NVIDIA & AI Semis Selloff Deepens; New Triggers: Alphabet/Tesla, Oil, Rate Hike Odds; Credit Spreads Widen; Positive Supply Chain Deals Emerge

Global chip selloff accelerated on July 23 with Dow -506, Nasdaq -2.2%. New triggers: Alphabet/Tesla earnings disappoint on AI capex, oil above $100, rate hike odds 57%. TSMC record revenue but capex hike weighed. Nvidia CDS widens to 69 bps. Real yields surging, credit spreads widening. NVIDIA also announced a $300M joint AI research lab with KAIST in Korea. Tokenized stocks $2.3B milestone. Energy ETFs in focus. Market technicals show recovery attempt on July 24 as oil dipped below $100. Intel filed its 10-Q today. Qualcomm announced double-digit price increases. A contrarian article notes the AI trade is blowing up but the broader market is rotating. Oil slipped further on peace talks hopes. Intel slipped despite AI results. NVIDIA announced a $1B investment with Brookfield (up to $9B) and NAVER to expand Korea's AI factory to 200MW by 2028. Additionally, a $500B HBM supply deal between NVIDIA and SK Hynix was reported, involving co-development and gigawatt-scale data centers by 2027—directly challenging the bearish AI capex narrative by showing concrete supply security and long-term moat. A massive $950B+ in semiconductor and AI infrastructure partnerships between Korean giants (Samsung, SK) and global leaders (Nvidia, Broadcom) was announced, dwarfing previous deals. Sandisk earnings preview suggests another beat likely on Aug 5, adding to memory sector focus. Citi raised S&P 500 target to 8,100 but downgraded tech to neutral, overweight cyclicals, noting one-time items boosting beats.