On June 5th, the global AI semiconductor sector suffered an epic blow, with the US chip stock market evaporating over $1 trillion in value in a single day, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index experiencing its deepest decline of nearly 8.5%. There is a clear differentiation in the segmented tracks: Micron plummeted by 13.25%, AMD plummeted by 10.86%, Broadcom and Nvidia both experienced significant corrections, and the entire AI hardware track fell into collective panic.

But the recovery market after the sharp decline completely overturned the previous trading logic of the market. In just three trading days, the market direction quickly reversed: on June 8th, the US stock market Micron rebounded strongly by nearly 10%, and on June 9th, South Korean semiconductor leaders SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics rose simultaneously. Unlike the previous pattern of AI market generally rising, this round of repair is not a comprehensive return, but a structural optimization within the sector. Funds have not fled the AI semiconductor track, but have instead focused on the storage sector, revealing the most critical change in the current AI market: AI investment has officially moved from the valuation expansion stage of "speculating on expectations and stories" to the fundamental realization stage of "verifying performance and realizing profits".

1、 The sharp decline is not a collapse of demand, but a concentrated stress test with high expectations

The core cause of this round of semiconductor market crash is the extreme overdraft of valuation expectations in the AI track, rather than the decline in real industry demand. The key signal triggering a market adjustment is the poor financial report expectations of the core leader Broadcom. From fundamental data, Broadcom's performance remains impressive: its revenue in the second quarter of the 2026 fiscal year reached $22.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 48%. It is also expected that the total revenue in the third quarter will climb to $29.4 billion, and the year-on-year growth rate of AI semiconductor business revenue will exceed 200%.

The impressive growth data failed to stabilize the stock price and instead triggered a concentrated sell-off of funds, with the core reason being that the market valuation threshold has significantly increased. Over the past year, the AI semiconductor industry has continued to thrive, accumulating high market expectations across the industry. Funds are no longer satisfied with the vague narrative of "high growth". For the current market, simply binding to the AI track and relying on capital expenditure expansion is no longer sufficient to support high valuations. The growth slope, profit realization ability, and quarterly performance guidance of enterprises must fully match the overdrawn stock price.

In other words, the sharp decline on June 5th was not a signal of a collapse in demand for the AI industry, but a systematic stress test of highly crowded trading and overvalued expectations. The market trading logic has undergone a thorough iteration: from the early era of "as long as AI is involved, there will be a premium", to the differentiated era of "only those who land and make profits can obtain funding recognition".

2、 Preferred fund storage: Shortest EPS cash chain, most authentic fundamental verification

In this round of rebound, the storage sector stood out, with its core advantage not being superior to popular directions such as GPUs, ASICs, and optical modules in terms of track growth, but having the shortest and most verifiable earnings per share (EPS) transmission chain in the entire AI industry chain. In the stage of strict performance verification in the market, a profit logic that can be implemented, quantified, and reported becomes the optimal solution for capital hedging layout.

The core expansion of the AI industry is essentially the synchronous expansion of computing power and storage. The incremental demand for AI servers directly drives the supply and demand gap of high value-added storage products such as HBM high bandwidth memory, high-end server DRAM, and enterprise grade SSD. The expansion of computing power clusters for cloud vendors and AI technology enterprises cannot be separated from the support of GPU supporting memory and large capacity server storage. This demand logic is direct, rigid, and quickly implemented.

More importantly, top storage manufacturers actively adjust their production capacity structure, concentrating production capacity on high-end AI storage products with high gross margins, directly leading to a contraction in the supply of traditional DRAM and NAND flash memory. On one hand, there is an outbreak of incremental demand for AI, while on the other hand, traditional production capacity is being reduced, and the imbalance between supply and demand is driving the continuous surge in storage contract prices. TrendForce data shows that in the second quarter of 2026, traditional DRAM contract prices increased by 58% -63% month on month, NAND flash memory increased by 70% -75% month on month, and global DRAM industry revenue increased by as much as 81% month on month in the first quarter.

Price increases are directly transmitted to corporate financial reports, forming a complete profit loop, which is also the core barrier of the storage sector. Micron achieved revenue and gross profit margin in the second quarter of fiscal year 2026 EPS、 Multiple historical records of free cash flow, a significant increase in data center business revenue, and a clear expectation that the third quarter performance will continue to reach new highs, AI storage has transformed from a long-term narrative to a tangible current revenue pillar.

The performance of South Korea's storage giants is a direct confirmation of the industry's prosperity. SK Hynix's operating profit margin for the first quarter of 2026 was as high as 72%, driven entirely by high value-added products such as HBM, high-end server DRAM, and enterprise SSDs. At the same time, South Korea's semiconductor exports surged 169.4% year-on-year in May, with exports accounting for over 40% for the first time. National level industry data further confirms that the high prosperity of the storage industry has penetrated into the macro level, and its authenticity is irrefutable.

3、 Compared to other AI tracks: narrative surplus, insufficient fulfillment

Through horizontal comparison of the industrial chain, it is clearer to see the underlying logic of selecting the best funding in this round. The current core AI fields such as GPUs, ASICs, and optical modules still have long-term growth potential, but in terms of short-term performance realization, they are far behind the storage sector.

GPU, as the core of AI computing power, is the "main valve" of industry demand, and its growth potential is beyond doubt. However, the current market is fully familiar with the growth logic and profit model of GPU leaders such as Nvidia, with long-term high valuations. The stock price is highly susceptible to factors such as export controls, supply chain constraints, technological iteration pace, and poor performance expectations, resulting in relatively limited short-term performance certainty.

The ASIC custom chip track relies on the wave of self-developed cloud vendors, with a solid long-term logic, but it belongs to a typical "project-based business". High customer concentration, long project introduction cycles, unstable production pace, and frequent platform iterations result in unclear revenue visibility, making it difficult to form stable and predictable quarterly profit growth.

The fields of optical modules and high-speed interconnection also face similar problems. Industry demand relies on AI cluster architecture upgrades, new generation product certifications, and customer bulk shipment rhythms. Performance realization is highly dependent on long-term capital expenditure planning, and it is difficult to verify through financial reports and price data in the short term. In the stage of high market demand for performance verification, it is naturally neglected by funding.

On the other hand, the storage sector has formed a complete closed loop of demand explosion, capacity optimization, price increase, revenue growth, gross profit margin improvement, and EPS realization. Each link is supported by industry data, corporate financial reports, and import and export data, without relying on long-term imagination. It is the only track in the current AI industry chain that can achieve "full chain verifiability".

4、 Rationally view the market: Storage is the preferred stage, not the ultimate main line

It should be clarified that the leading rebound in the storage sector this round is the result of a temporary style switch in the market, and does not mean that the value of the storage track surpasses core links such as GPUs and ASICs. At the same time, the storage sector still faces cyclical risks and uncertainties.

As a typical cyclical industry, a surge in storage prices is likely to stimulate the industry to increase production capacity, while excessively high product prices may suppress the purchasing willingness of end customers; The yield ramp up, customer share allocation, and annual contract pricing of HBM products still have variables, and not all price increases can be converted into corporate profits without loss. Once the slope of subsequent storage price increases slows down and customer orders fall short of expectations, the current EPS upward revision logic will also face correction.

Meanwhile, other AI tracks have not completely lost their opportunities. If the subsequent ASIC, optical module, equipment materials and other links are delivered with orders that exceed expectations, clear customer import progress and performance guidance, the market is likely to give a new valuation premium. The long-term growth logic of AI semiconductors has not changed, but there has been a shift in short-term trading priorities.

Conclusion

The sharp decline on June 5th completely put an end to the AI semiconductor market's "lying and winning" trend, and the industry valuation system has undergone fundamental restructuring. The market no longer pays for empty forward narratives, but only recognizes quantifiable, implementable, and verifiable real performance.

The strong rebound of the storage sector in this round is essentially due to funds prioritizing the track with the strongest profit certainty for layout after risk appetite repair. In the new round of market trends in the AI industry, the era of "story is king" has come to an end, and the era of "performance is king" has officially begun. Whoever can quickly convert industry demand into financial profits will be able to dominate the market.