Chip Rout Deepens as Intel and Memory Stocks Slide
WHO:
CNBC - The U.S. government took a 10% stake in Intel in August 2025, and Nvidia invested $5 billion in the company.
CNBC - Former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger pursued foundry investments during his four-year tenure and was ousted in late 2024.
CNBC - Intel still has no marquee customer for its most advanced chips and primarily manufactures chips for its own products.
CNBC - Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said he expects the global server-processor market to grow as much as fivefold over five years, reaching about $200 billion.
CNBC - Harvard Business School professor and former Intel board member David Yoffie said prospective foundry customers worry Intel lacks capacity beyond its own needs; he said Intel should spin off its foundry business.
CNBC - Mizuho Securities analyst Jordan Klein said Intel has “more control over their destiny” than most chipmakers and that insufficient capacity leaves revenue and money on the table.
Yahoo Finance - Intel (INTC), Micron (MU), SanDisk (SNDK), Seagate (STX), Western Digital (WDC), Marvell (MRVL), Lumentum (LITE), Nvidia (NVDA), AMD (AMD), SpaceX (SPCX), Fortinet (FTNT), and CrowdStrike (CRWD) were among the companies discussed.
Yahoo Finance - Adam Johnson, founder of Bullseye Brief and portfolio manager of the American Ingenuity Fund, said the market had “kitchen-sinked” the risks and that this can signal a bottom.
Yahoo Finance - John Chambers, founder and CEO of JC2 Ventures and Cisco’s former CEO, said there would be “major train wrecks,” that “rising tide does not raise all boats,” and that he “would not bet against Nvidia.”
Yahoo Finance - Jeff Hirsch, editor of Stock Trader’s Almanac and originator of “Octoberphobia,” bought the sell-off.
24/7 Wall St. - Kioxia Holdings, Japan’s largest memory chipmaker, and its CFO Yoshihiko Kawamura were central to the memory-stock outlook. Micron’s President and COO Manish Bhatia discussed supply and demand.
WHAT:
Yahoo Finance - Jeff Hirsch said he bought the sell-off on Oct. 30. Yahoo Finance calculated that chips rose in all eight midterm cycles since 1994, measured from the final October close through the following June; in 2002 and 2018, chips first fell about another 11%.
24/7 Wall St. - Micron said its Strategic Customer Agreements are designed to secure long-term demand visibility, particularly for AI workloads.
Bloomberg Markets - AMD was one of the year’s best-performing chip stocks and was due to report earnings Tuesday afternoon.
CNBC - Intel’s stock rose sixfold over 10 months before peaking in June, then fell 45% in October, its steepest monthly drop on record, according to FactSet.
CNBC - Intel has spent about $108 billion in capital expenditures over five years on efforts to challenge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
CNBC - Intel’s PC segment accounts for roughly half of its revenue; consumers are increasingly choosing not to upgrade.
CNBC - Intel installed the first structural truss at its new Ohio facility, a project nearly five years behind schedule.
CNBC - Intel said its 18A chips were in high-volume production in Arizona; a second fab was in development.
CNBC - AMD was scheduled to report third-quarter results after the market close on Tuesday, the same day as the midterm vote.
Yahoo Finance - The combined capital expenditures of Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft rose $36.9 billion in the third quarter to $201.9 billion, more than doubling over 12 months and increasing 356% since the first quarter of 2024, according to The Kobeissi Letter.
Yahoo Finance - The four companies spent $1.6 trillion on capital expenditures over three years; their combined free cash flow fell $33.1 billion in the third quarter to a record negative $26.4 billion, down $88.2 billion over 12 months. Only Microsoft reported positive third-quarter free cash flow.
Yahoo Finance - The Kobeissi Letter strategists estimated the four companies would spend another $232 billion on capital expenditures in the fourth quarter.
Yahoo Finance - More than $1 trillion in market value was wiped away during Friday’s AI-trade sell-off.
CNBC - Intel reported third-quarter data-center revenue growth of 78% year over year, to $7.3 billion.
CNBC - Intel said current-quarter revenue would be $1 billion to $2 billion below analysts’ estimates and that it could not make enough chips to meet demand.
CNBC - Intel shifted some Oregon factory capacity from advanced 18A wafers to Intel 3 wafers for data-center products. Its 18A chips were in high-volume production in Arizona, and a second Arizona fab was planned.
CNBC - Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said the company would announce “a couple customers” in the coming two quarters.
Yahoo Finance - Nearly every chip stock fell in the session; about 70% of S&P 500 stocks rose, while chip stocks lost more than $400 billion in market value, according to Yahoo Finance calculations.
Yahoo Finance - Intel fell about 9% to $59.97, following a 29% drop after its disappointing forecast. Its close left it worth less than half its value at September’s end.
Yahoo Finance - Micron, SanDisk, Seagate, and Western Digital fell roughly 6%–8%; Marvell fell more sharply as it agreed to acquire Lumentum in a $115 billion deal. Nvidia was down about 16% since October 6.
Yahoo Finance - Chip and memory stocks lost about $3.7 trillion in market value since October 6. Nvidia lost the most in dollar terms; Intel’s decline of nearly half was the steepest among the largest companies.
Yahoo Finance - SpaceX rose but remained below its October starting level. Software stocks were mixed; cybersecurity companies Fortinet and CrowdStrike fell.
Yahoo Finance - AMD was scheduled to report third-quarter results after the market close on the day of the article.
24/7 Wall St. - Micron traded at $853.34, down 4%; Western Digital was $347.24, down 5%; SanDisk was $1,114.65, down 3%.
24/7 Wall St. - Over the prior month, Micron fell 20%, Western Digital 24%, and SanDisk 36%.
24/7 Wall St. - Micron reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 revenue of $54.23 billion, up 379.3% year over year, and an adjusted gross margin of 87%. It forecast first-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue of $61.5 billion, plus or minus $1.5 billion.
24/7 Wall St. - Micron makes DRAM, NAND and NOR flash, including high-bandwidth memory. Western Digital operates as a hard-drive company and retains an ownership interest in SanDisk, which makes NAND flash and solid-state drives and produces wafers through joint ventures with Kioxia.
WHERE:
24/7 Wall St. - Kioxia shares declined in Tokyo as investors considered its forecast.
WHEN:
24/7 Wall St. - Kioxia forecast December-quarter operating profit of 2 trillion yen, compared with 1.99 trillion yen in the September quarter.
24/7 Wall St. - Kioxia said some orders had shifted into the September quarter and others into the March quarter; Kawamura expected rapid growth to return in the March quarter.
24/7 Wall St. - Micron’s fiscal year ends in August 2027; analysts’ average revenue estimate for that year was $275.5 billion.
WHY:
24/7 Wall St. - Western Digital sells to hyperscalers, cloud service providers, and enterprises building storage for the AI-driven data economy.
24/7 Wall St. - Micron’s DRAM exposure gives it pricing drivers that NAND-focused peers do not share.
Bloomberg Markets - Bloomberg Markets said rising skepticism about AI spending made strong results and an aggressive outlook important for AMD to maintain its stock momentum.
CNBC - Intel said its outlook was hurt by soaring memory and other component costs as the PC market weakened.
Yahoo Finance - Investors questioned whether Big Tech’s sharply rising capital expenditures were out of proportion to more realistic AI growth projections, amid deteriorating free cash flow.
CNBC - Intel attributed its revenue outlook and production constraints to a weak PC market and industrywide shortages of wafers, substrates, and memory; rising component costs were also hurting PC sales.
24/7 Wall St. - Kioxia’s forecast came in below analyst estimates and rattled memory stocks. The company attributed its outlook mainly to shipment timing.
24/7 Wall St. - Kioxia said AI data-center demand remained robust and its planned output for next year was sold out.
HOW:
CNBC - CEO Lip-Bu Tan limited Intel’s foundry spending until customer demand is secured.
CNBC - David Yoffie said Broadcom and Qualcomm may hesitate to use Intel Foundry because Intel also competes in chip products; he described a foundry spinoff as “not only the best solution, but maybe the only solution.”
Yahoo Finance - Miller Tabak chief markets strategist Matt Maley said: “The AI narrative is cracking as profitability concerns intensify.”
CNBC - Intel’s spokesperson said: “customer confidence in Intel Foundry is built on execution,” and said the company was delivering against its technology roadmap, demonstrating strong 18A performance, and making progress on 14A.
24/7 Wall St. - Micron said it had “more than 75% of our shipments committed for the year”; Bhatia said it had no “line of sight to when supply and demand balance.”
24/7 Wall St. - Citrini Research analyst Jukan interpreted Lumentum’s sale to Marvell as a sign management expects the AI cycle to “collapse in two to three years.”
(UPDATED November 3, 2026 13:04 UTC)
Chip stocks slumped as Intel’s sharp forecast cut deepened concerns about semiconductor demand. Intel says it cannot make enough chips, despite strong data-center revenue growth. Meanwhile, AI giants are spending heavily on infrastructure as cash flow weakens.
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(UPDATED November 3, 2026 12:03 UTC)
Intel shares plunged after warning chip shortages and rising costs would constrain revenue. Demand exceeds capacity, but Intel’s advanced foundry still lacks major outside customers. Chip and memory stocks tumbled as investors questioned Big Tech’s soaring AI spending.
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(UPDATED November 3, 2026 10:01 UTC)
Chip stocks suffered steep losses as Intel warned that shortages were limiting production and revenue. Intel shares plunged after its forecast fell short, despite data-center revenue rising sharply. Memory shares also weakened as Kioxia’s outlook missed estimates, though AI demand remained robust.
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(UPDATED November 3, 2026 01:11 UTC)
Chip stocks plunged, wiping out more than $400 billion as broader markets mostly advanced. Kioxia’s cautious forecast rattled memory shares, despite robust AI demand and sold-out production. Micron said most annual shipments were committed, with supply-demand balance still uncertain.