Semiconductor stocks dropped on Tuesday as fears of runaway artificial intelligence spending converged with a growing threat from Chinese rivals to the biggest players in the memory chip industry.
South Korea’s benchmark stock market, home to some highly leveraged bets on the semiconductor industry, tumbled, led by steep losses in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the world’s two leading memory chip makers. The sell-off followed Chinese media reports that China’s CXMT had unveiled a breakthrough in chip design.
Other technology stocks around the world suffered declines, with losses concentrated in the chip-making sector. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, a benchmark for the industry, fell as much as 3 percent, before moderating to a loss of just 0.5 percent at the day’s close. The index is roughly 17 percent below its recent peak in June.
