03:53 PM EST, 01/15/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Tech stocks advanced late Wednesday afternoon, with the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) rising 2.2% and the SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) climbing 3.5%.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor index added 2.5%.

In corporate news, Alphabet's (GOOG) Google ( GOOG ) said the Associated Press agreed to provide real-time information to Gemini chatbot users. Alphabet shares rose 3.1%.

Bio-key International ( BKYI ) shares surged 55% after the firm said that the National Bank of Egypt is deploying the company's PortalGuard identity and access management platform and an Identity Governance solution.

Microsoft ( MSFT ) shares added 2.7%. The company launched Microsoft ( MSFT ) 365 Copilot Chat that adds "pay-as-you-go agents" to the current free chat service for commercial clients of Microsoft ( MSFT ) 365.

Quantum computing stocks rose after a Microsoft ( MSFT ) blog post said 2025 is the year to get "quantum ready." Rigetti Computing ( RGTI ) shares jumped over 21%, D-Wave Quantum ( QBTS ) gained 22%, and IONQ ( IONQ ) surged 34%.