A French Networking Deal Signed Mid-Selloff
On 28 July, as chipmaker and AI-infrastructure stocks were sliding on Wall Street, a smaller and distinctly European deal closed in Grenoble. Bull, the French advanced-computing and AI group, and Kalray, the Grenoble-based processor maker listed on Euronext Growth Paris under ALKAL, announced a partnership to develop next-generation high-speed networking for AI and high-performance-computing infrastructure, including compatibility with the emerging Ultra Ethernet standard.1 "This agreement with Bull confirms once again the relevance of our technological vision and the quality of the innovations developed by our teams," said Kalray chief executive Éric Baissus, adding that the collaboration aims to build technologies for the next generation of AI and HPC and to create long-term value for customers worldwide.1
For a European reader tracking this sector, the timing is the story. The Bull-Kalray tie-up did not pause for the rout playing out in US and Asian chip stocks that same week — a reminder that the infrastructure build-out beneath the AI boom and the equity market's pricing of that boom are two different things, and this week they diverged sharply.
The Correction: How Far, and Since When
The proximate trigger was a broad, multi-week slide in semiconductor and AI-infrastructure equities. On 28 July the Nasdaq 100 fell to a 2.75-month low even as the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed to a 1.5-week high; the S&P 500 closed roughly flat while the Dow added 0.738% and the Nasdaq 100 dropped 1.12%, with September E-mini Nasdaq futures down a further 1.20% intraday.2 Chipmaker weakness was a direct drag: Amkor Technology forecast third-quarter net sales of $1.95 billion to $2.05 billion, below the $2.11 billion analysts had expected.2
The scale of the move shows up most clearly in Micron Technology, which fell as much as nearly 40% from its all-time high after the slide began in July, before bouncing 10% off its lows — leaving the stock still roughly 30% below its peak as of 9 August.3 Leverage amplified the swings well before that: the ProShares Ultra Semiconductors fund, a 2x-leveraged bet on the sector, had been up about 69% year to date as of 5 June, from $52.45 at the end of December, and 196% over the prior twelve months, from $29.94 a year earlier.4
A note on sourcing, in keeping with how Via News grades what it publishes: several of the company statements behind the claims below come from press-release wires whose broader claim sets Via News's fidelity checks have found reliable in only about a fifth to a third of cases when checked against primary records. That does not make any individual figure here wrong, but it is a caveat worth carrying into how much weight to place on forward-looking statements from company press offices, as distinct from the tracked financial disclosures cited below.
Consolidation Meets Customer-Side Uncertainty
Two structural shifts are unfolding underneath the price action. The first is consolidation: Skyworks Solutions and Qorvo, both radio-frequency chip suppliers with heavy exposure to smartphone and AI-connected-device demand, used the same day, 28 July, to announce the expected executive leadership team for their combined company, effective once their pending merger closes. "Today's announcement reflects the strong partnership that has shaped our integration planning efforts from the very beginning," said Bob Bruggeworth, adding confidence that the named leaders would "help foster collaboration across our teams" as the combined company builds on its engineering, innovation and customer-focus track record.5
The second is customer-side uncertainty. Apple confirmed that John Ternus, its hardware engineering chief, will become chief executive on 1 September — the company's first CEO change since Tim Cook succeeded Steve Jobs nearly fifteen years ago, with Cook moving to an executive chairman role.6 Separately, power-semiconductor supplier Vicor disclosed that its lead computing customer is due to transition from Gen 4 to Gen 5/VPD technology in the second half of 2026, with a ramp expected before year-end7 — a generation changeover that is itself a period of execution risk for any supplier this concentrated on one relationship. Vicor's own scale gives that transition weight: the company reported trailing-twelve-month revenue of $471.7 million and net income of $136.7 million, against a market capitalization of $11.3 billion as of the 6 July close, in a disclosure that also flagged a $211,680 share sale by its chief executive.8
Washington Buys In
The clearest sign that public money now treats the AI chip build-out as strategic infrastructure, not just a commercial cycle, came on 29 July: GlobalFoundries signed a letter of intent with the US Department of Commerce under which the CHIPS Research and Development Office is expected to award the company $300 million to accelerate development of next-generation silicon photonics — technology GlobalFoundries describes as moving data "at the speed of light" and underpinning the AI and high-performance-computing data centers driving the global economy.9 AMD, which relies on GlobalFoundries for advanced packaging work, welcomed the move. "As AI systems scale, moving data efficiently is as critical as increasing compute performance," said AMD's Mark Papermaster. "Silicon photonics and advanced packaging will be key to delivering the bandwidth, energy efficiency, and system-level connectivity required for the next generation of AI cluster infrastructure. We welcome GF's continued U.S.-based investment."9
For European readers this is a data point rather than a direct one: it is a US federal award to a US-headquartered company, and nothing in the underlying record here describes a parallel European program. What it does confirm is the broader pattern — state capital is now explicitly entering AI chip infrastructure financing on top of private capex, which raises the stakes of the current valuation correction being read correctly.
The Demand Case: Korea, SK Hynix and Nvidia
The strongest counter-evidence to a demand-side AI slowdown comes from Korea. On 24 July, South Korean president Lee Jae Myung met with Jensen Huang, Sam Altman and the heads of Samsung, SK Group, Hyundai Motor and Naver in San Francisco; by the end of that day, roughly $950 billion in new AI agreements had reportedly been signed, positioning South Korea centrally in the next phase of the AI infrastructure build-out.10 Nvidia's expanded relationship with SK Hynix is part of that picture: the expansion includes what Nvidia describes as a co-development opportunity on SK Hynix's next-generation AI memory. "The expansion will include a co-develop opportunity for us on the next-generation SK Hynix AI memory, and this will help us secure a stable supply of HBM memory," said Nvidia's Raj Mirpuri.10 Locking in high-bandwidth memory supply — the binding constraint on AI accelerator production — is the kind of commitment that only makes sense if the demand behind it is expected to persist well past the current equity correction.
Earnings Underneath the Panic
Away from the mega-cap names driving index-level moves, smaller suppliers are reporting growth that argues for correction rather than collapse. Solitron Devices, a West Palm Beach-based supplier, reported fiscal 2027 first-quarter net sales up 101% to roughly $5.44 million, versus $2.70 million a year earlier, with backlog up 28% to $23.34 million.11 Net bookings fell 48% to $1.45 million, but the company said it expects revenue to continue "at this level or greater for the remainder of the 2027 fiscal year," citing strong backlog.11 It also flagged a $0.33 million increase to a contingent-consideration liability tied to its MEI earn-out, driven by a large order received after the quarter closed11 — a small but concrete sign of order flow still arriving faster than guidance anticipated.
What to Watch
For a European audience tracking this from the investment and supply-chain side, four threads are worth following into the autumn: whether the Bull-Kalray Ultra Ethernet collaboration produces shipping products or stays at the memorandum stage; whether the Skyworks-Qorvo merger closes on the leadership terms announced; how Vicor's customer performs through its Gen 4 to Gen 5/VPD ramp in the second half of 2026, given how concentrated Vicor's revenue is on that relationship; and whether Amkor's actual third-quarter results land nearer its own guidance or nearer the higher consensus it undercut. None of these resolves the question the market spent late July asking — whether the AI capex cycle is intact or merely maturing — but each is a verifiable data point that will land before the broader debate does.
