Chinese chip breakthrough report brings US stocks down

NEW YORK: Several major US semiconductor stocks fell on Wall Street on Monday, following a report of a technological breakthrough that could accelerate the growth of China’s computer chip industry.

According to the website The Information, Chinese company Shanghai Yuliangsheng is making immersion deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machines.

The process uses ultraviolet light to etch microscopic circuits onto silicon.

Contacted by AFP, Yuliangsheng did not immediately respond, nor did SiCarrier or Huawei, two companies with ties to the group.

Producing DUV machines would allow China to free itself from its dependence on ASML, which is subject to export restrictions outside the European Union.

China’s chip industry could thereby speed up the development and production of processors, narrowing the gap with the most advanced US players, which are currently seen as superior.

That progress would let China’s leading artificial intelligence firms close the gap a little further between their models and those of the most cutting-edge US groups.

Shares in AMD were down as much as eight percent, Nvidia nearly five percent, Micron five percent and Intel 3.7 percent.

Asian stocks plunge

South Korean stocks plunged more than 10 percent on Tuesday as tech firms were battered by fresh worries over the AI boom and a report of a breakthrough that could boost China’s chip industry.

The Kospi index dived 10.3 percent to 6,061.68 — its lowest since April — as chip giants and market heavyweights SK hynix and Samsung collapsed around 12 percent each.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index was down more than four percent as tech firms Advantest, Kioxia and Tokyo Electron also shed more than 10 percent.