AMD, Intel lead chip sell off as sector sinks following Powell testimony
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AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) led semiconductor stocks lower on Wednesday as the sector sold off amid comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell that more interest rate hikes may be needed to combat persistently high inflation.
AMD (AMD) shares sank nearly 6%, falling to their worst levels in more than a week, even as the company said it would invest up to $135M over four years to expand its presence in Ireland.
The funds will be used expand adaptive computing research, development and engineering operations, along with strategic R&D projects.
Intel (INTC), which competes with AMD, fell more than 5% after the company said it had sold a minority stake in its IMS Nanofabrication unit to Bain Capital, valuing the unit at $4.3B.
Intel (INTC) also gave updates on its transition to becoming a foundry for other chipmakers, stating that it foresees a "broad class" of increased efficiencies.
Executives from the chip giant said that transitioning to the internal foundry model will allow it to achieve cost savings of more than $8B to $10B by 2025 and have adjusted gross margins of 60%. 
Separately on Wednesday, the Pat Gelsinger-led Intel (INTC) also announced the first generative AI model used for 3-D mapping.
Nvidia (NVDA), which competes with both Intel and AMD, fell 2.2% as the company continued to hold onto its $1T valuation.
A number of other chip stocks also lost ground on Wednesday, including Qualcomm (QCOM), Texas Instruments (TXN) and Broadcom (AVGO), all of which fell 1.5% or more.
Analog Devices (ADI), NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) and ON Semiconductors (ON) fared a bit better, as the trio fell slightly less than 1% shortly before 1:30 p.m. EST.
Smartphone-related semiconductor stocks also lost ground on Wednesday, including Skyworks Solutions (SWKS), Qorvo (QRVO) and Micron Technology (MU).
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