--- title: "These S&P 500 stocks have soared the most during the AI-driven May rally" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/288099730.md" description: "The S&P 500 rose 5.3% in May, driven by a 16% surge in the information-technology sector fueled by AI infrastructure demand. Semiconductors led gains with the SOXX ETF up 24%, while software stocks also rallied. Dell topped individual stock performers with shares doubling, followed by Datadog's 82% gain. Microsoft lagged with only a 9.1% increase despite its market cap size." datetime: "2026-05-29T17:06:18.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/288099730.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/288099730.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/288099730.md) generator: "portal-rs" --- # These S&P 500 stocks have soared the most during the AI-driven May rally By Philip van Doorn Even stocks in the beleaguered software industry have been on fire Datadog, Miron and Dell were some of the best-performing stocks in the S&P 500 during May. The May rally for U.S. stocks has been nothing short of breathtaking - unless you have made a point of avoiding the information-technology sector. Here is how the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 SPX were performing for May through 11:15 a.m. ET on Friday. The full index is at the bottom of the table. All price changes in this article exclude dividends. The S&P 500 was up 5.3% for May, even though all but three of its 11 sectors were down for the month. The May rally was, of course, led by the information-technology sector, which was up 16%. Semiconductor manufacturers remained an obvious play for investors as the build-out of infrastructure to support generative artificial intelligence rolled on. The iShares Semiconductor ETF SOXX was up 24% for May and up 89% for 2026, following the exchange-traded fund's 40% gain in 2025. But the tech gains weren't confined to semiconductors. The S&P 500 Software and Services Index was up 14.8% for May. This industry group had been down 15.7% for 2026 through April, according to data supplied by LSEG. The S&P 500's top 20 for May These 20 stocks among the S&P 500 showed the largest gains for May through 11:15 a.m. ET on Friday: Dell topped (DELL) the list with shares doubling in May and up 29% Friday morning after a stellar earnings report. Software developers on the list were led by Datadog (DDOG), which was up 82% during May. Microsoft (MSFT) - the third-largest stock in the S&P 500 by market capitalization - didn't make the list as its stock was up only 9.1% for May. The stock had been down 15.7% for 2026 through May. On Friday morning, Microsoft was still down 8% for 2026, following a gain of 14.7% in 2025. Click on the tickers for more about each company. Read: Tomi Kilgore's detailed guide to the information available on the MarketWatch quote page Don't miss: This stock-market strategy is a smart way to play Micron and the memory-chip rally -Philip van Doorn This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. 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