U.S. chip stocks fell more than 4% on Wednesday after Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump sounded lukewarm about defending Taiwan and a report that Washington is mulling tighter curbs on export of advanced semiconductor technology to China.
The U.S. has told allies it is considering using the most severe trade curbs available if companies continue giving Beijing access to advanced semiconductor technology, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.
U.S.-listed shares of the Dutch chipmaking equipment provider ASML Holding (ASML.AS) fell about 9% following the report even as it beat second-quarter profit estimates.
Shares of AI heavyweight Nvidia (NVDA.O) fell about 4%. Smaller rival AMD (AMD.O) shed 6.3% and Qualcomm (QCOM.O), Micron Technology (MU.O), Broadcom (AVGO.O) and Arm Holdings were all down more than 5%.
Intel bucked the trend, trading up 5%, with analysts pointing to its efforts to build plants in the U.S. Smaller contract manufacturer GlobalFoundries (GFS.O) also soared more than 11%.
The Biden administration has moved aggressively in recent months to curb Chinese access to cutting-edge chip technology, including sweeping restrictions issued in October to limit exports of AI processors designed by firms including Nvidia.
The curbs have dented U.S. chipmakers' sales to China. Nvidia's revenue from China stood at about 18% of its total revenue in the quarter ended April 28, compared to 66% in the year-ago period.
Former U.S. President Trump told Bloomberg Businessweek that Taiwan should pay the U.S. for its defense as it does not give the country anything, sending TSMC's U.S.-listed shares down 6%.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co is the world's largest contract chip maker and leading supplier of advanced processors that power everything from AI applications to fighter jets.
Taiwan plays an outsized role in the global chip supply chain as it is home to some of the world's biggest and smaller semiconductor makers, with analysts warning that any conflict over the island may shatter the global economy.
"There's no doubt this would cause significant short-term disruption but at the same time the opening of new facilities in the likes of Europe and the United States could see the industry's reliance on Asia start to subside over the next few years," said Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Chip stocks have rallied this year as investors bet on generative AI and the hardware that supports it. The Philadelphia semiconductor index (.SOX) has climbed 39% in 2024, outperforming the benchmark S&P 500's index (.SPX) 18.8% gain.
INTEL POSSIBLE BENEFICIARY
Intel has been investing heavily to restore its lost manufacturing edge since it fell behind TSMC. It is also one of the biggest beneficiaries of U.S. Chips Act with $19.5 billion in federal grants and loans and hopes to secure another $25 billion in tax breaks.
"Intel is chasing business from other chip designers in its foundries so it could be a beneficiary. But the economic returns from that part of the business are yet to be proven," said Nathan.
