Chip stocks slide for an eighth straight day as AI financing worries linger
Semiconductor ETFs are on their longest losing runs in years, even as other parts of the market recover.
AI and chips · Thursday, October 15, 2026 · 3:45 PM ET
Chip stocks kept falling on Thursday, stretching a slide that now runs over more than a week and that investors link to worries about how AI buildouts are financed.
A record-length streak
CNBC said the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) was lower for an eighth straight trading day, its first eight-day slide since September 2015, and had fallen more than 15% over the stretch. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) was also down an eighth day, the longest slide since May 2006, when it fell for nine sessions. MarketWatch also described a prominent chip ETF falling for the eighth consecutive day. Reuters used a different measure: it said the Philadelphia semiconductor index was down 2.4% at 12:44 PM ET, on track for a seventh straight decline and nearly $2 trillion in combined market-value losses over the period.
The big names
Reuters said Nvidia was down 1.9% and Advanced Micro Devices down 4% at midday. Stocktwits reported Micron and SanDisk down roughly 4% and 6%. CNBC said memory stocks including SK Hynix, Seagate and Western Digital added to their losses, with traders worried about a possible memory chip glut as South Korea faces more competition from China. Elon Musk wrote on X that "China will be making a LOT of RAM in 2028," CNBC reported. Not every AI name fell: CNBC said CoreWeave turned positive in the afternoon, and Reuters said Oracle gained 2.1%.
The financing worry
Saxo Bank's Charu Chanana wrote that there was not enough evidence of a systemic AI credit crisis, but that tighter financing could eventually reach chip suppliers and other companies that depend on data center spending (Stocktwits). She pointed to yields near 15% on some CoreWeave bonds, which she said do not by themselves signal an imminent default. Reuters said CoreWeave's bonds pushed yields to record highs; our own report is in CoreWeave bonds and AI debt.
The selloff came even after TSMC's record quarter, covered in our TSMC story. For the day's broader rotation, see Dow climbs as Nasdaq slips.