Mar. 12, 2009 (Investor's Business Daily) -- An analyst upgrade to Intel on Thursday underscored a sharp advance this week among semiconductor makers.

Some companies in the group, including Intel (INTC) and Monolithic Power Systems (MPWR), began running higher the first week of March. But most of the gains came after a March 10 report from Avian Securities.

Avian's managing partner, Avi Cohen, wrote that Taiwan semiconductor makers reported stronger-than-expected demand for notebook-related chips in February. Cohen also said shipments from printed circuit-board makers improved in February.

Declines in orders to the big chip foundries like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) and UMC ( UMC) appear to have stabilized in February. And Cohen reiterated his prior view that ongoing reductions in chip inventories "will lead to a reordering bounce in shipments in the coming quarter even without a recovery in overall PC demand."

The news preceded a broad bounce among chipmakers, sending Atheros Communications (ATHR), Monolithic Power Systems, Cirrus Logic (CRUS) and NvidiaNVDA up more than 17% this week through Thursday.

The Electronics-Semiconductor Manufacturing group advanced from the No. 96 slot to No. 26 in the three weeks through Wednesday.

Thursday's upgrade to Intel added some icing to that cake. Broadpoint 13Tech upped the heavyweight chipmaker to buy from hold.

Investors have not priced in potential revenue from several new sources, the report said, and Intel had boosted its dollar share within new generation computers. Intel shares rose 16% for the week through Thursday.