Qualcomm leads chips lower amid iPhone China worries
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Semiconductor stocks were mostly lower on Thursday, amid worries about the status of Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone in China.
Among iPhone suppliers, Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), which supplies the broadband modem for the iPhone, took the brunt of the pain on Thursday, trading down more than 6% on heavy volume. 
Other suppliers, such as Broadcom (AVGO), Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) and Cirrus Logic (CRUS), saw more modest declines, each in the neighborhood of 2% apiece.
The declines come after several reports that the Chinese government could ban the use of iPhones at government agencies, state-run companies and other government-controlled organizations.
If a block comes to fruition, it's unclear how many companies or agencies could adopt the restrictions on personal devices, given that there is no formal or written injunction just yet.
Several Wall Street firms came to the defense of Apple (AAPL), including Wedbush Securities, which said the issue is "overblown."
Citi analyst Amit Daryanani said the fallout is more about "headline issues" as opposed to "something that will have a material impact," adding that government officials have probably already avoided the use of Apple products.
Most other semiconductor stocks were lower on Thursday, including Nvidia (NVDA), which fell more than 3%, and AMD (AMD), which dipped slightly more than 2%.
Conversely, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), which competes with both Nvidia and AMD in the data center space, rose nearly 2.8% after investment firm Citi said the company's much-talked about foundry customer could be a "whale."
Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) shares slipped around 0.5% even as Citi opened up a 90-day positive catalyst watch on the company amid reports that memory prices could be rising.
Also seeing modest losses on Thursday were NXP Semiconductors (NXPI), Texas Instruments (TXN), Analog Devices (ADI) and ON Semiconductor (ON).

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