US Pre-Market: TSMC Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates but Face Sell-Off, Memory Chips Extend Decline, SK Hynix, SanDisk Fall Over 7%

TradingKey - On July 16 Eastern Time, in US premarket trading, the three major stock index futures were mixed. As of press time, Nasdaq 100 Index futures fell 0.91%, S&P 500 Index futures fell 0.28%, and Dow futures rose 0.12%.

[Source: CME Group]

In commodities, international oil prices continued to move higher, with WTI crude oil futures trading around $80 per barrel and Brent crude oil futures at $85.06 per barrel. Gold and silver prices fell back, with spot gold ( XAUUSD) trading around $4,034 per ounce; spot silver ( XAGUSD) trading around $56.6 per ounce.

In the crypto market, Bitcoin is currently trading around $64,180; Ethereum is currently trading around $1,882.

Market Moves

The memory chip sector extended its losses premarket. SK Hynix ( SKHY) fell over 7% premarket, SanDisk ( SNDK ), Western Digital ( WDC) fell nearly 8%, Micron Technology ( MU) fell over 5%, Seagate Technology ( STX) fell 6%.

Large-cap tech stocks were mixed premarket. Apple ( AAPL) rose 0.39%, Amazon ( AMZN) rose 0.58%, Microsoft ( MSFT) rose 1.3%, Google A ( GOOGL) rose 1.01%, Tesla ( TSLA) fell 0.47%, SpaceX ( SPCX) fell 0.33%, Meta ( META) fell 0.02%, Nvidia ( NVDA) fell 1.7%.

Market News

TSMC's Q2 results beat expectations across the board, but a surge in capital expenditure triggered an earnings sell-off. According to the earnings report, TSMC ( TSM) posted Q2 revenue of NT$1.27 trillion (about $40.2 billion), up 36% year-on-year and near the upper end of guidance; net profit was NT$706.6 billion, up 77.4% year-on-year, and the gross margin was 67.7%, both beating expectations. TSMC raised its full-year revenue growth guidance from 30% to 40%, significantly boosted its capital expenditure forecast from $52-56 billion to $60-64 billion, and announced an additional $100 billion investment in the US, bringing its cumulative commitment to $265 billion. Amid market concerns that overly rapid growth in capex will suppress profit margins over the long term, TSMC's US-listed shares tumbled about 5% in premarket trading as of press time.

Jensen Huang secures multiple partnerships during his trip to Japan as Nvidia's physical AI strategy rolls out fully. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang appeared in Tokyo this week to expand robotics development collaboration with four Japanese industrial automation companies—Fanuc, Fujitsu, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and Yaskawa Electric—which will join the Nvidia-led Cosmos Alliance. On the same day, Nvidia announced an official partnership with Noetra Corp to build a 140-megawatt national-level AI factory in Japan based on the Nvidia DSX platform, equipped with 13,750 Vera CPUs and 27,500 Rubin GPUs.

Netflix ( NFLX) earnings due after the bell, with the market focusing on ad revenue progress. Netflix is scheduled to release its second-quarter 2026 earnings today after 4:00 PM Eastern Time. Analysts expect Q2 revenue of approximately $12.58 billion and earnings per share of $0.79. The market will also focus on whether content amortization costs peaked this quarter as expected. Netflix shares have fallen nearly 20% year-to-date and are down about 40% from their all-time high.

Major Events Preview

Despite delivering better-than-expected earnings, TSMC suffered a post-earnings sell-off, with the significant upward revision of its capital expenditure guidance being the signal the market is most concerned about. The memory chip sector faced pressure for two consecutive days, and the chain reaction of the rapid unwinding of SK Hynix's ADR premium continues. Jensen Huang's trip to Japan saw the official implementation of the partnership with Noetra, fully rolling out Nvidia's physical AI strategy in Japan. Netflix's earnings will be released after the market close, with advertising revenue growth and the content cost inflection point taking center stage tonight.