Chip Stocks Sink, Nasdaq Falls 5.5% in Worst Day Since April 2025
Nvidia lost almost $450 billion in market capitalization on Thursday as chipmakers led a broad selloff that pushed the Nasdaq down 5.5%, its steepest one-day decline since April 2025, according to CNBC. Nvidia and
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Nvidia lost almost $450 billion in market capitalization on Thursday as chipmakers led a broad selloff that pushed the Nasdaq down 5.5%, its steepest one-day decline since April 2025, according to CNBC. Nvidia and Qualcomm each fell more than 9%, with Qualcomm adding to the pressure after issuing a weak forecast for the current quarter.
Mint reported that the selloff was not confined to those two names: AMD dropped 17%, Arm Holdings 15%, Micron Technology 13%, Sandisk 15% at its intraday low, SK Hynix’s ADRs 14% and Intel 10%. The PHLX Semiconductor Index fell 9.7%.
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Key facts
- The Nasdaq fell 5.5% on Thursday, its worst session since April 2025, CNBC reported. Mint said the S&P 500 lost 4%, the Nasdaq 100 fell as much as 6.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 3%.
- Nvidia and Qualcomm each dropped more than 9%; Nvidia’s market value fell by almost $450 billion, per CNBC.
- Mint attributed sharper moves to AMD (down 17%), Arm Holdings (down 15%), Micron Technology (down 13%), Sandisk (down 15% at its intraday low) and SK Hynix ADRs (down 14%).
- Democrats won governor and Senate races in Texas and Ohio, plus the Georgia governor’s race, where Sen. Jon Ossoff also won reelection, CNBC reported.
- Of 41 local data center ballot measures across 10 states tracked by Ballotpedia, voters rejected all but one — in Harwood, North Dakota — according to CNBC.
What drove the selling
CNBC reported that the midterm results stoked concerns the AI buildout will slow, against a backdrop of rising interest rates and growing capital needs. Qualcomm’s disappointing forecast came after the company reported $650 million in data center revenue for the quarter; CEO Cristiano Amon said the constraint was supply, not demand.
Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners, said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” that the technology will keep developing, but that stocks will trade off any slowdown in actual construction and infrastructure work. Richard Clode of Janus Henderson warned of a knee-jerk reaction that could cause delays.
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Meta President Dina Powell McCormick said at the Wall Street Journal Tech conference that building data centers is “going to be harder” after the elections, and that one winning governor had offered to meet after inauguration to keep the investment and jobs. Meta, Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft each fell between 2% and 4%, CNBC reported. Meta turned free cash flow negative in the latest quarter, joining Alphabet and Amazon.
Mint framed the declines around expectations that a Democrat-led Congress could push for tighter rules on AI infrastructure, and noted that Micron paused plans for a Taiwanese plant amid labor disputes. CNBC did not report that detail.
Elon Musk’s public companies, SpaceX and Tesla, each dropped more than 9%, CNBC reported. Musk contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to Republican campaigns, while Mint put his spending at at least $445 million.
Why it matters
The stocks most exposed to AI infrastructure — chip designers, memory makers and cloud-rental specialists such as CoreWeave — have now fallen for two straight sessions, reversing part of a rally that carried Wall Street to repeated records this year. The political map matters: the states with the largest planned data center investments swung Democratic, and local ballots rejected nearly every data center measure put to voters, creating new hurdles for permitting and construction. For investors, the shift is about financing: heavy borrowing and thin near-term revenue make these companies more sensitive to rates than to demand.
What to watch
The next signals are how the incoming governors act on data center approvals and whether the memory shortage continues to squeeze chipmakers’ forecasts. Intel’s prior report — a 78% jump in data center revenue paired with a weak memory-driven outlook — shows how fast strong numbers can be overridden by guidance.
This article is not financial advice, and markets can move sharply and unpredictably.
Sources: CNBC, Mint
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