Memory chip stocks fall 3% despite Goldman dismissing China threat

Memory chip stocks SK Hynix, SanDisk, and Micron each fell 3% on Friday despite Goldman Sachs advising clients that fears over China's CXMT competition in advanced memory are overblown. Goldman argued the market overestimates how quickly CXMT can close the technology gap, particularly in high-bandwidth memory used for AI servers. SK Hynix and Micron are key HBM suppliers, while SanDisk's flash storage is seen as less exposed to the CXMT threat. The selloff follows CXMT's announcement of progress on a denser memory-chip design earlier this week. The Roundhill Memory ETF dropped 2%, while the broader tech-focused QQQ fell just 0.3%, highlighting sector-specific pressure.