Chips' bad summer
Everyone spent the summer watching chip stocks. Here is what they actually did - while the software names went the other way.
Three months, 29 May to 31 August 2026. Closing price to closing price:
Qualcomm -32.1% Intel -21.9% Broadcom -17.1% Texas Instruments -14.6% AMD -8.8%
Over the exact same stretch the S&P 500 rose about 1%, and IGV - the main software ETF - rose 8.2%.
One name is missing from that list on purpose.
Nvidia was UP 4.6% over these three months. It is the biggest chip company on earth and it did not fall, so putting it on a chart of falling bars would have been dishonest. The weakness this summer was the rest of the sector, not Nvidia.
Two more things worth saying plainly.
This is a three-month window, which is short. Measured from the start of 2026 the chip names are still well ahead - SMH, the main semiconductor ETF, is up roughly 49% year to date against about 7% for the software basket. Chips had a bad quarter; they have not lost the year.
And these five are not the worst performers in the sector. ON Semiconductor -38.6% and NXP -30.1% both did worse. These are the names you have actually touched - the chip in your laptop, your phone, your calculator.
