Tesla fell 18% in a week, memory chip stocks collapsed, and San Disk fell 10%
On July 24, local time, the three major U.S. stock indexes closed with mixed gains, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.46%, the S&P 500 Index rising 0.05%, and the Nasdaq Composite falling 0.64%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 4.25%. Memory chips and optical communications were among the top decliners, with SanDisk down more than 10%, Coherent down more than 9%, and SK Hynix down more than 8%. In terms of large technology stocks, Apple rose 3.53%, approaching its previous high; Tesla fell more than 2%, and fell nearly 18% this week, the largest weekly decline since 2022; SpaceX fell more than 2%, continuing to hit new lows, and fell more than 7% this week. The Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index fell 0.66%, and NIO and Xpeng Motors fell more than 3%. This week, the Dow fell by 0.38%, the S&P 500 fell by 0.61%, and the Nasdaq fell by 2.13%. International oil prices have also fallen. The settlement price of the September contract of WTI crude oil futures closed down 3.12% at US$89.31/barrel; the settlement price of the September contract of Brent crude oil futures closed down 3.88% at US$96.78/barrel, with a cumulative increase of 9.85% this week. Analysts believe that affected by reports about Pakistan's push for new peace talks between the United States and Iran, the geopolitical conflict premium that pushed up oil prices in the early stage has cooled down, triggering a fall in oil prices. Memory chips and optical communications sectors collectively dived On July 24, local time, the three major U.S. stock indexes closed with mixed gains. As of the close, the Dow rose 0.46% to 51,947.25 points, the S&P 500 rose 0.05% to 7,411.98 points, and the Nasdaq fell 0.64% to 24,975.82 points. On a weekly basis, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.38% this week, falling for the third consecutive week; the S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.61% and 2.13% respectively, both falling for two weeks in a row. Analysts believe that traders appear reluctant to increase their holdings of stocks because Iran may suffer more violent attacks over the weekend. During the session, U.S. President Trump said at the White House that the United States can continue to act in the current way, or it can intensify its strikes more quickly. Memory chips and optical communications were the top decliners, with SanDisk falling by more than 10%, Coherent and Credo falling by more than 9%, SK Hynix and Lumentum falling by more than 8%, Marvell Technology and Intel falling by more than 7%, Western Digital, Micron Technology, Seagate Technology and Corning falling by more than 6%, Ciena falling by more than 4%, and Kioxia ADR falling by more than 14%. Large technology stocks in the U.S. were mixed. Apple rose more than 3%, Google rose 0.65%, Microsoft rose 0.03%, Amazon fell 0.66%, Nvidia fell 0.92%, Facebook fell more than 1%, and Tesla fell more than 2%. As memory chip prices continue to soar, pushing up the overall cost of the iPhone, Apple is putting pressure on the upstream supply chain, requiring its display panel suppliers to significantly reduce OLED screen prices. On July 24, according to foreign media reports, Apple has proposed to panel suppliers that the OLED panel used in the iPhone 18 Pro Max will be priced at approximately US$70, which is approximately 20% lower than the previous generation product. Most Chinese concept stocks fell, with the Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index falling 0.66%. In terms of individual stocks, Ctrip rose 1.44%, Alibaba fell 1.67%, Bilibili fell 1.89%, Li Auto fell 2.02%, Xpeng Group fell 3.41%, and NIO fell 3.56%. Trump says US is negotiating with Iran Do not rule out intensifying military strikes According to CCTV News, on July 24, local time, when talking about the "exit strategy" of the war with Iran at the White House, U.S. President Trump said that the United States has two options: one is to continue the current military operations and possibly increase the intensity of strikes to gradually destroy Iran's military capabilities; the other is to reach an agreement through negotiations. Trump said that the US military is "ready for action" and can escalate the current strike to a higher intensity if necessary. Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Rubio and many other officials participated in relevant discussions. Trump reiterated that Iran cannot possess nuclear weapons. He said that if Iran still has the idea of developing nuclear weapons, the United States will continue to act with greater intensity. Trump also said the United States had reimposed a naval blockade against Iran, calling it an "iron wall" on the water that no ship could pass through.
Trump said Iran wants a deal but is "not ready yet." He also said that the United States is still negotiating with Iran and "the two sides are talking as we speak." He said he still prefers to resolve the issue through negotiations and believes Iran is showing the highest level of seriousness so far. In addition, according to U.S. sources, Trump also held closed-door talks with senior advisers at the White House that day to discuss policy options toward Iran, including the possibility of significantly expanding military action. Sources said Trump has held similar strategy meetings with his national security team several times since the ceasefire collapsed. Samsung and SK Hynix will announce large-scale chip cooperation with US technology giants The South Korean Presidential Office stated that during South Korean President Lee Jae-myung's visit to Silicon Valley, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will announce major agreements with leading U.S. technology companies, involving long-term memory chip supply agreements, strategic investment cooperation and memorandums of understanding. The amount will be "very large." Lee is scheduled to visit San Francisco on Friday and Saturday before heading to South America to attend a summit with local leaders. Lee will attend an artificial intelligence (AI) summit in Silicon Valley and meet with Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and Broadcom CEO Chen Fuyang. The South Korean government announced an investment plan worth at least US$880 billion last month. The plan, supported by Samsung Electronics, SK Group and Naver, aims to expand chip production, build AI data centers, and consolidate South Korea's leading position in the semiconductor and physical AI fields. Kim Yong-beom, director of South Korea's presidential policy office, said Lee's visit is expected to translate many of the investment plans announced last month into concrete projects. More than half of the approximately 8 GW of AI data center capacity planned by the South Korean government in the first phase will be implemented during this visit. Unlike previous announcements, which mainly reflected preliminary investment intentions, the new project will identify specific customers, construction locations, and Korean engineering partners participating in the project. Qualcomm product prices will increase by double-digit percentages Affected by the continued shortage of the global supply chain and the sharp increase in the cost of upstream parts, the US chip manufacturer Qualcomm sent a written notice to customers, announcing that it would implement a double-digit percentage price increase for related shipped products starting from September 1. Qualcomm stated in the notice letter that the current pressure on cost increases at the supplier level continues to intensify, and the company is no longer able to absorb the relevant premiums alone. Although Qualcomm has tried to actively expand new channels to find alternative parts in the early stage, due to the overall industry environment, it will eventually need to adjust product pricing to cope with cost impacts. Anthropic announces Opus5 AI model AI models are accelerating the "involution", prices continue to drop, and model capabilities continue to impact the boundaries of general artificial intelligence (AGI). Anthropic releases ClaudeOpus 5, designed to handle work tasks at a lower cost. This model is close in capability in several categories to its most advanced model, the Fable 5, but is half the price. As enterprises increasingly focus on AI spending, multiple AI developers including OpenAI, Meta and SpaceXAI are competing to provide more cost-effective models.
Trump said Iran wants a deal but is "not ready yet." He also said that the United States is still negotiating with Iran and "the two sides are talking as we speak." He said he still prefers to resolve the issue through negotiations and believes Iran is showing the highest level of seriousness so far. In addition, according to U.S. sources, Trump also held closed-door talks with senior advisers at the White House that day to discuss policy options toward Iran, including the possibility of significantly expanding military action. Sources said Trump has held similar strategy meetings with his national security team several times since the ceasefire collapsed. Samsung and SK Hynix will announce large-scale chip cooperation with US technology giants The South Korean Presidential Office stated that during South Korean President Lee Jae-myung's visit to Silicon Valley, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will announce major agreements with leading U.S. technology companies, involving long-term memory chip supply agreements, strategic investment cooperation and memorandums of understanding. The amount will be "very large." Lee is scheduled to visit San Francisco on Friday and Saturday before heading to South America to attend a summit with local leaders. Lee will attend an artificial intelligence (AI) summit in Silicon Valley and meet with Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and Broadcom CEO Chen Fuyang. The South Korean government announced an investment plan worth at least US$880 billion last month. The plan, supported by Samsung Electronics, SK Group and Naver, aims to expand chip production, build AI data centers, and consolidate South Korea's leading position in the semiconductor and physical AI fields. Kim Yong-beom, director of South Korea's presidential policy office, said Lee's visit is expected to translate many of the investment plans announced last month into concrete projects. More than half of the approximately 8 GW of AI data center capacity planned by the South Korean government in the first phase will be implemented during this visit. Unlike previous announcements, which mainly reflected preliminary investment intentions, the new project will identify specific customers, construction locations, and Korean engineering partners participating in the project. Qualcomm product prices will increase by double-digit percentages Affected by the continued shortage of the global supply chain and the sharp increase in the cost of upstream parts, the US chip manufacturer Qualcomm sent a written notice to customers, announcing that it would implement a double-digit percentage price increase for related shipped products starting from September 1. Qualcomm stated in the notice letter that the current pressure on cost increases at the supplier level continues to intensify, and the company is no longer able to absorb the relevant premiums alone. Although Qualcomm has tried to actively expand new channels to find alternative parts in the early stage, due to the overall industry environment, it will eventually need to adjust product pricing to cope with cost impacts. Anthropic announces Opus5 AI model AI models are accelerating the "involution", prices continue to drop, and model capabilities continue to impact the boundaries of general artificial intelligence (AGI). Anthropic releases ClaudeOpus 5, designed to handle work tasks at a lower cost. This model is close in capability in several categories to its most advanced model, the Fable 5, but is half the price. As enterprises increasingly focus on AI spending, multiple AI developers including OpenAI, Meta and SpaceXAI are competing to provide more cost-effective models.