TXN - Micron leads semiconductors lower as China launches new cybersecurity review

2023-04-03 12:24:54 ET

Micron Technology ( NASDAQ: MU ) shares led semiconductors lower on Monday as the Chinese government said it would launch a cyber security review on the memory chip company.

The review, which was first announced on Friday, will see the Cyberspace Administration of China look into products sold by Micron ( MU ) in the country. The agency has not said what products will be investigated, only that it was doing so in the interest of securing the supply chain to prevent hidden risks and national security.

The move comes as tensions between Beijing and the U.S. continue to rise over the supply of semiconductors and in particular, the advancement of China's chip industry.

Micron ( MU ) fell slightly more than 2% to $59.01 on back of the news.

Intel ( NASDAQ: INTC ) shares rose 0.6% - though off their best levels of the session - as investment firm Bernstein upgraded the semiconductor company.

"...[W]hile things still look bad, tactically we believe the medium-term set-up is, finally, improving a bit, as the company's issues are known, and numbers (for the first time in a while) may be low enough to stand," analyst Stacy Rasgon wrote in an investor note.

Regarding AMD ( AMD ), which has continued to take market share away from Intel ( INTC ), Rasgon said the January downgrade was "clearly wrong" from a stock perspective, given the sharp run since then, but the reasons are still happening, including weaker margins.

AMD ( AMD ) shares fell slightly more than 2% in mid-day trading, while Nvidia ( NVDA ), which competes with both Intel and AMD, fell 0.7% .

Entegris ( ENTG ), Wolfspeed ( NYSE: WOLF ) and FormFactor ( FORM ) all fell at least 3% after Citi downgraded the trio for various reasons.

In conjunction with the downgrade, Citi reiterated its preference for semiconductor-related equipment and components, pointing out that Applied Materials ( AMAT ), Lam Research ( LRCX ), Advanced Energy Industries ( AEIS ) and Coherent ( COHR ) are the firm's top picks in the respective groups.

Applied Materials ( AMAT ) and Coherent ( COHR ) dipped around 1% , while Lam Research ( LRCX ) and Advanced Energy Industries ( AEIS ) slipped more than 2% .

Skyworks Solutions ( SWKS ) and Qorvo ( QRVO ) fell nearly 1.5% even as a couple of Wall Street analysts cited resilient demand for Apple's ( AAPL ) iPhones in the face of a weakening global economy.

Western Digital ( NASDAQ: WDC ) slid nearly 1.5% after the company disclosed a network security incident that results in some of its business operations being affected and some data being accessed by unauthorized third parties.

Seagate ( STX ), which competes with Western Digital ( WDC ), slipped fractionally in sympathy.

Most other semiconductor stocks were also lower on Monday, including Qualcomm ( QCOM ), Texas Instruments ( TXN ), NXP Semiconductor ( NXPI ) and Broadcom ( AVGO ), which is slated to hold its annual shareholder meeting on Monday.

Last week, Micron ( MU ) reported fiscal second-quarter results that showed revenue declining from a year ago .

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