Chip rout deepens as DeepSeek's silicon push and Samsung jolt Wall Street

A report that China's DeepSeek is building its own AI chip, paired with underwhelming Samsung earnings, sent semiconductors tumbling and knocked the market off record highs.

The Nasdaq fell 1.16% and the S&P 500 slipped 0.45% on Tuesday as investors dumped chip names after Reuters reported that DeepSeek has begun designing an inference chip to cut its reliance on Nvidia and Huawei. Micron closed down 4.7%, with Broadcom, AMD, Marvell and KLA all lower and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF sliding more than 3%. The pullback stalled the S&P 500's march toward a fresh record, even as oil jumped on renewed tensions around the Strait of Hormuz.