Nvidia’s low exposure to China doesn’t matter as traders dump the stock anyway
The DeepSeek hangover resumes, with the chip designer seemingly very sensitive to any and all bad news.
Stocks around the world are being buffeted by tariff announcements and delays out of the White House, and semiconductors are no exception.
The imposition of a 10% tariff on US imports from China has sparked a sell-off in the industry that facilitates and benefits from the AI boom, as the potential for retaliatory measures or further export restrictions weighs on the group. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF is down 1.8% as of 1:25 p.m. ET.
Compared to its peers, Nvidia doesn’t rely on China as a critical source of top-line growth, due in part to the limits on its ability to supply the world’s second-largest economy with its most powerful chips.
What the stock does appear to have, however, is a heightened sensitivity to any and all bad news following the emergence of DeepSeek in light of how much shares have rallied and how high expectations for growth are.
Despite having far lower sales to China as a share of its total than peers Qualcomm or Broadcom, Nvidia’s stock is still suffering far more today:
TSMC, a key partner for the chip designer that’s right next door to China, is off 3.7% as of 1:25 p.m. ET.
