Semiconductors are widely considered a long-term structural growth theme—arguably one of the most durable in the technology sector—because they are foundational to nearly every modern industry:

AI & Data Centres – High-performance GPUs (e.g., NVIDIA) and CPUs (e.g., AMD) are essential for AI training, inference, and cloud computing.

Automotive & EVs – Modern vehicles can contain thousands of chips, especially with autonomous driving systems.

5G & Connectivity – Network equipment, smartphones, and IoT devices all require advanced semiconductors.

Consumer Electronics – PCs, gaming consoles, smart devices, and wearables rely on continuous chip innovation.

Defence & Aerospace – Critical applications increasingly depend on custom, high-reliability chips.

Historically, the semiconductor industry moves in multi-year cycles—demand surges, capacity builds, and then oversupply sometimes causes corrections. But over a 10–20 year horizon, the secular demand trend has been upwards, driven by technological adoption curves.

The key for such a long-term investment is picking leaders with sustainable advantages—companies with scale, cutting-edge manufacturing (TSMC, ASML), or dominant design positions (NVIDIA, AMD, Qualcomm). The risk is that the sector is highly competitive, capital-intensive, and geopolitically sensitive—tariffs, export bans, and supply chain disruptions can cause volatility.

In short:

10–20 years: Still a strong theme if you believe in ongoing tech integration across industries.

Short term: Expect high volatility; sentiment swings sharply on macro news, policy changes, and earnings.