Jitters around artificial-intelligence chip stocks returned Monday, as a sharp decline for SK Hynix in Korea heralded a global slide in the sector.
In U.S. premarket trade, Sandisk slid 6.8%, while Micron Technology lost 5.3%. Intel dropped 2.8%. Futures for the tech-heavy Nasdaq were 1% lower in early afternoon European trade.
European chip stocks pared some losses as the morning progressed, but remained sharply lower. Chip makers Infineon Technologies and STMicroelectronics were down 1.6% and 1%, respectively, while Dutch suppliers to semiconductor makers also dropped. ASML, which makes semiconductor-printing machines and is the most valuable company in Europe, fell 1.3%. BE Semiconductor was down 2.1%.
Declines in Europe and the U.S. came after a torrid day for chip makers in Korea. SK Hynix's Seoul-listed shares tumbled over 15% following its historic U.S. trading debut on Friday, with New York-traded depository receipts down around 9%.
Despite the sharp move, there was no clear trigger for SK Hynix's fall, Raymond James's head of equity research, Amish Patel, said.
"My read is that this was primarily a positioning and sentiment-driven move rather than a reaction to any material change in fundamentals," Patel said.
The fresh round of selling extends a volatile period for memory stocks. Investors are debating whether demand for memory chips is nearing a peak, or whether the rapid buildout of AI capacity will mean hyperscalers are willing to pay high chip prices for longer into the future.
Chip stocks have seen a rapid run-up in value so far this year--the PHLX Semiconductor Index was up around 83% for the year to Friday's close--and some investors are choosing to cash out, resulting in wild swings in the index in recent weeks.
The huge returns for memory chip are because "AI demand has somehow created the perception that a sector historically defined by boom-and-bust cycles could remain permanently in the boom phase," Swissquote senior analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya wrote in a client note.
"Volatility in memory chip prices remains far too high to call the current price action sustainable."
Even without market-moving news, changes in sentiment can lead to wild price swings because of the wide-scale participation of leveraged traders, Global X ETFs investment strategist Andrew Ye said.
"The challenge is trying to reconcile the long-term outlook and the short-term," with investors weighing complicated questions around the durability of demand for memory chips against the vagaries of a sentiment-driven market, Ye said.
Monday's wobble comes ahead of earnings for key players in global AI supply chains this week. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. reports second-quarter earnings Thursday after the company notched a 6.2% on-month rise in revenue for June. ASML will report earnings Wednesday.
Write to Joe Stonor at josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 13, 2026 06:48 ET (10:48 GMT)
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