Last Friday, chip stocks collectively plunged again. Can a $950 billion order save the market this week?

Last Friday night, the US stock memory chip sector suffered another brutal selloff.

SK Hynix closed down nearly 9%, Sandisk closed down nearly 11%, and Micron closed down nearly 7%. More ironically, Intel, which had just released a quarterly report significantly exceeding market expectations, also failed to escape, with its stock price plunging over 7%.

Exceed expectations? Down. Meet expectations? Down. Below expectations? Even more down.

This bizarre situation where "prices fall regardless of good or bad news" makes one wonder: has the speculative meme coin mentality from the crypto world infected the US stock market? Stocks worth trillions of dollars are behaving no differently than meme coins with zero fundamental support—any slight breeze is enough to trigger a wave of selling.

The "All in AI" narrative can no longer work flawlessly in today's market.

1. The Market Has Shifted: From "Storytelling" to "Demanding Returns"

Over the past year, the logic behind the rise of AI chip stocks was brutally simple: if your name was associated with AI, if you were buying GPUs, building data centers, or expanding HBM production capacity—your stock price would rise. The larger the capital expenditure, the more excited the market got; the fiercer the spending, the higher the valuation.

But now, the shelf life of this logic has expired.

The market is switching from "listening to stories" to "demanding numbers." Investors are no longer satisfied with qualitative descriptions like "we are heavily investing in AI." They are starting to ask a much sharper question: "After dumping hundreds of billions of dollars, where are the returns?"

Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple—these AI giants are pouring hundreds of billions into data centers and the chip industry. But can the incremental revenue generated by AI services cover the increasingly heavy costs of depreciation, electricity, and leasing? This question is becoming the core variable determining the next phase of the AI narrative.

These giants are about to release their earnings reports one after another. Their answers to this question will likely determine whether chip stocks can escape their current quagmire or continue their downward search for a bottom.

2. The $950 Billion Deal: A Boon or Already "Priced In"?

Over the weekend, there was indeed a major piece of positive news in the market.

SK Group and Samsung announced a massive $950 billion deal with Nvidia and other tech giants in the US. This order involves memory chips, HBM, and other AI infrastructure components, representing the largest overseas cooperation agreement in the history of South Korea's semiconductor industry.

After the news broke, the market briefly hoped it could provide momentum for a bottoming and rebound for the struggling chip stocks. The market's opening performance on Monday would directly reveal the "pricing power" of this order.

However, if we calmly dissect this order, several issues emerge:

First, the $950 billion figure largely represents letters of intent and multi-year framework agreements, with execution stretched out to 2030. It is not revenue that can be confirmed in the next quarter, nor is it cash already in hand. Its direct impact on stock prices is limited.

Second, the market has fully priced in the fact that "AI memory is in short supply." This order merely puts a widely observed trend into a contract, providing no new "surprise" information.

The market often pays more attention to information that exceeds existing expectations.

—It's about "good news the market didn't know," not "re-promoting a consensus." When everyone already knows HBM is scarce and cloud providers are frantically placing orders, announcing a large order naturally has a much-reduced marginal effect on stock prices.

Of course, given the current extreme bearish sentiment towards chip stocks, this news could still provide a short-term boost to relevant stocks.

3. The Options Market Alarm: VIX is Calm, But VXN Has Spiked to 28

If you look at the S&P 500 index with the naked eye, the market doesn't seem panicked yet. The VIX volatility index is currently around 18.57, relatively calm and far from the extreme fear zone.

But if you shift your gaze to the Nasdaq-specific volatility index, VXN, the picture is entirely different—VXN has surged to 28.39.

The widening gap between VIX and VXN is an extremely important signal. It indicates that market panic is not uniform but highly concentrated in the tech sector. Investor concerns about the broader market are limited, but anxiety over chip stocks, AI concept stocks, and high-valuation tech stocks has reached a considerable depth.

In a high-VXN environment, short-term volatility in tech stocks could amplify further. Any earnings report that falls short, or any negative macroeconomic news, could become the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back.

4. Final Thoughts: A Powerful Tool in Uncertain Times

The current market landscape is highly polarized. The long-term narrative for chip stocks (continued AI demand growth) and short-term pressures (valuation corrections, earnings scrutiny, soaring volatility) coexist, and it's anyone's guess which factor will prevail next.

In such an environment, the most dangerous approach is "betting on a single direction and holding on for dear life." The wisest approach is to possess the ability to operate in both upward and downward directions.

BIT platform's options functionality was officially launched last week. Whether you hold chip stocks and want to hedge downside risk or seek trading opportunities amid volatility, you can utilize options tools:

• Hold underlying stock + Buy Put Options: Insure your high-position holdings, strictly limiting losses.
• Single-direction Long Call/Put Options: Make small directional bets with limited premium, capping maximum loss.
• Long Straddle/Strangle: Prepare for significant earnings season volatility.

In a directionless market, those with options can navigate through bull and bear cycles.

Risk Warning: Options are high-risk financial products. Prices are affected by various factors including the underlying asset, volatility, and time to expiration, which may lead to a total loss of premium. Please fully understand the product risks and make prudent decisions based on your own circumstances before investing.