NVIDIA-SK Group $500 Billion AI Deal and $250 Billion OpenAI Guarantee Trigger Global Chip Selloff
NVIDIA and SK Group announced a $500 billion artificial intelligence partnership and a $250 billion financing guarantee for OpenAI, sparking a broad selloff in global semiconductor and Asian equity markets. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell more than 5%, NVIDIA dropped over 5%, and South Korea's stock market triggered a circuit breaker. SK Hynix fell below its IPO price, SanDisk lost more than 11%, and Micron declined over 7% intraday. NVIDIA's credit default swap spreads widened sharply, reflecting growing concerns about the sustainability of AI-related capital expenditure.
Overnight, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index opened more than 5% lower, with NVIDIA shares also falling over 5%. Memory chip stocks, which had been active earlier, suffered even steeper declines. SK Hynix fell below its initial public offering price, SanDisk dropped more than 11%, and Micron recovered some ground late in the session but was down more than 7% at one point. Asian markets followed suit in early trading, with South Korea's stock market triggering a circuit breaker. Markets in Japan, Taiwan, mainland China, and Hong Kong all posted declines of varying degrees.
On the news front, NVIDIA and SK Group reached a $500 billion cooperation plan in the AI field and proposed a $250 billion financing guarantee for OpenAI. This has drawn market attention to a 'circular financing' model in the AI industry chain. NVIDIA previously invested about $5 billion in Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI) in exchange for SSI's commitment to use NVIDIA's next-generation computing platform. It also deeply participated in financing rounds for xAI and OpenAI, securing computing power procurement agreements through strategic partnerships. In June 2026, NVIDIA issued $25 billion in corporate bonds for the first time in five years to fund the above investments and guarantee plans.
Capital expenditure by AI cloud providers remains elevated, but skepticism is growing as the spending erodes corporate profits and cash flow. Return on investment is falling short of targets, and payback periods are lengthening. Google's recent earnings report showed cloud revenue growth of more than 80%, but its shares plunged over 7% on the day after the company raised its capital expenditure guidance. Revenue growth on the AI application side remains sluggish, with no killer application yet achieving large-scale deployment, creating a disconnect between returns and trillion-dollar capital investment.
As the most important hardware supplier for AI, NVIDIA's credit risk indicators have shown volatility. The cost of protection on NVIDIA's five-year credit default swaps rose 0.14 percentage point, with the annualized spread reaching 0.82 percentage point, the largest intraday increase since November 2025. Companies closely tied to the NVIDIA supply chain were also affected, including the CPO and PCB sectors in China's A-share market, as well as the ChiNext and STAR boards, which posted significant declines.