U.S. chip stocks faced a "Black Friday": Intel plummeted 30%, and Nvidia's market value fell below $5 trillion

According to Gate data, on October 30, there was a widespread sell-off in the semiconductor sector during U.S. stock trading. Intel plummeted 30% after the opening, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 5.7%, AMD dropped about 10%, Arm fell 9.5%, Nvidia decreased by 3.3%, and the total market capitalization fell below $5 trillion. The Nasdaq 100 Index once dropped about 3%, and the S&P 500 Index fell about 1.25%.

Intel's fourth-quarter guidance was weaker than expected, with projected revenue of $15 billion to $16 billion, below the market expectation of $17.07 billion; adjusted earnings per share are expected to be $0.25, lower than the expected $0.43. Revenue from the PC chip business in the third quarter declined 5% year-on-year to $8.1 billion. Management expects the PC market slump to last at least until the first half of 2027 and stated that AI demand has driven up memory prices, increasing costs for PC manufacturers.

Bank of America downgraded Intel's rating to neutral, lowering the target price to $100, believing that pressure on PCs offsets data center performance and that external foundry attractiveness is insufficient. Bernstein pointed out that the market's optimistic expectations for server and foundry prospects have masked the deterioration in PCs, and the company still faces a mismatch of excess PC capacity and insufficient server capacity. The sell-off spread to storage and equipment stocks, with Micron down 5.5%, Qualcomm down 6.3%, Broadcom down about 4%, Applied Materials down nearly 5%, Lam Research down 5.5%, and Kioxia's American Depositary Shares down about 15%.

Amazon's revenue and earnings per share were below expectations, heightening market concerns about the return on AI spending. The company expects capital expenditures to remain at $22 billion this year and still plans to expand next year. Raymond James strategist Matt Orton believes this is not a "reckoning moment" for tech giants, as the underlying fundamentals remain solid, but investors should reassess crowded positions in tech stocks. The S&P 500 energy and healthcare sectors rose about 1.8% and 1.4%, respectively. JPMorgan's trading team stated that concerns about AI monetization are deepening sector rotation, and tech-weighted stocks may continue to drag down the overall market performance in the short term.