Tech Stocks: Chip stocks, Yahoo lead tech gains

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) � Tech stocks rose Wednesday in a session highlighted by gains from semiconductor stocks and Yahoo Inc. after co-founder Jerry Yang resigned from the Internet company�s board of directors.

With chip stocks and Yahoo in the spotlight, the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP �rose more than 42 points to 2,769. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index SOX �climbed 5%.

/quotes/zigman/59898/quotes/nls/yhoo YHOO 15.36, 0.00, 0.00%

Yahoo YHOO �rose 49 cents a share, or 3.2%, to $15.92 after Yang said late Tuesday that he would be leaving the company he co-founded with David Filo while they were students at Stanford University in the 1990s. Yang twice served as Yahoo�s chief executive. Read Rex On Techs column on the gameplan for Yahoo.

Yang remains Yahoo�s seventh-largest shareholder, according to data from FactSet Research. Filo, who is still with Yahoo, is listed as the company�s second-largest stock owner.

Among other tech stocks, Apple Inc. AAPL �continued to climb, rising $4.41 a share to $429.11. Apple has an event scheduled for Thursday morning in New York that is expected to focus on the publishing or educational markets.

EBay Inc. EBAY �shares gave up 19 cents to slip to $30.34 ahead of the company�s quarterly results, due after the market close.

Internet stocks were mostly upbeat, with Amazon.com Inc. AMZN �up by $7.78, or more than 4%, to close at $189.44, and Google Inc. GOOG �rising $4.33 a share to $632.91.

Linear Technology Corp. LLTC �shares rose $3.45, or more than 11%, to $33.32 after the chip company reported better-than-expected quarterly results on Tuesday.

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Micron Technology Inc. MU �also posted strong gains, rising 49 cents, or almost 7%, to close at $7.65 a share.

Cree Inc. CREE �rose $1.12 a share, or almost 5%, to close at $24.45. The LED and semiconductor technology company reported a decline in its quarterly earnings on Tuesday, but some analysts said the company�s business has likely reached a bottom and could begin to improve.

Gains also came from Texas Instruments Inc. TXN , which rose more than 8%, Broadcom Corp. BRCM , up by 3.5% and On Semiconductor Corp. ONNN , which rose 8%.

Decliners included Research In Motion Ltd. RIMM , down by 19 cents a share to close at $17.28. Samsung Electronics Co. denied a report that it was considering making a bid for the troubled maker of BlackBerry smartphones.

Netflix Inc. NFLX �turned around from its earlier losses to rise $3.82 a share, or 4%, to $98.54. Bernstein Research analyst Carlos Kirjner cut his price target on Netflix�s stock to $71 a share from $94, saying he expects �high volatility� in the company�s stock after Netflix reports quarterly results next week.