Wall Street's AI heavyweights added a combined half a trillion dollars in stock market value late on Wednesday after quarterly reports from Microsoft and Meta Platforms showed massive investments in the emerging technology were paying off.

Strong data-center spending means higher sales for companies including Nvidia, AMD, and Broadcom that sell hardware products for their buildouts.

Investors continue to underestimate artificial intelligence (AI), the secular tailwinds behind the chipmaker's supercharged growth.