Chips Rebound Without Nvidia

NEW YORK, Nov. 9 — ChipChip stocks rallied on Monday, and the company at the center of the trade sat it out. The PHLX Semiconductor index rose 6.85 percent, to 10,033.93, and the S&P 500 rose 2.35 percent, “its strongest daily gain since April 8,” Investing.com reported.The Chip Index’s WeekThe index fell 12.25 percent on Thursday, Nov. 5, to 9,011.14. Friday and Monday won back most of it; it closed Monday 2.29 percent below Wednesday’s 10,268.65.

Nvidia fell 4.27 percent, to $178.67, its lowest close since April 7, on 462.7 million shares, about 2.6 times Friday’s volume.NVDANasdaq178.67▼7.97−4.3%Nvidia · Monday’s session It was the first full session since its board ordered an inquiry into reports that Jensen Huang, its chief executive, had been the target of a foreign intelligence effort. The board said it had “no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised,” and that its inquiry would examine all available information. In an email to employees that Nvidia published on Sunday, Mr. Huang wrote, “I was unfaithful to my wife,” and, “I support the investigation and will cooperate fully.”

Its rivals and suppliers rose with the market. AMD gained 13.26 percent, to $508.58, its “best session in six months,” Stocktwits reported, “as investors welcomed fresh support for its AI business.”AMDNasdaq508.58▲59.54+13.3%Advanced Micro Devices · Monday’s session Applied Materials rose 11.37 percent, Broadcom 8.78, Micron 6.25 and TSMC’s American shares 3.51. Analysts at BofA called the Nvidia news a “new overhang, not yet an earnings event,” and said AMD, Broadcom and Marvell could benefit from distractions at Nvidia, though wider scrutiny could make U.S. suppliers selling to China more volatile, Stocktwits reported.

The fall cost Nvidia about $193 billion of market value, CBS News reported. Its shares fell as much as 8.8 percent shortly after the opening bell, CNN reported, and are down 25 percent since their peak a month ago.The PeakNvidia closed at $239.24 on Oct. 6, its highest close in a year of Yahoo Finance’s daily data. Monday’s close is 25.3 percent below it. The key questions, analysts at Citi wrote in a note, as CNN reported, are whether the board’s investigation uncovers anything more serious that could jeopardize Mr. Huang’s role, and whether regulation could constrain sales. “This is, for now at least, a personal scandal,” Nigel Green of deVere Group wrote, as quoted by CNN.

The President

“I know the FBI is looking into it in terms of something else, and I think that he’ll be in good shape,” President Trump said at a White House briefing on Monday, as quoted by The Associated Press. He said he had spoken to Mr. Huang “just to see if he’s feeling all right.” “He said he had absolutely no idea that the person in question was a spy,” Mr. Trump said. Daily Cortex found no statement from the FBI.

Congress is asking questions too. Two top Democrats, Sen. Mark Warner and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, said Monday they were interested in investigating further, AP reported. “We’re going to need a full briefing, specifically as it relates to the Nvidia issue, so we can all get to the bottom of what has happened,” Mr. Jeffries said, “and what the implications are in terms of America’s national security.” He called for the House to pass an annual defense bill that includes restrictions on chip sales to China, Reuters reported. Shareholders sued Nvidia and Mr. Huang on Monday in a proposed class action, accusing them of defrauding shareholders by concealing Mr. Huang’s ties with a suspected Chinese spy, Reuters reported. China denied the allegation on Monday. “The so-called Chinese spy allegation is unsubstantiated. It is nothing but smears against China,” Guo Jiakun, a foreign ministry spokesperson, said, as quoted by AP.

“Jensen is committed to continuing to lead Nvidia as CEO without interruption,” an Nvidia spokesperson told CBS News. Analysts acknowledged uncertainty around succession, Reuters reported, but most do not expect the investigation to end with Mr. Huang stepping down. Stacy Rasgon of Bernstein told Reuters why it matters so much: “Nvidia is not an ordinary company and Jensen is not an ordinary CEO; he is Nvidia, clearly sets the long-term strategy and direction, and pulls most of the company’s strings himself.” Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge wrote in a note, quoted by CBS, that the real potential fallout would be the U.S. government imposing “dramatically more draconian restrictions on sales of sophisticated chips to China.”

Nvidia is not an ordinary company and Jensen is not an ordinary CEO; he is Nvidia, clearly sets the long-term strategy and direction, and pulls most of the company’s strings himself.

Asia Follows

Asia followed Wall Street’s chip stocks on Tuesday. Seoul’s Kospi closed 4.39 percent higher, at 5,239.13, with foreigners net buyers of 365.9 billion won of shares, Yonhap reported, and SK hynix rose 6.69 percent. In Tokyo the Nikkei 225 rose 2.87 percent; the chip-tool makers Tokyo Electron and Advantest rose 6.05 and 4.63 percent. Taipei’s Taiex rose 2.52 percent, to 42,711.92, though foreign institutions sold a net NT$34.12 billion of shares, CNA reported, after eight straight sessions of net selling through Monday.Taiwan’s OutflowsNet outflows by foreign institutions reached about $28 billion in October, CNA reported, and the central bank’s reserves fell $4.31 billion that month, to $596.44 billion, as a result of its market intervention. The impact of the controversy around Mr. Huang “was limited only to the company itself,” Adam Lin of Moore Securities told CNA.

TSMC, the contract chipmaker, reported a record month. TSMC’s October revenue was about NT$586.89 billion, up 59.7 percent from a year earlier and 14.7 percent from September, it said on Tuesday, above the previous record of NT$514.81 billion set in August, by CNA’s account. Its shares rose 2.24 percent in Taipei, to NT$2,285.Ten MonthsTSMC’s revenue for January through October totaled NT$4,485.62 billion, up 43.3 percent from the same period of 2025.

Before the open, Nvidia was at $181.81 at 5:16 a.m. Tuesday, by Yahoo Finance’s data. October consumer prices arrive at 8:30 a.m.; the Analysis on the Federal Reserve sets out what rides on them. CoreWeave holds its call on third-quarter results at 5 p.m. Applied Materials and Cisco report on Thursday. Nvidia reports its own quarter on Nov. 17, with a call at 5 p.m. Eastern, its first since the board’s inquiry began.