Yes, 'semis' is a trading term used to indicate stocks for semiconductor companies.

Notice that "surge in semis" in the headline means the same thing as "surging chip stocks" in the story. To explain the connection I have to explain the technology. Metals like copper conduct electricity. They are conductors. Materials like rubber and glass are insulators. Some elements, like silicon and germanium, are in-between. They are semiconductors. In the 1940s scientists discovered how to make amplifiers out of semiconductors. A single amplifier is called a "transistor." Transistors can be used to make logic circuits used in computers. Originally, each transistor was separate, and they were wired together to make computer logic circuits. An important early company that made transistors was called "Fairchild Semiconductor." In the 1970s engineers at Fairchild developed a way to create a complete, connected circuit, with dozens of transistors, on a single piece of silicon. That was called an "integrated circuit." The piece of silicon is made by growing a crystal. The crystal is sliced into thin "wafers." Hundreds of circuits are put onto the wafer. Then the wafer is cut into tiny rectangular "chips," each with its own circuit. Each chip contains many transistors. In the 1970s, a chip contained dozens of transistors; then hundreds, then thousands, millions, and nowadays billions of transistors. So, companies that make integrated circuits can be called "chipmakers," because they make chips--chips that have computer circuits on them! They can also be called "semiconductor companies," because the chips are made out of semiconducting material. Some of the biggest and most famous US semiconductor companies, companies that issue stock that is traded on the stock market, include Intel, Micron, Texas Instruments, and Analog Devices. So "chip stocks" means "the stock of companies like Intel that make 'chips.'" And "semis" means "semiconductor companies" or "semiconductor stocks," which is the same thing.