The semiconductor corner of the broad technology market continued its winning streak with the start of the New Year. This is especially true as the S&P Semiconductor Select Industry Index climbed 6.8% in the first few days of 2018 trading compared with gains of 4.6% for the S&P 500 Information Technology S&P 500 index and 2.8% for the S&P 500 Index.

As semiconductors have been the most important driver of the overall technology growth, it is now used in day-to-day life from cars, electronic gadgets to planes and weapons. Robust demand for memory chips and other semiconductor products owing to the rapid adoption of cloud, Internet of Things, autonomous cars, gaming, wearables, VR headsets, drones, virtual reality devices, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies, and other advanced information technologies are fueling huge growth in the space.

In fact, global semiconductor sales picked up 21.5% year over year to reach its highest-ever monthly sales of $37.7 billion in November, and are on track to surpass $400 billion for the first time, representing growth of 20.6% year over year for 2017, according to the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS). The agency expects sales growth to slow down modestly to 7% in 2018, as the so-called “super-cycle” in chip demand will fade slightly.

While this is true, a combination of other factors like a stabilizing PC market and waves of consolidation would boost semiconductor stocks higher. While Qualcomm (QCOM – Free Report) rejected Broadcom’s (AVGO – Free Report) initial buyout offer worth $130 billion in late 2017, the latter is still in the fight to acquire the communications’ chipmaker. Meanwhile, Qualcomm is still trying to close its $47 billion acquisition of NXP Semiconductors NXPI, which was announced in October 2016.

In another major deal, Marvell Technology Group (MRVL – Free Report) is also in the process of acquiring smaller rival Cavium Inc. (CAVM – Free Report) for about $6 billion. The transaction is expected to be completed by mid-2018. Other potential takeover candidates include Cypress Semiconductor (CY – Free Report) , Teradyne TER, Silicon Labs SLAB), Lattice Semiconductor (LSCC – Free Report) , MaxLinear MXL, Nanometrics (NANO – Free Report) and Micron Technology MU.