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Tech shares casualities of Trump's trade war

by on26 June 2018


Intel, Micron and Nvidia hit by friendly fire

US semiconductor stocks slumped on fears of deep losses in Intel, Micron and Nvidia, as new measures targeting the technology sector in President Donald Trump’s trade conflict with China triggered a wave of investor fear.

Intel, Micron Technology and Nvidia each fell at least four percent in afternoon trade.

Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon said that semiconductors are macroeconomy-related and the supply chain is global. Trade wars were not going to be suitable for semiconductors.

In the latest escalation of Trump’s conflict with Beijing, the US Treasury Department was drafting curbs that would block firms with at least 25 percent Chinese ownership from buying US technology firms.

The Wall Street Journal said the Commerce Department and National Security Council were proposing “enhanced” export controls to keep such technologies from being shipped to China, increasing uncertainty from Silicon Valley to Wall Street. The S&P 500 dropped 1.8 percent on Monday.

Tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods, the first of a potential total of $450 billion, are due to take effect on July 6 over US complaints that China is misappropriating its technology through joint venture rules and other policies.

US chipmakers could face tariffs on products manufactured in China that are built with US components.

Intel, Texas Instruments and Micron have large factories in the United States and export their chips to countries including Mexico, Malaysia and Vietnam for additional testing and assembly. From those countries, the finished products are shipped to China, where they go into manufactured products.

Last modified on 26 June 2018
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