AI demand is exploding, Micron's revenue nearly tripled, and Nvidia's HBM chip orders are queued up until next year... yet the semiconductor sector is collectively crashing.

A Middle East war has made chip manufacturers potentially unable to even use "helium."
Micron just announced record-breaking revenue last week—why are their stocks plunging more than anyone else despite such strong performance?
On the surface, everyone is blaming the Federal Reserve, as oil prices surged to $120 due to the Iran conflict, inflation expectations exploded, and the Fed's full-year rate cut outlook was wiped out.
No rate cuts = tech stocks lose valuation support, and institutions start dumping aggressively.
But there's an almost-unspoken detail: chip manufacturing relies heavily on high-purity helium.
Geopolitical conflicts around Iran directly threaten the helium supply chain in the Middle East. Qatar accounts for nearly one-third of global supply, and facilities have already been impacted. Chips are not only afraid of high oil prices but also of a complete helium shortage.
The impact of war on tech stocks is more deadly than we imagined.
What's more ironic is that AI demand is real—Micron's HBM chips sold to Nvidia are fully booked through next year.
Fundamentals are solid, but macro environment shifts, liquidity keeps shrinking, and no one can withstand the gravitational pull of rising interest rates.
This is the absurd situation of the U.S. stock market in 2026: record-high earnings are meaningless, and rate cuts no longer support valuations.
Even the war can precisely block the gases needed for chip manufacturing.
When everything turns into macro and geopolitical issues, the significance of individual stock fundamental analysis is rapidly shrinking.