[Anchor]

Overnight in the U.S. stock market, semiconductor stocks plunged for the second consecutive day. It appears that profit-taking selling has poured in once again, as concerns that semiconductor demand may soon peak have not been resolved.

Kim Beom-joo reports from New York.

[Reporter]

Semiconductor-related stocks in the New York stock market fell in unison for the second straight day.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which dropped 6% yesterday (July 2), fell another 5.4% today (July 3).

When semiconductor stocks fell in the New York market yesterday, the Korean KOSPI index wavered in response, and this impact is being assessed as having circled back to hit the New York market once again.

Looking at individual companies, shares of SanDisk, one of the representative semiconductor stocks, plummeted 14%.

Compared to the all-time high recorded a week ago, the stock price has fallen 25%.

Shares of Micron, a leading memory semiconductor company, also dropped 5.5%.

Market outlooks remain divided.

Some analysts are again suggesting that this is merely a temporary correction, as has happened periodically in the past.

[Anna Rathbun, Chief Investment Officer at Grenadilla: When investors make money from tech companies, they often cash out and move their capital into other stocks.]

Conversely, some point out that fundamental questions are being raised again about whether investment in artificial intelligence can be sustained at this level.

There are projections that instead of continuing to purchase large volumes of semiconductors even as prices rise, AI development companies may focus on developing technologies that use fewer semiconductors.

Meanwhile, the won-dollar exchange rate closed at 1,540 won per dollar in night trading, bolstered by the strength of the yen.

(Video reporting: Lee Hee-hoon, Video editing: Kim Jong-mi)

Reported by Kim Beom-joo | Video by Lee Hee-hoon | Video Editing by Kim Jong-mi | Produced by SBS Digital News