ASML, SK Hynix Plunge as Fed Rate Fears Hit Chip Stocks — SkimNews
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- SK Hynix plunged more than 10% with Samsung Electronics falling 8.73%, while other South Korean chip names slid 6%-9.5%: LG Innotek -8.95%, Seoul Semiconductor -9.28%, Samsung SDI -6.26%
- Japanese tech stocks tracked the slide: SoftBank Group -7.9%, Advantest nearly -14%, Tokyo Electron -6.45%, and Renesas Electronics -8%, while Taiwan's TSMC fell 1.81%
- European chipmakers joined the sell-off, with ASML down 6.6%, Infineon Technologies shedding 9.4%, ASM International down 9.6%, and Nokia falling 5%
- Wednesday's hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation data fueled Fed rate hike concerns, dragging the Nasdaq 1.88% to 26,692.87, the S&P 500 1.11% to 7,718.94, and the Dow 0.09%
- Broadcom CEO Hock Tan and Intel warned Monday that financing is becoming a major headwind to AI expansion, with Tan saying it is now a bigger challenge than chip or electricity shortages
- Memory-specific jitters centered on China's ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) announcing a memory density architecture breakthrough, with Elon Musk posting on X that China would be making "a LOT of RAM in 2028"
- Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives called the pullback a buying opportunity, noting U.S. Treasury yields above 5% raise financing costs but underlying AI demand remains robust: "rates are a financing question, not a demand question"
Why it matters: The sell-off shows how heavily AI infrastructure depends on cheap financing: U.S. Treasury yields are above 5%, and Broadcom's Hock Tan warned financing is now a bigger challenge than chip or electricity shortages. Ives framed the dip as a buying opportunity, but his own caveat — watching hyperscaler capex cuts, canceled contracts, and falling GPU rental prices — names exactly what would break the AI thesis.
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