Apple's Memory Price Warning Drags Down Asian Chip Stocks
The trigger for the day's selloff was Apple's announcement that it was raising MacBook and iPad prices, citing rising memory chip costs. Apple shares fell roughly 6% on the news, and the market seized on two distinct worries — that higher device prices could dampen consumer demand, and that weaker demand could in turn crimp memory chip orders. Investors grew skeptical that the current pace of memory price hikes was sustainable.
The shock spread across Asian chip stocks. In Japan, Kioxia fell more than 9%, SoftBank more than 12%, Advantest around 9%, and Murata about 7%. By contrast, Micron's earnings released the previous day had beaten expectations on both revenue and margin, with management expressing confidence in continued strong demand — underpinning a still-bullish long-term case for the chip cycle.
The hosts framed the day as the first time the market clearly separated the fate of chip 'suppliers,' who can keep raising prices, from chip 'buyers' among Big Tech, who must absorb costs by passing them to consumers, sacrificing margin, or delaying production and launches. They cautioned this reflects a split within the AI ecosystem, not an end to the broader AI investment cycle.
With Big Tech earnings season looming — Alphabet reporting July 22 and Meta around July 29 — hosts warned the uncertainty could persist for roughly a month. Excluding chipmakers, the rest of the Magnificent Seven had already pulled back roughly 10% recently, with chips alone rallying — an unusual decoupling now visible even in the U.S. market.
Meanwhile, reports emerged of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix planning a major semiconductor cluster investment in the Gwangju-Jeonnam region, alongside news of a meeting between Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong and the president, and SK Chairman Chey Tae-won reportedly reviewing renewable-energy and power infrastructure investments.