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Software stocks are on fire — and the party can keep on going this year

MarketWatch
Summary
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Software stocks are performing slightly better versus semiconductors so far in 2025 .

Over a six-month period, the shift is far more dramatic.

The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF is up about 27% in that span.

Many software companies that have been particularly hot lately are smaller and faster growing.

Palantir Technologies CEO Shyam Sankar recently observed that “the price of inference is dropping like a rock” The next AI wave could involve more software purchasing.

Some midtier software companies like Snowflake Inc. and Confluent have seen big surges in their share prices this year .