ARM Holdings plc (NASDAQ: ARM) fell 8.5% Friday as a convergence of macro headwinds hit the semiconductor sector: a looming 18-day Samsung union strike threatening high-bandwidth memory supply beginning May 21, oil prices spiking to $109 per barrel after a U.S.-Iran deal, and no meaningful policy breakthrough at the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped 4.1% to 508.52, while the S&P 500 shed 1.2% to 7,408 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.5% to 26,225, pulling back sharply from the week's earlier record highs.
Today's biggest movers
| Ticker | Close | Day | 1mo | YTD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $ARM | $209.16 | -8.46% | +25.45% | +82.31% |
| $INTC | $108.77 | -6.18% | +58.79% | +176.21% |
| $SMCI | $31.04 | -6.02% | +8.68% | +0.26% |
| $AMD | $424.10 | -5.69% | +52.34% | +89.78% |
| $BIDU | $135.33 | -5.56% | +7.29% | -9.96% |
| $NOW | $95.07 | +5.05% | -1.64% | -35.52% |
| $SNOW | $157.47 | +4.45% | +9.37% | -27.34% |
| $CRM | $173.51 | +3.54% | -4.74% | -31.59% |
| $MSFT | $421.92 | +3.05% | -0.21% | -10.79% |
| $MDB | $312.16 | +2.99% | +18.52% | -21.89% |
ARM Holdings slides 8.5% on earnings hangover and supply fears
ARM Holdings slid to $209.16 in heavy trading, extending a correction that began after its May 6 earnings report. The company delivered record fiscal Q4 revenue of $1.49 billion against a $1.47 billion consensus, with EPS of $0.60 beating the $0.54 estimate. But management's admission that it could not secure sufficient manufacturing capacity to meet surging demand for its proprietary AGI central processing unit - alongside a warning that smartphone unit growth would turn negative amid a memory chip shortage - drove an initial 7.3% decline on May 7.
Friday's move deepened that slide even as analysts upgraded price targets. TD Cowen raised its target to $265 from $165, RBC Capital moved to $260 from $175, Jefferies lifted to $290 from $210, and Bank of America's Mehdi Hosseini set a $300 target with a Buy rating, citing data center and AI-driven demand. The wide spread between Morgan Stanley's $202 and Bank of America's $300 reflects genuine disagreement about whether ARM's supply constraint is a near-term execution problem or a structural ceiling on royalty growth.
Intel, AMD, and Super Micro fall as Samsung strike looms over HBM supply
The chip sector's broader decline traced to news that Samsung Electronics' National Samsung Electronics Union will begin an 18-day work stoppage on May 21 after management and the union failed to reach agreement on bonus structures tied to the AI semiconductor boom. More than 50,000 workers are expected to participate, and JPMorgan estimates the stoppage would cost Samsung's semiconductor division over 4 trillion won in direct revenue. High-bandwidth memory supply - the feedstock for AI accelerators from NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices to Alphabet's Google - sits at the center of the supply risk, with Samsung a primary HBM vendor to those hyperscalers.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) fell 6.2% to $108.77, compounding concerns about competition from AMD and ARM-based server chips. The stock's 176% year-to-date gain is the most stretched valuation in the AI chip cohort, leaving it exposed when macro sentiment sours. Mizuho raised its Intel price target to $124 from $100 on May 12, and Deutsche Bank moved to $100 from $63 the same day, but the Wall Street consensus remains Hold with an average 12-month target of $68.03 - well below the current price. The dynamic echoes last Tuesday's CPI-driven 6.8% drop, when Intel was also the largest percentage loser in the cohort.