MU, SNDK, INTC, AMD: Chip Stocks Slide After Anthropic Calls For AI Industry Slowdown

• Anthropic urged frontier AI labs to prioritize independent safety testing and deliberate pacing.
• Shares of chipmakers, one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI boom, fell sharply in overnight trading late Sunday.
• Investors remain focused on the AI infrastructure boom despite renewed concerns around safety and regulation.

Shares of major chipmakers slid in overnight trading late Sunday after Anthropic joined OpenAI in calling for a slower pace of frontier AI model development amid mounting concerns over potential misuse - a move that could ripple across several adjacent sectors that have boomed on AI-driven demand.

Intel and Advanced Micro Devices stocks fell more than 4%, while memory chip firms Micron and SanDisk dropped 3.9% and 4.5%, respectively. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) fell 2.8%, and the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) declined 5%.

Chipmakers elsewhere were affected as well. Shares of Samsung Electronics dropped 3.8% in Seoul on Monday, while those of SK Hynix dropped over 5%, dragging South Korea's benchmark index KOSPI down 3.6%. 

Over the weekend, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called on frontier AI companies to slow the pace of model capability development, arguing that AI is advancing faster than companies can reliably manage its risks. 

Anthropic Calls For Pacing AI Development

He proposed a three-part framework: permanent independent evaluators with employee-like access to AI labs, coordination among leading companies on safety standards, and greater international cooperation. Amodei stressed that he is not calling for a halt to AI training or technical progress, but for companies to create more time to test and safeguard increasingly capable models.

The call comes as a growing public debate over AI safety has intensified following reports of AI agents being used for hacking, fraud, surveillance and other potentially harmful activities. 

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk backed Amodei's proposal, while OpenAI executives previously floated a voluntary slowdown. At the same time, the push faces a major tension: AI companies have enormous financial and competitive incentives to keep moving quickly, particularly as OpenAI and Anthropic prepare for potential IPOs.

Retail View On Chip Stocks

Chipmakers have been among the biggest beneficiaries of the AI boom, as hyperscalers and AI developers have poured billions of dollars into GPUs, custom accelerators and high-bandwidth memory needed to build out data-center infrastructure. The rally has continued despite a dip in July, reflecting continued investor enthusiasm around AI infrastructure spending.

On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment was 'bearish' for MU, SNDK and SOXX, 'neutral' for INTC and AMD, and 'extremely bearish' for DRAM.

“$MU Let me explain something to the shorts and sellers in general. Every major company including Magnificent 7 have already committed and raised billions to AI infrastructure. Nothing will change this,” said a trader.

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