SK Hynix Plunge Triggers Global Chip Sell‑off
On Monday, 13 July 2026, SK Hynix experienced a record one‑day decline of more than 15% in Asian trading, marking the largest single‑day drop in the stock’s history. The sharp fall dragged South Korea’s Kospi index down 9% and forced a 20‑minute trading halt to curb market volatility.
The tumble followed SK Hynix’s blockbuster listing on the Nasdaq, where the company raised over $26 billion through a sale of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) priced at $149 each. The ADRs opened 14% above the offer price at $170 and closed the debut session up 12.8%.
Investor sentiment was further pressured by fresh escalation of Middle‑East tensions and heightened concerns over valuations of AI‑related shares.
In Europe, the sell‑off spread at market open, with Dutch chipmakers ASMI, ASML and Besi each falling between 1% and 2% by 04:46 ET (08:46 GMT). French chipmaker STMicroelectronics slipped around 1%, while Germany’s Infineon declined about 2%.
U.S. chip stocks also pointed lower in pre‑market trading: Western Digital and Micron fell 6.5% and 5.4% respectively, SanDisk dropped nearly 7%, Seagate lost 5%, and both AMD and Intel declined close to 3%.
Morningstar director Lorraine Tan commented that “the current memory up‑cycle is tracking substantially stronger than expected, but our base case continues to assume normalisation in cycle dynamics, limiting upside at current levels.” She noted that SK Hynix’s volatility this year has been amplified by widespread use of leveraged exchange‑traded funds, which magnify both gains and losses in the stock.
Overall, the episode underscores the sensitivity of global semiconductor equities to both company‑specific events and broader geopolitical and valuation concerns.