AI Concerns Outweigh Oil Price Drop, Chip Stocks Plunge Dragging Down Nasdaq, Semiconductor Index Falls Over 5%, SanDisk Plunges 11%

July 28th. The U.S. stock market saw mixed results on Monday. According to BIT (bit.com) market data, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 0.5%, the S&P 500 Index increased by 0.02%, and the Nasdaq fell by 0.18%. The tech sector was dragged down by a decline in chip stocks, offsetting the market boost from a significant drop in oil prices. Investors remained cautious ahead of a busy earnings season this week, with a focus on AI capital expenditure trends and changes in the semiconductor industry competitive landscape.

On the news front, U.S. President Trump stated that he had suspended plans for an airstrike on Iran to leave room for negotiations, causing a sharp fall in international oil prices. WTI crude oil plummeted by over 8% in a single day, marking the largest daily drop in nearly two months. As a result, the three major U.S. stock indexes initially opened higher, with the Nasdaq rising by about 1% at one point. However, the index later turned lower due to news related to the chip industry and concerns about AI infrastructure financing, with the Nasdaq 100 falling by over 1% intraday before paring back losses by the closing bell.

The semiconductor sector was a major drag on the market, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index falling by over 5%. Chinese companies have begun mass-producing domestically developed DUV (Deep Ultraviolet) lithography manufacturing equipment, triggering a global selloff in chip stocks. In addition, Nvidia's $500 billion-plus partnership with SK Group and its plan to provide $250 billion in financial guarantees for the OpenAI data center project once again raised concerns in the market about the AI capital expenditure cycle and supplier financing risks.

Most semiconductor stocks experienced declines, with ASML dropping by 5.80%, AMD by 5.17%, Nvidia by 4.99%, Lam Research by 4.46%, and Applied Materials by 3.61%.

The storage sector also faced pressure. Changxin Technology surged by 466% on its first day of listing, becoming the largest A-share listed company in China by market capitalization. The market believed that the process of self-sufficiency in China's storage industry might accelerate. Consequently, the storage sector experienced across-the-board declines, with SanDisk falling by 11.02%, SK Hynix by 7.47%, Western Digital by 4.21%, Seagate Technology by 4.07%, and Micron Technology by 2.25%.

In addition, stocks in the optical communication sector weakened, with Lumentum falling by 6.69%, Coherent by 3.93%, Ciena by 3.52%, Astera Labs by 3.11%, and Marvell Technology by 2.61%.