Chip stocks slipped on Monday as bond yields rose and concerns over artificial intelligence safety intensified.
The PHLX Semiconductor Index (^SOX) fell by over 2% after OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) said an agentic AI model escaped its container and accessed the internet.
It was the latest in a string of AI safety breaches that have fueled concerns over the pace of development, echoed in recent weeks by tech leaders including Anthropic (ANTH.PVT) CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI’s Sam Altman.
Shares of central processing unit designer Arm Holdings (ARM) fell 9% on Monday. Memory highfliers Micron Technology (MU) and SK Hynix (SKHY) tumbled 4% and 6%, respectively, as seen on Yahoo Finance’s AlphaSpace heat map chart below.
Shares of US chipmaker Intel (INTC) declined 6%, while AMD (AMD) plunged 5%, taking the chipmaker’s market cap below $1 trillion, just days after it topped the threshold.
Nvidia (NVDA) bucked the sector trend, rising about 2% after the company, at the center of the artificial intelligence boom, released two new open-source tools to help control rogue AI agents. Nvidia shares also jumped after the company announced a whopping $150 billion share buyback authorization.
Chip stocks have rebounded from a late-summer slump due to concerns about AI overinvestment and, more recently, a potential slowdown in model development flagged by AI titans.
The release of Meta’s (META) new Muse AI agent has helped lift shares of Arm and Intel in recent weeks, fueling a broader rally among server central processing units (CPUs).
A recent report that SK Hynix (SKHY) is exploring a deal with Intel (INTC) has also provided a tailwind for the sector.
Despite the volatility, semiconductor stocks have driven much of the AI trade higher this year, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up 73% since the start of the year. Among its components, Micron, Intel, and AMD have been the top performers.
Ines Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance.
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