On Monday, memory chip concept stocks rallied broadly, with SanDisk (SNDK.US) and Western Digital (WDC.US) rising more than 5%, Seagate Technology (STX.US) gaining over 4%, and Micron Technology (MU.US) and SK Hynix (SKHY.US) climbing more than 3%.
On the news front, South Korea's Finance Minister Lee Hyung-il recently stated that the semiconductor industry boom will last at least until 2027. Speaking during the IMF and World Bank annual meetings, he noted that the supply-demand gap in semiconductors remains very large, with supply continuing to expand. He described the current industry as being in a high-prosperity phase with robust demand, though he added that the gap will narrow over the long term. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said customer demand for AI chip orders continues to outpace supply, with new orders pouring in almost weekly or even daily. Analyst Ives believes the sell-off reflected concerns over infrastructure financing costs after U.S. Treasury yields broke above 5%, characterizing it as a financing-level issue. He noted that underlying demand for AI computing power remains strong and that the pullback offers a buying opportunity.