Highlighting the speed with which demand is evaporating, Micron said orders have deteriorated since the company last gave an update just over a month ago.
Semiconductor stocks have been a major drag on the broader Nasdaq 100 Stock Index after a string of disappointing financial results and forecasts from chipmakers including Nvidia. The benchmark rallied nearly 20% from a June low before memory and hard disk drive maker Western Digital Corp. helped fuel a selloff in the wake of a weak sales forecast on Aug. 5. The Nasdaq 100 has fallen for three straight days since.
Skeptics warned that customers could be double ordering chips, artificially inflating the perception of demand. But companies like TSMC poured money into capital expenditures, while governments from the US and Europe to China and Japan embraced subsidies to build up domestic production capabilities. Danely of Citigroup said it was particularly concerning to learn about automakers and other corporations cutting back.