The surge in demand for chips may now have passed its peak.
Courtesy AMD
Chip makers including AMD , Nvidia , and Qualcomm fell in early trading after Intel warned that demand for computers in weakening.
Shares in AMD (ticker: AMD) were down 1% in the premarket Friday, Nvidia (NVDA) slipped 1.4%, Qualcomm was down 0.8%, Texas Instruments (TXN) lost 0.5%, and Broadcom (AVGO) was flat.
Intel (INTC) on Thursday reported a drop in first-quarter sales that missed expectations. CEO Pat Gelsinger said that the global shortage of chips will last longer than he previously thought, and that faster inflation is holding back consumers from buying personal computers.
Households splashed on desktops and laptops during the height of the pandemic, bolstering sales for chip makers over the past few years. But companies are having trouble keeping up and are still coping with supply-chain disruptions.
But the surge in demand may now have passed its peak. Global shipments fell in the first quarter, estimates from International Data Corp. show.
Gelsinger also said that a prolonged war in Ukraine and new Covid-19 lockdowns in China are adding to uncertainty.
Tech stocks have had a bumpy earnings season amid a cloudy economic outlook. Amazon (AMZN) unexpectedly posted a quarterly loss. iPhone maker Apple (AAPL), which posted an increase in sales, saw its shares fall because of concerns that growth is slowing.
Write to [email protected]
