Micron’s stock fell 8.9% on Tuesday and is down more than 29% so far in July, putting it on track for its worst monthly drop since June 2015. U.S. memory and storage names followed Korean and Japanese chipmakers lower after a Chinese memory maker’s Shanghai debut and a report on China’s progress in lithography tools. One analyst calls the move a reaction to geopolitical headlines rather than a shift in demand.
Shares of Micron Technology fell 8.9% on Tuesday, and they are down more than 29% so far in July — on track for the company’s worst monthly drop since a 32.6% fall in June 2015. Micron, Sandisk and other U.S. chip stocks extended sharp declines as developments in Asia sent ripples overseas.
Sandisk’s stock slid 14.3% and is off 50.9% over the course of July to date, setting it up for its worst monthly decline on record based on data dating back to the company’s February 2025 separation from Western Digital. Storage makers followed: Western Digital fell 6.9%, Seagate Technology tumbled 8.5%, and Dell Technologies’ stock declined 8.2%.
Korean and Japanese memory names lead the drop
SK Hynix’s American depositary receipts were off 9% after its Korea-listed shares lost 14% in overseas trading. Samsung Electronics saw its stock fall 13% in Korean trading, while shares of Japan’s memory leader Kioxia Holdings tumbled 18% on Tuesday. D.A. Davidson managing director Gil Luria told MarketWatch that memory-stock valuations are somewhat linked, which means falling Korean memory stocks can drag down U.S.-based stocks as well.
China’s domestic supply drives the fear
The rout follows a strong debut for Chinese memory-chip maker ChangXin Memory Technologies on its first day of trading in Shanghai on Monday. The Information reported Monday that China is making progress on deep-ultraviolet lithography machines, adding to investor concerns about China’s impact on the artificial-intelligence market.
A state-backed semiconductor-equipment company has reportedly started mass production of DUV systems that would ship to chip companies including Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, Hua Hong and CXMT, according to that report. Nic Puckrin, founder of Coin Bureau and a cross-asset analyst, said investors are panicking that cheap domestic supply is about to flood a market that has been overheating for months.
Analysts point to headlines, not demand
Luria said concerns about China’s advanced technology developments may be more relevant to the Korean companies, because most U.S. companies are prohibited from selling to Chinese customers. Netherlands-based ASML, which dominates the market for both DUV and EUV machines, saw its U.S.-listed shares fall 4.2% on Tuesday.
Puckrin added that profit-taking in the chip sector was exacerbated by circular-financing fears after Nvidia said it plans to provide OpenAI with a $250 billion backstop as the AI startup builds out data centers. Joseph DeYonker, CEO of PurePlay ETFs, described the selloff across U.S. chipmakers as “a standard reaction to geopolitical headlines rather than a change in fundamental demand”. Jefferies analyst Janardan Menon said in a Tuesday note that U.S. efforts to curb access to advanced chip-making equipment are likely driving urgency among Chinese companies to quickly adopt domestic alternatives to keep up in the chip race.
Source: MarketWatch
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