What Happened?

A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after President Donald Trump threatened to impose 'massive' new tariffs on Chinese goods. 

President Donald Trump's threat of "massive" new tariffs on Chinese goods sent shockwaves through the market, directly impacting chipmakers like Nvidia and AMD. Trump noted China's tightening controls on rare earth metals, which are vital components in many technology products from electric vehicles to defense systems. Compounding the pressure, Beijing has reportedly initiated its own countermeasures. These include tightening export controls on crucial raw materials such as rare earths and launching an antimonopoly investigation into chip giant Qualcomm. 

Furthermore, reports indicate that Chinese customs officials are now conducting stringent checks on semiconductor shipments arriving at ports, specifically targeting certain high-end chips. This escalating back-and-forth creates significant uncertainty for the semiconductor industry, which relies heavily on complex global supply chains and access to international markets, leading to a broad sell-off across the sector.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.

Among others, the following stocks were impacted:

• Processors and Graphics Chips company Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) fell 4.7%. Is now the time to buy Qualcomm? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
• Semiconductor Manufacturing company Amkor (NASDAQ: AMKR) fell 4.8%. Is now the time to buy Amkor? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
• Semiconductor Manufacturing company Amtech (NASDAQ: ASYS) fell 8.5%. Is now the time to buy Amtech? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
• Processors and Graphics Chips company AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) fell 5.9%. Is now the time to buy AMD? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
• Analog Semiconductors company Microchip Technology (NASDAQ: MCHP) fell 5.8%. Is now the time to buy Microchip Technology? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.

Zooming In On Amtech (ASYS)

Amtech’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 40 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 3 days ago when the stock dropped 2.8% on the news that reports revealed tech giant Oracle is generating lower-than-expected margins in its cloud business and losing money on Nvidia chip rentals. 

The news caused Oracle's shares to tumble over 5% and sparked a wider tech sell-off, pulling the S&P 500 and Nasdaq down. Investors are growing concerned about the actual strength and profitability of artificial intelligence demand, which has been a primary driver of the market's recent record-breaking run. Oracle's struggles suggest that the massive capital investments required for AI, such as acquiring expensive chips, may not be translating into immediate or guaranteed profits. This has led to broader anxiety that the AI boom's financial returns might be less certain than previously anticipated, causing traders to pull back from the sector. 

Compounding these worries was the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, in its second week, with no clear resolution in sight from Washington. This political uncertainty drove investors away from riskier assets and towards safe havens, a trend highlighted by gold hitting a record $4,000 per ounce for the first time.

Amtech is up 60.7% since the beginning of the year, but at $9 per share, it is still trading 13.8% below its 52-week high of $10.44 from October 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Amtech’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,485.

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