TECH STOCKS: Chipper InvestingTECH STOCKS: Chipper Investing

U.S. markets started the week brightly when surging chip stocks helped spark wider buying. In fact, the Dow had its best close in nearly 14 months.

Semiconductor issues looked great. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) rose 14.2%, or $1.11, to $8.91; Cypress Semiconductor (CY) rose 11.3%, or $1.62, to $15.92; Broadcom (BRCM) rose 7.5%, or $1.59, to $22.85; LSI Logic (LSI) rose 7.1%, or 68 cents, to $10.27; Intel (INTC) rose 4.6%, or $1.14, to $26.19; Texas Instruments (TXN) rose 3.6%, or 73 cents, to $20.91, and Motorola (MOT) rose 0.9%, or 9 cents, to $9.84.

The Nasdaq-100 tracking stock rose 2.5%, or 79 cents, to $31.96, on volume of 66 million shares.

At the close, the Nasdaq index was a big winner, rising 2.2%, or 37.48 points, to 1,739.49. The information 100 rose 1.3%, or 3.2 points, to 256.51.

Less tech-heavy indexes posted smaller gains. The Dow rose 0.97%, or 90.76 points, to 9,412.45, and the S&P 500 rose 0.92%, or 9.07 points, to 999.74.