What Happened?

A number of semiconductor stocks continued to pull back amid a broad global sell-off, fueled by concerns over increased competition from China and growing doubts about the sustainability of AI-related demand.

China’s expanding domestic chip capacity and push for technological self-sufficiency raised fears of greater pricing pressure and market-share losses for established manufacturers. Amkor (AMKR) led the decline, falling nearly 24% after its third-quarter revenue guidance fell short of analyst expectations, overshadowing a second-quarter earnings beat. Meanwhile, Vishay Intertechnology (VSH), FormFactor (FORM), Penguin Solutions (PENG), and Micron (MU) dropped roughly 9%–11% due to the broader macroeconomic pressures. Uncertainty surrounding trade restrictions and access to the Chinese market further weighed on sentiment across the sector.

The sector-wide decline was part of a rout that saw international peers like SK Hynix and Samsung drop over 13% in Asian trading. Investor anxiety was heightened by reports of China's progress in advanced chip manufacturing—specifically, the successful mass production of homegrown immersion deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machines—and the strong stock market debut of Chinese competitor ChangXin Memory Technologies. These developments sparked fears of a future oversupply of memory chips and increased pricing pressure. Additionally, fresh doubts surfaced regarding the long-term durability of the spending boom on artificial intelligence infrastructure, causing investors to pull back from AI-linked stocks with high valuations. Faced with the reality of increasing Chinese hardware supply and potentially moderating global AI demand, markets were forced into an aggressive repricing of the entire sector.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.

Among others, the following stocks were impacted:

• Semiconductor Manufacturing company Kulicke and Soffa (NASDAQ: KLIC) fell 7.8%. Is now the time to buy Kulicke and Soffa? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Semiconductor Manufacturing company Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) fell 7.1%. Is now the time to buy Applied Materials? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Processors and Graphics Chips company AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) fell 7.2%. Is now the time to buy AMD? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Processors and Graphics Chips company Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) fell 5.3%. Is now the time to buy Intel? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Semiconductor Manufacturing company KLA Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) fell 5.1%. Is now the time to buy KLA Corporation? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.

Zooming In On Kulicke and Soffa (KLIC)

Kulicke and Soffa’s shares are very volatile and have had 27 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 4 days ago when the stock dropped 3.9% on the news that the U.S. government announced new tariffs of 10% to 12.5% on 60 trading partners over concerns related to forced labor. The targeted nations include the European Union, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan—the fundamental pillars of the global semiconductor supply chain. While the U.S. designs many of the world's leading chips, the industry relies heavily on imported specialty chemicals, raw silicon wafers, and multi-million-dollar fabrication equipment from these exact regions. Furthermore, many U.S. chipmakers use Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) facilities overseas, meaning finished chips imported back into the U.S. could now face double-digit taxes. Because these new Section 301 tariffs are considered legally durable and potentially permanent, investors are pricing in long-term margin compression across the U.S. hardware and semiconductor space. This triggered a broad sell-off across the entire sector, amplifying a global rout that began overnight with Asian chip heavyweights Samsung and SK Hynix.

Kulicke and Soffa is up 88.5% since the beginning of the year, but at $91.15 per share, it is still trading 31.9% below its 52-week high of $133.81 from June 2026. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Kulicke and Soffa’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,697.

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