The world's most valuable chip stocks have lost more than $1 trillion in market value since Friday's close, with Nvidia alone accounting for $238 billion of it. The selling dragged the Nasdaq down 1% in the previous US session and pushed Asian semiconductor names sharply lower on Wednesday, while European indices held their ground.
More than $1 trillion has been wiped from the market caps of the world's most valuable chip stocks this week as investor jitters swept the sector. US chip weakness had already dragged the Nasdaq down 1% in the prior session.
Nvidia leads a $1.3 trillion rout
Nvidia led the selloff with a $238 billion rout since market close on Friday. SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics and Micron — all key players in memory — lost $176 billion, $173 billion and $113 billion respectively, while AMD shed around $110 billion and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. lost $119 billion.
In total, 20 of the world's most valuable chip stocks lost $1.3 trillion since Friday's close, according to a CNBC analysis using FactSet data. The lost market capitalization follows a run of gains: the Philadelphia semiconductor index, which tracks the 30 largest U.S.-traded companies in the sector, has risen 92% over the past 12 months despite a nearly 20% drop over the past month.
Asian chip names extend the slide
Technology stocks in Asia and Europe extended their selloff on Wednesday. SK Hynix closed 9.61% lower after dropping over 15%, having missed analysts' estimates despite posting record quarterly profit and revenue. Samsung Electronics lost more than 5%, while Kioxia fell 13.85% and Tokyo Electron dropped 10.59%.
Because the South Korean market leans heavily on SK Hynix and Samsung, it lost a further 8.3% on the day, the Guardian reported.
FTSE 100 touches an intraday high
European indices, however, moved the other way. The FTSE 100 touched an intraday high, rising as much as 0.7% to 10,951 points, an index the Guardian notes has been largely shielded from the tech rout thanks to its heavy weighting toward finance and energy.
Europe was not completely immune: chip names Infineon Technologies and ASML were both down by about 1%.
Meanwhile, Charlie Dai, VP principal analyst at Forrester, framed the selloff as less about weakening AI demand and more about a repricing of expectations after an exceptionally strong rally. He said the sharp selloff reflects concerns that AI infrastructure spending may be peaking faster than expected, adding that investors are reassessing whether near-term revenues can justify unprecedented AI spending levels. Michael Field, chief equity strategist at Morningstar, put the decline down to sentiment: "This decline appears to be driven largely by sentiment rather than fundamentals".
Sources: CNBC, The Guardian
Trading involves risk.
Risk Disclaimer
