Chip Stocks Surge as Meta's 'Muse' AI Agent Fuels CPU Demand Hopes

A rally in technology shares on Monday, led by Meta Platforms and major semiconductor companies, was fueled by growing conviction on Wall Street that a new class of consumer-facing artificial intelligence “agents” is nearing mainstream adoption.

Shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) surged 8.62% on Monday, helping lift the Nasdaq 100 index by 2.27%. The semiconductor sector saw particularly strong gains, with CPU-related stocks outperforming. Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM) soared 15.40%, while Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) jumped 14.01% and 9.04%, respectively.

A Shift Toward CPU-Intensive AI

The rally was driven by optimism surrounding Meta's recently launched AI assistant, Muse. Unlike conversational chatbots, AI agents like Muse are designed to autonomously execute multi-step tasks in the background, such as booking travel or managing online shopping, without direct user intervention.

Market intelligence firm Vital Knowledge noted to clients that this signals a fundamental shift in the underlying architecture for AI. While early generative AI relied heavily on GPUs for creating text and images, autonomous agents require constant background processes, logic loops, and local data management—tasks that are significantly more dependent on CPUs. This potential shift is seen as a major tailwind for companies like Intel, AMD, and Arm. Adding to the momentum, a report from *The Information* suggested OpenAI is accelerating development of a similar consumer agent, stoking investor expectations of an industry-wide race to bring autonomous AI to the mass market.

Record Early Adoption Data

The market's enthusiasm is supported by early user adoption figures. In a note to clients on Monday, Wells Fargo analyst Ken Gawrelski raised his price target on Meta to $796 from $640, maintaining an Overweight rating and increasing his 2027 earnings multiple forecast.

Ad

Citing data from SensorTower, Gawrelski highlighted Muse's unprecedented growth in its first 12 days in the U.S.:

• Record Downloads: The app hit a single-day record of 264,000 U.S. downloads on September 19.
• Rapid User Growth: Muse reached a peak of 448,000 daily active users (DAUs) on September 18, just 10 days after its launch.
• Historical Comparison: In contrast, OpenAI's ChatGPT took nearly a year to surpass 200,000 daily U.S. downloads and 49 days to exceed 450,000 DAUs.

"We believe Muse assistants & Instinct mark a historic transformation of consumer AI from chatbot to agent," Gawrelski wrote, noting that first-mover advantage is critical as AI assistants become more effective with increased usage.

Focus Turns to Meta Connect

All eyes are now on Meta's annual Connect conference, where CEO Mark Zuckerberg is scheduled to deliver a keynote address on Wednesday evening. Analysts expect the event to feature product demonstrations of Muse and its underlying "Muse Spark" model. The company may also unveil its next-generation large language model, reportedly codenamed "Watermelon," and provide updates on its wearable hardware, including potential AI-powered audio devices to further integrate Muse into users' daily lives.