The short interest data have come out for the December 31 settlement date. Recent short interest data show that investors seem to be growing marginally more optimistic on this industry as a whole, as short interest is dropping for the most part. It is important to note that semiconductor trends are considered to be leading indicators of technology and broader electronics demand. Chip makers with a solid position in the mobile space continue to advance, and the world’s largest semiconductor maker is also strong as demand for desktops and laptops is better than expected.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) saw its short interest fall by 6 million shares to 135.2 million with 5.0 days to cover. The previous level was 141.2 million with 5.1 days to cover. During this time, shares of Intel came close to hitting a 52-week high. Shares closed Monday at $36.60, in a 52-week trading range of $23.50 to $37.90.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) had its short interest fall over 11% to 129.2 million shares with 12 days to cover. The previous level was as high as 146.4 million. Over the course of this period, shares rose 8.1% to a relative high of $2.67. Shares of Advanced Micro Devices closed Monday at $2.63, in a 52-week trading range of $2.35 to $4.80.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) saw its short interest take a jump up to 18.1 million with 2.2 days to cover, compared to the previous period, which reported a reading of 16.1 million shares with 1.6 days to cover. Following the market sell-off in October, short interest hit a 52-week low and since then has made a steady recovery to current levels. Qualcomm shares closed Monday at $73.57, in a 52-week trading range of $67.67 to $81.97.

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Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) saw its short interest for the December 31 settlement date fall to 72.8 million shares with 6.1 days to cover. The previous reading was 77.1 million with 5.8 days to cover, which was the third highest reading in the past 52-weeks. During this period, shares hit a 52-week high and investor optimism appears to have played a role in the decrease as well. Applied Materials stock closed Monday at $23.65, in a 52-week trading range of $16.40 to $25.71.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) saw its short interest continue to back off to 86.0 million shares with 6.1 days to cover. Short interest has been in a constant decline since the mid-September settlement date, when 106.7 million shares were short. On the year, the highest short interest reading was 125.3 million in July. Shares of Micron closed Monday at $31.66, in a 52-week trading range of $21.02 to $36.59.

SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) was one of the chip stocks that had its short interest increase in late-December. The reading was 16.3 million shares with 8.0 days to cover, compared to the previous reading of 15.8 million with 5.1 days to cover. Shares closed Monday at $83.57, in a 52-week trading range of $66.80 to $108.77.

Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) saw its short interest increase to 7.8 million shares with 1.7 days to cover, versus the previous short interest level of 5.5 million with 1.0 day to cover. It is worth noting that these past three short interest readings have been the lowest of the year. In this period, shares actually rose about 2.5%. Broadcom shares closed Monday at $41.72, in a 52-week trading range of $28.30 to $44.33.

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