BlockBeats News, July 18th. The global semiconductor sector continued to weaken this week, with Japanese semiconductor leader Kioxia plunging 16% in a single day, down about 50% from its peak a month ago. At the same time, stocks in the Japanese chip industry chain such as Renesas Electronics, Tokyo Electron, and Sumitomo Metal Mining generally fell by 8% to 10%.

On the U.S. stock side, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) has retraced about 21% from its historical high on June 22nd, officially entering a technical bear market. Even after TSMC announced better-than-expected financial results and raised its performance guidance, the stock price still plummeted by 7%, indicating that market sentiment remains under pressure.

Reports suggest that many institutions believe that this round of semiconductor sector adjustment is more due to high crowded positions and profit-taking, rather than a deterioration in industry fundamentals. Meanwhile, Citi data shows that semiconductor-related ETFs in South Korea and the Taiwan region of China saw net inflows of about $6.4 billion and $2.8 billion respectively this week. The South Korean stock market also attracted around $500 million in foreign net inflows, indicating that some funds have begun to buy the dip.