bank of America’s Vivek Arya raised his price target on Marvell to $90, up from $80. He feels the company’s earnings power hitting $8 a share, 60% above Wall Street analysts’ consensus.
Morgan Stanley doubled down on its lofty price target of $133, while Deutsche Bank called Marvell “one of the few players” tailor-made for the booming custom silicon market. Deutsche’s price target? A relatively conservative $85.
Following the event, Marvell stock is up 7.5% to $75.36 at the time of writing.
The past six months have been rough, but Marvell Technology’s stock has surged 17% in the past month. Its current stock price is roughly 41% below its 52-week high of $127.48.
It’s worth mentioning that Marvell stock is trading at 36x non-GAAP earnings—approximately 19% below its 5-year average. Also, its price-to-sales ratio sits at 9.3x, trailing the 5-year norm by 11%.
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