A sharp selloff in artificial intelligence and chip stocks rattled global markets on June 23, 2026, with losses spreading from Wall Street to Asia.
The rout pulled the Nasdaq down nearly 4%, according to Let's Data Science, while South Korea's market plunged 10%, according to Yahoo Finance Singapore. Investopedia reported that the previous day's tech sell-off deepened and spilled over into memory and chip stocks, and Yahoo Finance noted that Sandisk led the slide as rate-hike expectations and a South Korean tech sell-off rattled investors.
Major chipmakers were hit hard. According to 24/7 Wall St., AMD and Intel dropped 5% and NVIDIA slipped 3% in a Korean-led chip selloff that some bulls characterized as "healthy." Reuters reported that chip stocks plunged but that bargain-hunters helped stem losses in other tech names.
The deeper question is what is driving the pullback. The Washington Post framed it as whether investors are simply taking profits or genuinely getting nervous, while CBS News reported some investors pulling back from tech amid global AI uncertainty. As Newsday explained, many chip companies had soared as demand for memory and processing power for AI data centers pushed prices higher — leaving valuations stretched. Invezz reported that options traders are bearish on Cerebras, which it said trades at a price-to-sales multiple of roughly 91x.
Not everyone sees only downside. The Motley Fool argued Berkshire Hathaway is built for a market like this, and AOL highlighted AI stocks some analysts view as poised to rebound.
Why it matters: AI and chip companies have driven much of the market's gains, so a sharp reversal in these names can ripple through retirement accounts and the broader economy well beyond Silicon Valley.