Chip Investors, Watch Out: China’s CXMT Plunges Despite Record Forecast After Samsung’s Post-Outlook Slide

Investors are watching the moves in global chipmakers ahead of quarterly reports from Micron and SanDisk in the coming weeks.

• CXMT said it expects an eightfold jump in nine-month revenue, but shares fell.
• Last week, Wells Fargo cut its price target for Western Digital to $450 from $730 after the selloff.
• Western Digital is scheduled to report its Q1 results on Thursday and SanDisk will report next week.

Shares of ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) plunged nearly 8% on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Monday despite the Chinese memory giant forecasting an eightfold jump in revenue in the nine months through September.

Along with the slide in Samsung’s stock earlier after the South Korean chip giant forecast a record $80 billion in quarterly operating profit, a trend is emerging: more investors are booking profits and calling the top.

The moves are notable given that U.S. chip firms are gearing up to report their quarterly earnings in the coming weeks – starting with memory firms Western Digital (WDC) on Thursday and SanDisk (SNDK) next week.

Chip stocks were higher in overnight trading ahead of Monday’s session. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) gained 2.6% after its worst weekly fall in seven months last week.

Selloff In CXMT, Samsung A Warning?

CXMT, an emerging player in the memory chips market after its strong IPO in July, said late Friday that it expects revenue of between 265 billion yuan and 270 billion yuan ($39.61 billion to $40.36 billion) for the first nine months of 2026, up from 32.08 billion yuan a year earlier.

The chipmaker expects net profit of 131 billion yuan to 132.5 billion yuan for the period, compared with a net loss of 5.3 billion yuan a year earlier, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

The forecasts underscore robust demand for memory chips used for AI-related workloads, a trend that has boosted memory producers' businesses and stock prices globally. However, selling pressure has intensified recently, creating a complicated setup for U.S. chipmakers’ earnings.

Micron (MU), SanDisk and Western Digital shares fell 14.6% to 17.9% last week amid renewed fears about the durability and return on investment from top companies' AI-linked spending.

Earlier this month, Samsung shares fell sharply after the chipmaker and consumer tech giant forecast $80 billion in operating profit for the third quarter, a first for the company and more than twice what Samsung made for all of 2025.

Samsung will report its full Q3 results on Oct. 29.

Expectations From Micron, SanDisk Reports

Analysts expect Western Digital’s fiscal Q1 revenue to rise 47% to $4.14 billion, marking the highest growth in two years, according to Koyfin.

Adjusted profit is seen rising 129% to $4.08 per share. For SanDisk, Q1 revenue is expected to rise 363% to $10.68 billion, and adjusted profit is expected to rise nearly 3,700% to $46.27 per share.

Last week, Wells Fargo lowered its price target on WDC to $450 from $730, but kept an ‘Overweight’ rating after the recent decline in shares, according to the investor note summary on TheFly. The research firm still sees over 25% to 30% revenue growth and a path to over 60% to 65% gross margin, it said.

Year to date, WDC stock is up 93% and SNDK is up over 447%. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for the tickers was ‘bearish’ and ‘bullish,’ respectively.

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