Stock Market Today: Chip Stocks Slide After Samsung’s Record Quarter

US stock futures turned mixed on Tuesday after Samsung Electronics flagged a 19-fold jump in second-quarter operating profit, a beat that nonetheless punished chip stocks and reignited doubts about the durability of the AI infrastructure boom. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up in pre-market trading while contracts on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 fell, with the tech-heavy index down 1% as memory names took the heaviest losses across the semiconductor complex.

The split is the same one traders saw across Asia and Europe on Tuesday, with energy the rare winner and chipmakers everywhere on the defensive. Brent crude futures rose above $72 a barrel and WTI climbed to about $69, while European tech names tracked the Asian sell-off and the Euro Stoxx 50 slipped 0.4%.

Samsung’s Record Quarter Couldn’t Lift Its Own Share Price

Samsung estimated April-June operating profit at 89.4 trillion won ($58.44 billion), beating the LSEG SmartEstimate of 87.3 trillion won, according to a regulatory filing reported by Reuters. The figure compares with a profit of 4.7 trillion won a year earlier, and revenue would likely rise 129% to 171 trillion won. Samsung plans to publish detailed results, including a breakdown by business, on July 30.

Even so, Samsung’s shares dropped as much as 10.1% in Seoul and finished down 6.9%, with investors wiping more than $80 billion off its market value. SK Hynix, its memory rival, ended down 6%, and the benchmark KOSPI fell 4.9%. The selling was heaviest in chips, exactly the corner of the market that should have benefited from Samsung’s number. For the full details of Samsung’s Q2 earnings estimate and the $80 billion wipeout, the Reuters report walked through the analyst reactions that drove the drop.

The Sell-Off Spreads to US Chip Names

Pre-market trading in New York followed Seoul. Sandisk slid more than 6%, Micron Technology fell over 5%, and Marvell Technology dropped more than 4%, according to Barchart’s pre-market tally. The selling stretched to Europe, where the Euro Stoxx 50 closed down 0.4% as technology stocks tracked their Asian peers lower. Barchart’s running note captured the pre-market sell-off in US chip and AI names as the session opened.

The reversal came after a strong Monday session on Wall Street, when chip and AI infrastructure stocks had climbed and Western Digital surged more than 7% to lead gainers in the Nasdaq 100. AMD rose more than 6% and Broadcom gained more than 3% on news of an expanded custom-chip partnership with Apple through 2031. The Dow closed above 53,000 for the first time. Financials, Healthcare, and Industrials hit records while SMH fell 3.2% earlier in the same week, setting up the rotation that Tuesday’s tape confirmed.

• Samsung Electronics Q2 operating profit estimate: 89.4 trillion won ($58.44 billion)
• Samsung Q2 revenue estimate: 171 trillion won, up 129% year-on-year
• Dow futures (YM=F): +0.2% in pre-market trading
• S&P 500 futures (ES=F): -0.2%
• Nasdaq 100 futures (NQ=F): -1%
• Brent crude (BZ=F): above $72 a barrel
• WTI crude (CL=F): about $69 a barrel

Why a Beat Now Reads as a Miss

Memory chip prices continued to climb during the quarter as AI spending broadened beyond high-bandwidth memory (HBM) into conventional DRAM and NAND products. Citi Research said average selling prices for DRAM and NAND rose 44% and 53% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter. That should have been the clearest signal yet that the cycle still has fuel.

It wasn’t, and analysts pointed to one reason: expectations had already caught up. Albert Yong, managing partner at Petra Capital Management, said Samsung’s strong earnings “were widely expected and had largely been priced in after its shares rallied ahead of the results.” Morningstar analyst Jing Jie Yu added that Samsung’s revenue estimate “was not as strong as expected” and that the DRAM price hikes were more moderate than hoped. The combination of a strong number and a softer revenue line, in other words, was enough to shift the question from “how good is the memory cycle” to “what comes next.”

Samsung’s strong earnings were widely expected and had largely been priced in after its shares rallied ahead of the results.

Investors remain concerned about the sustainability of the AI boom and the risk of slower AI infrastructure spending by major U.S. technology firms, Yong told Reuters. The same caution had surfaced at the end of June, when memory chip stocks led a fresh Nasdaq selloff on June 23. Tuesday’s session read as a sequel.

Oil Adds a Geopolitical Second Layer

The second weight on the tape came from the Strait of Hormuz. Axios reported that two commercial vessels were struck and damaged in attacks on shipping in and around the critical waterway, and traffic through the strait had been only gradually recovering since a fragile US-Iran deal. Brent crude futures rose above $72 a barrel and WTI climbed to about $69, a roughly 1% gain that lifted energy names in European trading.

The strike matters because the strait carries a meaningful share of seaborne oil, and any disruption is read as a warning shot on whether the US-Iran truce holds. For a market already off-balance on chips, the geopolitical lift in energy looked less like a rotation than a hedge against the same risk-on backdrop that had driven Monday’s record close on the Dow.

The AI Trade Now Runs on Hyperscaler Capex

The deeper issue, analysts said, is that the AI memory trade has stopped being a memory trade. It now hinges on how much Meta, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet are willing to spend on data centres, and on how much they need to borrow to do it. Morgan Stanley said in a note on Monday that weakness in semiconductor stocks “would likely continue” as investors brace for “more capex discipline in the near-term” from the hyperscalers. The bank added that “the Semis trade finally started to lose momentum after a historic run since the end of March.”

Samsung and SK Hynix last week announced investments worth hundreds of billions of dollars tied to the AI build-out, and SK Hynix launched a US share sale on Monday to raise 43 trillion won ahead of its Friday listing. The pair of moves stoked fears of a painful reckoning if AI spending cools. Raisah Rasid, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management in Singapore, said she was “confident the earnings are going to come through” but added that “we’re going to see a moderation” in returns, with the triple-digit gains of the first half of the year unlikely to be replicated.

Bonds and the Fed Complicate the Picture

The bond market is doing its own hedging. The yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note rose two basis points to 4.50% as traders leaned toward tighter monetary policy, and rate futures priced a 74.9% probability of no change at the Fed’s policy meeting later this month against a 25.1% chance of a 25 basis point hike.

The split leaves the chip sell-off and the bond move pointing in the same direction: an AI cycle that is more contested, and a central bank that is less likely to ride to the rescue. Fed Governor Christopher Waller defended the use of forward guidance on Monday, contrasting with new Chairman Kevin Warsh, who has pledged to move away from it toward a more data-responsive approach. Investors will parse comments from Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman on Tuesday for any signal on which way the new regime leans.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did Samsung report for Q2 2026?

Samsung estimated April-June operating profit at 89.4 trillion won ($58.44 billion), a 19-fold increase from 4.7 trillion won a year earlier, on revenue of 171 trillion won, up 129%. Detailed results are due July 30.

Why are chip stocks falling after Samsung beat estimates?

Analysts say the beat was already priced in after Samsung’s pre-results rally, and investors are focused on the longer-term trajectory of the memory cycle and the willingness of US hyperscalers to keep spending on AI infrastructure.

Is the AI trade unwinding?

Not entirely, but the momentum has clearly cooled. Morgan Stanley says the semis trade has started to lose momentum after a historic run since the end of March, and JPMorgan Asset Management expects moderation in returns compared with the triple-digit gains of the first half.

What’s happening in the Strait of Hormuz?

Two commercial vessels were struck in attacks on shipping in and around the strait, according to Axios, threatening the fragile US-Iran truce and pushing Brent above $72 a barrel and WTI to about $69.

When does the Fed next meet?

Investors await Tuesday’s commentary from Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman. Rate futures are pricing a 74.9% probability of no change at the meeting later this month, against a 25.1% chance of a 25 basis point hike.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Equity markets involve risk, and past performance is not indicative of future results. Readers should consult a qualified financial professional before making investment decisions. Figures are accurate as of publication on July 7, 2026.