01:53 PM EDT, 03/12/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Tech stocks were higher Wednesday afternoon, with the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) rising 2.1% and the SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) up 2.3%.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor index climbed 3.0%.

In corporate news, Intel ( INTC ) shares jumped 4.2% following a Reuters report that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing ( TSM ) has approached major semiconductor companies, including Nvidia ( NVDA ) , Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ) and Broadcom ( AVGO ) , to form a joint venture that would operate the chipmaker's factories.

Hello (MOMO) expects revenue to fall year over year in the current quarter after reporting top- and bottom-line declines in the last three months of 2024. Its shares were falling past 9%.

Alphabet's (GOOG) Google DeepMind unit said it has introduced two new AI models based on Gemini 2.0 designed specifically for robotics. Alphabet shares were rising 1.9%.