Semiconductor stocks mostly lower amid Nvidia delays, recession fears

Semiconductor stocks were mostly lower on Monday, amid a broader sell-off in stocks on recession fears and some concerns that Nvidia’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) next GPU designed for artificial intelligence purposes could be delayed.

Nvidia shares fell 6% in late morning trading — though off their worst levels of the session — after it was reported late Friday that Nvidia’s Blackwell line of GPUs could be delayed as much as three months.

A number of analysts reacted to the report and some cut their estimates for fiscal 2025, but most noted that the delay — if it were to happen — would only mean that the sales would be pushed back to fiscal 2026 as demand for GPUs is still exceptionally strong.

Nvidia is likely to remain the leading company in the AI GPU space, with roughly 90% of the market. However, any delay could help AMD (AMD) become a stronger second source, Citi analyst Atif Malik said.

AMD shares bucked the sell-off and rose 2%.

Chip equipment suppliers Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT), Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) and KLA Corp. (NASDAQ:KLAC) saw modest moves even as Citi cut its estimates on wafer fab equipment after Intel (INTC) said last week it would cut capex spending for fiscal 2024 and 2025.

Intel said it would cut spending on new plants and equipment in 2024 by more than 20%, as it now expects to spend between $25B and $27B. The Pat Gelsinger-led Intel added that gross capex spending for 2025 will be between $20B and $23B.

Intel shares fell 6.4%, adding to last week’s plunge.

Also seeing declines on Monday were Qualcomm (QCOM), Texas Instruments (TXN), Micron (MU), Broadcom (AVGO) and Analog Devices (ADI), each of which fell 1% or more.