March 24 US Stock Trading Volume Top 20: Barclays Says Tesla's Terafab Chip Project CapEx Guidance "Severely Understated"

On Monday, NVIDIA led U.S. stocks by trading volume, closing up 1.73% with $31.94 billion in transactions. NVIDIA and AMD spearheaded a strong rebound in chip and AI stocks as tensions between the U.S. and Iran eased, providing the market with some relief.

After President Trump stated that recent talks with Iran were “productive” and temporarily halted planned military strikes, both stocks rose about 2.8% in early trading, with gains gradually narrowing afterward. This shift in tone helped ease concerns about energy supply disruptions and broader geopolitical impacts—factors that had previously weighed on market sentiment.

Tesla ranked second, rising 3.48% with $28.16 billion in trading. As Tesla advances its new Terafab chip project, the company may enter a capital-intensive phase that exceeds expectations. Barclays Bank noted that the project’s costs could rapidly escalate to a very large scale.

The firm pointed out that Tesla’s previous $20 billion capital expenditure guidance now appears conservative. Analyst Dan Ives said that even in a bullish scenario with over $50 billion in spending, estimates “may still be significantly underestimated,” and the total investment could multiply many times over. However, this will not happen overnight. Barclays expects Tesla to phase the project as it moves toward its ambitious 1-terawatt computing goal. Importantly, Tesla is unlikely to go it alone—after recent collaborations with SpaceX and xAI, these partnerships are expected to provide funding support.

Elon Musk revealed last weekend that the Terafab plan aims to better control chip supply amid rising AI demand. Currently, Tesla still relies on manufacturers like TSMC and Samsung, but Musk clearly hopes to reduce this dependence. The project will start with a small facility focused on design and testing, with potential expansion to full-scale production in the future.

Micron ranked third, down 4.35% with $22.33 billion in trading. Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra stated that once Level 4 autonomous driving becomes widespread, in-vehicle memory demand will exceed 300GB.

This assessment was made after the company released its latest financial report. Micron’s fiscal second-quarter revenue reached $23.86 billion, a 200% year-over-year increase, driven mainly by surging demand for HBM chips in AI applications, with supply constraints further amplifying growth.

Amazon ranked eighth, up 2.32% with $9.25 billion in trading. Amazon is preparing for its North American spring sales event starting March 25. The 2026 spring sale on Amazon North America (U.S. and Canada) will run from March 25 to March 31.

Amazon will focus on stock readiness, logistics stress testing, and advertising bidding strategies. For third-party sellers and service providers relying on Amazon’s ecosystem, this is the most important business event in late March. The market expects the event to highlight categories like home, fashion, outdoor, and gardening to boost sales at the end of the first quarter.

Palantir rose 6.74% with $9.04 billion in trading. Reports on Monday indicated that the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) signed an internal data-related contract with Palantir.

Broadcom increased 4.08%, with $8.64 billion in trading.

TSMC rose 2.80%, with $5.34 billion in trading. Media reports say that due to strong demand for AI and high-performance computing (HPC), TSMC’s 2nm process capacity, including A16, is severely oversubscribed. Even its largest customer, NVIDIA, is struggling to meet demand, prompting a redesign of the next-generation Feynman platform. Meta has also joined the race for capacity, causing TSMC’s 2nm customer queue to extend beyond 2028, with prices for advanced processes expected to rise for four consecutive years.

Chevron gained 1.73%, with $3.18 billion in trading. Bernstein raised Chevron’s target price from $194 to $216.