Wednesday is turning into a bad day to own semiconductor stocks — and China is the reason. Late last night, the South China Morning Post reported that semiconductor chip output in the Middle Kingdom surged 40% in the first quarter — more than twice as fast as total global semiconductor sales, according to data from the Semi global semiconductor manufacturers association.
Shares of leading chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) are down 4.5% through 2:10 p.m. ET. Lam Research (NASDAQ: LRCX) and Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) — both builders of machines to make semiconductor chips — are down 4.3% and 4.5%, respectively.
Why China is important
Chinese chipmakers are seeing “soaring” demand for their products from automobile companies (EVs especially) and smartphone manufacturers (such as Xiaomi). While slowing sales of EVs and smartphones dominate headlines in the West, the…
