Chip stocks extended a rout on Monday, triggered by an AI slowdown call from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei that sent the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down as much as 5.9%.
Nvidia fell 3.4%, Broadcom slid nearly 5%, and Micron and AMD each dropped more than 4%, dragging the Nasdaq 100 down as much as 1.3% and reviving debate over whether AI-linked valuations face a sharper correction.
AI Slowdown Selloff Reaches Asia
South Koreas SK Hynix slid roughly 7.6% in sympathy with its US peers, tied to the same AI infrastructure buildout, Seoul Economic Daily reported.
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Like its US counterparts, SK Hynix also felt the sting of the AI Safety fears. Image Source: Trading View
Amodei‘s essay argued the most advanced AI systems risk slipping beyond human control without deliberate restraint. OpenAI’s Sam Altman and xAIs Elon Musk both endorsed the call.
Is a Crash Actually Coming
Not every analyst reads this as the start of something bigger. Bank of America semiconductor analyst Vivek Arya called the reaction background noise.
“We view these events as noise relative to a secular market where AI-capex could surge 3x to $3tn+ by decade-end.”
Arya noted the chip index still trades near 19 times forward earnings, roughly matching the S&P 500, despite earnings growth running about seven times faster than the broader market. The index has still gained 67% so far in 2026, making Mondays slide look modest by comparison.
Other investors see more fragility. BeInCrypto has previously flagged circular financing concerns around Nvidias expanding role as both chip supplier and financier to its own AI customers, a structure some compare to the vendor financing that preceded the dot-com bust.
The gap between the two camps comes down to one question. Does AI monetization keep pace with the spending it has already justified？
Strong earnings from Nvidia and its customers could make this pullback temporary. A slower order book, or a verified case of models acting beyond expected limits, would test that thesis quickly.