Micron Warning Rattles Chip Stocks
It’s been a tough week for token stocks. On Monday, Nvidia had warned its revenue would be much lower than its forecast as gaming revenue slowed. Then Micron cut its current quarter revenue and warned of free movement of capital for the quarter as customer inventories pile up amid weaker demand for chips used in PCs and smartphones.
micron (IN) shares fell almost 4%, while Nvidia (NVDA) shares fell another 4% after losing 8% the previous day. Micron’s warning also rattled other chip and chip-related stocks. Lam Search (LRCX), Applied materials (HUGE) and UCK (CLUTCH) shares fell more than 7%.
Micron said fourth-quarter revenue is expected to be at or below the low of the company’s previous guidance. Its prior range of $6.8 billion to $7.6 billion was below analysts’ June targets. The company also warned that it could see significant sequential declines in revenue and margins in the first quarter due to lower shipments.
The news came as Micron announced a $40 billion investment in memory chip manufacturing in the United States and President Biden signed the CHIPS Act. The law includes $52 billion in grants for chip manufacturing and research, and about $24 billion in investment tax credits for chip factories.
“Semiconductor stocks as a whole have significantly underperformed the wider market as investors come to terms with the fact that demand for chips, especially for the data center and smartphone market, is likely to decline next year. This incentivizes chipmakers like Micron to reduce capital expenditures next year to improve profitability, while relying on government subsidies to ramp up production,” said Caleb Silver, editor of Investopedia.