US equity benchmarks retreated on Tuesday, pressured by a sharp selloff in heavyweight chipmakers and a renewed deterioration in the macro backdrop. The S&P 500 declined 0.7%, the Nasdaq 100 slumped 2.7%, and the Dow gave back early gains after briefly touching a record intraday high.
Semiconductor and memory names led the downturn, sliding despite Samsung reporting a 19-fold increase in quarterly profit. Investors are growing more skeptical that AI hyperscalers can sustain current, elevated levels of infrastructure-related capital expenditure. Shares of Micron, Sandisk, and Applied Materials fell 8%–10%. SpaceX also declined 6% following its addition to the Nasdaq 100.
Additional pressure came from reports that China’s DeepSeek is developing its own AI chip, weighing on leading GPU makers: Nvidia slipped 1.5% and AMD dropped 8%. More broadly, cyclical sectors weakened as bond yields climbed after attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz reignited concerns about energy-driven inflation. Industrial bellwethers Caterpillar, Deere, and GE Vernova lost between 5% and 10%.
