Chip stocks' hottest winners are suddenly the weakest links

Chip stocks reversed after an 18-day winning streak in the PHLX Semiconductor Index (including 13 straight record highs), with the sell-off focused on the most overextended AI-linked names. A Wall Street Journal report raising doubts about OpenAI's growth and future data-center spending sparked selling in AI infrastructure beneficiaries, pressuring names from Nvidia to AMD and smaller, higher-beta semiconductor and equipment plays. The piece warns that upcoming hyperscaler earnings from Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta and Amazon will be pivotal: if they reaffirm AI capex plans the pullback may be a quick reset; if not, traders may push the biggest winners considerably lower.