U.S.-traded chipmakers plunged on
Friday, losing about $1.3 trillion in market value, with deep
losses in AI heavy hitters including Nvidia, Micron
Technology and Advanced Micro Devices, as
Broadcom’s weak report earlier this week reverberated
across Wall Street.
The PHLX chip index slumped 10.3% in its deepest
one-day loss since March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic
threw global markets into a tailspin.
Friday’s selloff added to losses on Thursday after Broadcom
issued a quarterly report that showed demand for its custom AI
chips business falling short of lofty expectations.
The PHLX’s combined loss of 12% over two sessions shows
investors are becoming more concerned about pricey, high-flying
tech stocks just as Elon Musk prepares a blockbuster initial
public offering next week for SpaceX at an exceedingly high
$1.75 trillion valuation.
The chip index hit a record high on Wednesday, and even
after Friday’s losses it remains up 73% year to date.
Nvidia, the world’s most valuable chipmaker, fell about 6%,
cleaving more than $300 billion from its market capitalization.
Micron Technology tumbled 13%, evaporating about $150
billion in market value. Recent investor darling Marvell
Technology gave back 17%, while AMD lost almost 11%.
“You’ve had a lot of people here that were just blindly
buying the dip,” said Dennis Dick, a proprietary trader at
Triple D Trading. “Blindly buying the dip had been winning you
money, but that ended today.”
Worries about higher interest rates also spooked investors
across the U.S. stock market following stronger-than-expected
jobs data, and the S&P 500 fell 2.6%.
One of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI race, Broadcom,
lost 7.9%, bringing its two-day loss to almost 20%.
“The semiconductor sector was way overbought. That’s why
we’re seeing the sell-off. I don’t think it’s the end of the
(semiconductor) bull market,” said Ohsung Kwon, Chief Equity
Strategist at Wells Fargo.