The chip-stock bloodbath that started in Seoul overnight is crossing the Pacific — and Wall Street’s premarket screens are flashing red.
- SNDK stock is red today. See the chart and price action here.
U.S. semiconductor names extended Monday’s steep losses into Tuesday’s premarket session, with Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) sliding more than 5% and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) and Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) each dropping over 4%, according to Benzinga Pro.
Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA), SanDisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) and Intel were also lower in early trading, extending Monday’s rout that saw Nvidia fall roughly 5% and SanDisk plunge over 11%.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, tracked by the iShares PHLX SOX Semiconductor Sector Index Fund (NASDAQ:SOXX), shed about 2% in the prior session.
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) is also on trader watchlists Tuesday. The chip-equipment maker has a track record of moving in lockstep with its memory-chip customers this cycle — it slid alongside Micron and Intel during July’s earlier selloffs — making it a bellwether for how far the pain spreads into the semiconductor supply chain today.
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The Kospi Trigger
The trigger was a brutal overnight session in South Korea, where the Kospi slumped 10.8% as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix — down 13.4% and 14.7%, respectively — got hit by a wave of retail-leverage unwind.
SK Hynix has now lost 47% of its value since the end of June; Samsung is off 38% over the same stretch, according to Trade Nation’s David Morrison.
Adding fuel to the fire: China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), fresh off a jaw-dropping 470% IPO debut Monday, is now cooling but remains China’s most valuable listed company — a fresh reminder that Beijing’s chip ambitions are creeping closer to Samsung and SK Hynix’s turf.
Nvidia’s own eye-popping ~$500 billion AI-memory supply agreement with SK Hynix (NASDAQ:SKHY) — meant to be bullish — is instead being read by some as proof of just how much capital the AI buildout is devouring.
Watch the open: if Micron, AMD, Nvidia and Applied Materials can’t stabilize early in the session, expect the “memory supercycle” narrative that’s driven this year’s AI trade to come under further scrutiny.
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