Chip, Storage Stocks Jump. SanDisk, Qualcomm, ON Semiconductor, STM up Around 3%; Astera Labs, UMC, SOXL, SK Hynix up over 2%

On Friday, October 16, Eastern Time, U.S. stocks moved lower as technology and artificial intelligence (AI)-related shares extended their weekly decline. Investor concerns persisted regarding Chinese semiconductor competition and debt-fueled expansion in AI infrastructure, while rising oil prices also drew attention to the inflation outlook. Energy stocks bucked the trend to gain ground, partially mitigating the Dow's losses. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.34% to 52,002.41; the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 2.14% to 26,140.03; and the S&P 500 Index declined 1.09% to 7,659.44.

On October 16, memory stocks suffered another setback on Friday: SK Hynix (SKHY) fell over 5%, while SanDisk (SNDK) and Micron (MU) both dropped more than 4%, bringing their weekly pullbacks to 18%, 15%, and 13%, respectively. Market concerns grew that progress on the 4F2 architecture announced by ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) could ease the memory chip shortage, thereby dragging down prices and manufacturer profits. Behind this pullback lie two questions spanning different time horizons: whether immediate supply remains tight, and how much impact CXMT's future capacity expansion will bring.

Selling pressure on tech stocks re-emerged as memory chip stocks tumbled in unison, with SK Hynix plunging 3%.

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