Shares of Apple suppliers fall after Barclays downgrades iPhone maker

Shares of Apple suppliers fell in Asia on Wednesday after Barclays downgraded the iPhone maker on issues that demand for its merchandise would stay weak in 2024.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company fell greater than 2% in Wednesday morning buying and selling. TSMC is a high producer of the world’s most superior processors for corporations akin to Apple and Nvidia.

One other main Apple provider Hon Hai Technology Group, also referred to as Foxconn, dropped 1.33%. Taiwan-based Foxconn is the world’s largest contract electronics maker and assembles Apple’s iPhones.

Expertise and chip shares together with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix dropped greater than 2%, whereas LG Electronics fell 1.78%, dragging South Korea’s Kospi decrease 1.85%.

“We’re seeing that suppliers are nonetheless seeing sturdy progress on the iPhone 15. We’re in the midst of a supercycle,” stated Ray Wang of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Analysis on CNBC’s “Avenue Indicators Asia.”

“There’s nonetheless 200 to 300 million iPhones that get changed onto 5G, at the very least for the subsequent 24 months, so I am unsure precisely the downgrade on progress, however on valuation, I can perceive perhaps that is the place the hit shall be,” Wang advised CNBC on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Barclays downgraded Apple’s stock to underweight and trimmed its worth goal to $160 from $161, citing weak point in iPhone 15 gross sales, signaling seemingly decrease demand for iPhone 16 and different merchandise. Apple shares closed 3.58% decrease on Tuesday.

“We’re nonetheless selecting up weak point on iPhone volumes and blend, in addition to a scarcity of bounce-back in Macs, iPads and wearables,” stated analyst Tim Lengthy on Tuesday, in a be aware to purchasers.

UBS in a Jan. 3 report stated that TSMC was “poised for a powerful rebound in 2024” and maintained a purchase ranking regardless of trimming its worth goal to 750 Taiwan {dollars} from 760 Taiwan {dollars}.

“We expect TSMC is in a candy spot for progress over the subsequent 18 months from its very excessive share on 4-nanometer and 3-nanometer and leverage to builds on cloud AI plus positioned to learn from any rise in edge AI lifting giant endpoint markets of PC, smartphone and IoT,” stated UBS.

– CNBC’s Shreyashi Sanyal contributed to this report.