Chip darlings lead July’s tech stock slide

Some of 2026’s hottest chip and AI-adjacent trades have hit a sharp July air pocket, with MarketWatch reporting that 18 large-cap, tech-heavy stocks had dropped at least 30% for the month by early Friday.

The damage has been especially visible in semiconductors. The PHLX Semiconductor Index was down 4.8% early Friday, MarketWatch reported, leaving it off nearly 21% in July after the 30-member chip index doubled during the first six months of 2026.

MarketWatch built its screen from the S&P 500, the iShares Semiconductor ETF, and the Invesco QQQ Trust, which tracks the Nasdaq-100. After duplicate names were removed, the starting pool had 523 stocks.

Using share prices at 9:45 a.m. Eastern on Friday and data from LSEG, MarketWatch found 18 names with July declines of 30% or more. The list includes chip makers, equipment suppliers, memory names, electronics manufacturers and a few tech-adjacent companies.

The worst July drops in the screen

• Corning: down 42.4% in July, according to LSEG data cited by MarketWatch.
• Sandisk: down 41.4% in July, while still up 462% for 2026.
• Marvell Technology: down 39.8% in July and up 111% this year.
• Astera Labs: down 39.7% in July and up 75% for 2026.
• Nebius Group: down 39.4% in July and up 100% this year.
• Teradyne: down 38.3% in July and up 54% in 2026.
• Rocket Lab: down 36.1% in July and down 7% for the year.
• Intel: down 35.7% in July, while still up 143% in 2026.
• Coherent: down 35.1% in July and up 39% year to date.
• Macom Technology Solutions and Western Digital: each down 32.5% in July.

The remaining names clearing the 30% drop mark were KLA, Flex, Credo Technology Group, Arm Holdings, CoreWeave, Lam Research and Micron Technology, according to the same LSEG data cited by MarketWatch.

The twist is that the July selloff has not erased the year’s gains for several of these stocks. MarketWatch noted that seven of the 18 names were still up by triple-digit percentages in 2026, even after their July falls.

Sandisk stood out as the biggest 2026 gainer in the group. LSEG data cited by MarketWatch showed the stock up 462% for the year, even after its 41.4% July drop. Its forward price-to-earnings ratio had fallen to 6.3 from 13.6 at the end of 2025, because analysts’ rolling 12-month earnings estimates had risen faster than the share price, according to MarketWatch.

Micron showed a similar pattern. MarketWatch reported that Micron was down 30% in July but still up 183% in 2026, while its forward P/E had declined to 5.4 from 7.9 at the end of last year.

Those low multiples are not only about strong demand for memory chips and related hardware, MarketWatch reported. They also reflect investor caution around the memory business, which can swing sharply with the cycle. MarketWatch noted that Micron reported a 49% revenue drop for its fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2023.

For comparison, LSEG calculated weighted forward P/E ratios as of Thursday’s close at 22.8 for the iShares Semiconductor ETF, 20.3 for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust and 22.8 for the Invesco QQQ Trust, MarketWatch reported.

This story draws on original reporting from MarketWatch.