Short interest data for the March 31 settlement date show that investors seem to have mixed ideas on the semiconductor industry as a whole. It is important to note that semiconductor trends are considered to be leading indicators of technology and broader electronics demand.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) saw its short interest fall by 16 million to 128.47 million shares, with 3.1 days to cover. The previous level was 144.5 million shares with 3.5 days to cover. Shares closed Friday at $31.93, in a 52-week trading range of $25.74 to $37.90.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) had its short interest fall more than 10% to 103.2 million shares, with 8.3 days to cover. Shares of AMD closed Friday at $2.76, within a 52-week trading range of $2.14 to $4.80.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) saw its short interest increase slightly to 19.6 million shares, with 1.7 days to cover, compared to the previous period, which reported a reading of 19.1 million shares with 1.4 days to cover. Qualcomm shares ended last week at $69.16, in a 52-week trading range of $62.26 to $81.97.

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) saw its short interest for the March 31 settlement date fall to 77.9 million shares, with 4.4 days to cover. The previous reading was 80.4 million shares with 5.6 days to cover, which was the second highest reading in the past 52 weeks. Applied Materials stock closed Friday at $22.50, in a 52-week trading range of $18.27 to $25.71.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) saw its short interest increase to 77.2 million shares, with 3.7 days to cover. The previous short interest reading was 74. 2 million shares with 3.8 days to cover. On the year, the highest short interest reading was 125.3 million in July. Shares of Micron closed most recently at $28.02, in a 52-week trading range of $21.25 to $36.59.

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SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) was one of the chip stocks that had its short interest increase in late March. The reading was 18.2 million shares, with 2.5 days to cover, compared to the previous reading of 16.3 million shares with 3.9 days to cover. Shares closed Friday at $70.68, in a 52-week trading range of $63.00 to $108.77.

Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) saw its short interest increase to 7.1 million shares, with 1.1 days to cover, versus the previous short interest level of 6.9 million shares with 1.5 day to cover. Broadcom shares closed Friday at $44.23, in a 52-week trading range of $28.86 to $46.31.

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