What Happened?

A number of stocks fell in the morning session after the U.S. government announced new tariffs of 10% to 12.5% on 60 trading partners over concerns related to forced labor. The targeted nations include the European Union, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan—the fundamental pillars of the global semiconductor supply chain. While the U.S. designs many of the world's leading chips, the industry relies heavily on imported specialty chemicals, raw silicon wafers, and multi-million-dollar fabrication equipment from these exact regions. Furthermore, many U.S. chipmakers use Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) facilities overseas, meaning finished chips imported back into the U.S. could now face double-digit taxes. Because these new Section 301 tariffs are considered legally durable and potentially permanent, investors are pricing in long-term margin compression across the U.S. hardware and semiconductor space. This triggered a broad sell-off across the entire sector, amplifying a global rout that began overnight with Asian chip heavyweights Samsung and SK Hynix.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.

Among others, the following stocks were impacted:

• Memory Semiconductors company Micron (NASDAQ: MU) fell 5.3%. Is now the time to buy Micron? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Analog Semiconductors company onsemi (NASDAQ: ON) fell 3.9%. Is now the time to buy onsemi? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Memory Semiconductors company Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) fell 3.1%. Is now the time to buy Seagate? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Memory Semiconductors company Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC) fell 4.5%. Is now the time to buy Western Digital? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Analog Semiconductors company Vishay Intertechnology (NYSE: VSH) fell 3.4%. Is now the time to buy Vishay Intertechnology? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.

Zooming In On Micron (MU)

Micron’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 61 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 3 days ago when the stock gained 9.8% on the news that dip buyers returned to the market to capitalize on more attractive valuations following the sector's steep selloff in the previous week, driven by continued optimism surrounding the long-term artificial intelligence investment cycle. The recovery comes after a sharp decline that briefly pushed semiconductor powerhouses into bear market territory, marking their worst weekly drop in over a year. Despite recent market jitters regarding elevated valuations and questions over whether major technology firms will sustain their massive spending on AI infrastructure, underlying confidence in the AI-driven bull market remains intact. This renewed optimism triggered a broad rally across the globe. In Asia, major contract chip manufacturers and designers like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and MediaTek saw significant gains, jumping 3.2% and 9.9%, respectively. The positive momentum carried over into U.S. markets, where premarket futures pointed higher and industry gauges tracking semiconductor performance surged over 4%. Furthermore, a strong start to the corporate earnings season, with a vast majority of early reporters topping Wall Street estimates, provided additional macroeconomic tailwinds. Investors are now closely monitoring upcoming U.S. technology earnings reports for further validation of the semiconductor sector's growth trajectory.

Micron is up 198% since the beginning of the year, but at $940.19 per share, it is still trading 18.5% below its 52-week high of $1,154 from June 2026. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Micron’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $12,321.

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