Philadelphia Semiconductor Index Sinks 12.25% as Democrats Take Congress

Chip Stocks Slide on Data Center Regulation Fears

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index sank 12.25% on Thursday and the three main US averages logged their worst single session since April 2025, after midterm elections handed Democrats control of both the Senate and the House. The Nasdaq Composite fell 5.52%, a slide that pushed the index into correction territory, defined as a drop of more than 10% from a recent peak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up 1,833 points to close at 51,523.06, while the S&P 500 shed 4.36% and finished at 7,353.73. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, the benchmark for US-listed chip designers and equipment makers, fell further than any of the broad averages, the group most exposed to data center spending. AI data center spending has carried chip valuations through this cycle, and a stricter regulatory posture threatens that spending line first. Market participants tied the repricing to the regulatory outlook for artificial intelligence and data center construction under a Democratic Congress. The ballot box reinforced the same concern: 41 local referendums restricting data center development appeared across 10 states, and voters approved every one of them except the measure in Harwood, North Dakota. Senator Bernie Sanders called for a nationwide pause on data center building, and in Texas, governor-elect Gina Hinojosa urged an immediate halt to development in the state. Chip and infrastructure names absorbed the selling. NVIDIA (NVDA) dropped 9.26% to $181.60, cutting its market value by about $447 billion in a single day. Qualcomm (QCOM) fell 9.49% to $156.75 after guidance pointed to margin pressure in chip design, while Micron (MU) and AMD each collapsed more than 17%. The decline ran across the sector rather than staying with one or two large names. The Nasdaq 100 lost 6.4% on the day, a drawdown of roughly $2.3 trillion in market value in a single session.

Bitcoin at $75,449, Taiwan Futures Down 7%

The same risk-off wave crossed into digital assets and Asian markets. Bitcoin fell 6.19% over 24 hours to $75,449.00, a reversal from the previous day's high that took the asset through the $76,000 level. Ethereum declined more sharply, down 8.53% to $2,217.30, outpacing both Bitcoin and the Nasdaq Composite's 5.52% fall. Market commentary connected the crypto slide to liquidity pressure created by the technology selloff rather than to any digital-asset-specific event, as investors tracked capital moving out of high-risk positions and into defensive instruments. Traditional havens recorded the flip side of the same flow: the 10-year US Treasury yield slipped about 6 basis points to 4.83%, spot gold rose to $4,082.01 per ounce, and both West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude advanced. Crude's advance alongside gold made the defensive rotation visible across commodities as well as rates. Asia absorbed the second-order hit. Taiwan index futures fell 2,946 points in the night session, a decline of 7.03%. TSMC's American depositary receipts sank 10.76%, and TSMC futures on the island dropped NT$221 to NT$2,026, leaving the cash market under pressure into Friday's open. TSMC, the island's largest listed company, transmits the US chip selloff directly into Taiwan's market. Taiwan's weighted index now defends its annual line, measured at 38,784.53 points. Foreign investors have sold Taiwan equities on the spot market for six consecutive sessions, and net short futures positions have kept building, so institutional positioning entered the day defensive. The six sessions of foreign selling predate the election result, meaning the electoral shock landed on a market already positioned defensively. In the over-the-counter market, smaller-capitalization and high-valuation groups, including silicon photonics, IC design and substrate names, face forced selling from margin calls. Whether limit-down stocks can open during the early session is the market's gauge of buying support.

Nonfarm Payrolls Report Due Friday

Thursday's election result repriced the spending assumptions behind the AI infrastructure buildout, and that trade had been the marginal buyer across both chip equities and crypto, which is why a 12.25% index drop and a Bitcoin break of $76,000 landed in the same session rather than in sequence. Correlation is not proof of causation, but the simultaneous move across Treasuries, gold, chips and digital assets points to one deleveraging impulse rather than several. The defense of 38,784.53 on Taiwan's weighted index and the behavior of limit-down stocks at Friday's open will show whether forced selling has run its course. The October US nonfarm payrolls report, due Friday, now carries extra weight for rate expectations and for the next direction of the risk trade.