Micron leads semiconductors lower as research firm expects chip revenue to drop in 2023
PonyWang

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) was among the weakest semiconductor stocks on Monday as research firm Gartner projected that global revenue for the entire industry would decline nearly 4% next year amid the weak global economy.
Gartner said revenue for chip companies is expected to decline 3.6% to $596B in 2023, down from $618B in 2022. The memory market is expected to bear a large portion of that decline, as demand for consumer electronics continues to weaken and high inventory levels put pressure on prices. The research firm added that revenue from memory chips, where Micron (MU) is one of the major competitors, along with SK Hynix and Samsung (OTCPK:SSNLF), is expected to decline 16.2% next year.
Other areas are also expected to see a sharp drop according to Gartner, including dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, where Micron (MU) also has a foothold, with revenue expected to decline 18% to $74.2B.
Separately on Monday, Nikkei Asia reported that Sony (NYSE:SONY) would supply Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) with its latest image sensor for the next-generation of iPhones. Sony (SONY) has previously provided the optical sensor chips for past iPhones.
Sony (SONY) shares were fractionally lower to $82.84, while Apple (AAPL) declined more than 2% on worries over iPhone shortfalls during the holiday shopping season amid China's zero COVID policies causing unrest in the world's most populous country.
A number of Apple chip suppliers declined on Monday due to worries over iPhone production, including Skyworks Solutions (SWKS), Qorvo (QRVO) and Qualcomm (QCOM), all of which declined at least 1% in mid-day trading.
Semiconductor capital equipment company Coherent (NASDAQ:COHR) fell slightly more than 1% despite being upgraded at Deutsche Bank. The investment firm noted that the company's exposure to industry and consumer electronics and its high leverage are "not as bad as feared."
Other semiconductor stocks also declined on Monday, including Intel (INTC), Texas Instruments (TXN), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Nvidia (NVDA), among others.
Earlier this month, Micron Technology (MU) said that its outlook for 2023 has continued to worsen and would continue to cut spending.