ON Semiconductor Falls 5%, NXP Semiconductors Drops 4% as Soft Guidance Revives Auto Chip Worries; Skyworks Ticks Up, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments Dip
On October 28, 2026, soft guidance from NXP Semiconductors revived auto chip worries and sent auto-exposed chipmakers sliding: ON Semiconductor traded at $75 in afternoon trading, down 5%, the biggest drop in the group; NXP was at $245, down 4%; Qualcomm was at $182, down 1%; and Texas Instruments was at $305, down 1%, while smartphone radio-frequency chip maker Skyworks Solutions moved against the selling at $87, up 1%. The source attributes the declines to NXP's soft guidance: after the close on October 27, NXP reported Q3 2026 results with sales of $3.79 billion, up 19% from a year earlier, ahead of Wall Street consensus of $3.76 billion, and adjusted EPS of $4.20, exceeding consensus of $4.12. However, NXP guided Q4 2026 revenue to $3.75 billion to $3.95 billion, a midpoint of $3.85 billion versus consensus of $3.86 billion, and the midpoint implies revenue growth slowing to 15% from a year earlier. NXP's Q3 automotive business, which makes up more than half of company sales, grew 13%, trailing the company's overall pace. TE Connectivity has also named weaker vehicle production as a constraint on its fiscal 2027, and a new $5 billion addition to NXP's buyback has not offset that read. ON Semiconductor sells power chips including silicon carbide devices used in electric-vehicle inverters and industrial power conversion, so auto demand carries more weight for it, which the source says helps explain why ON fell harder than NXP; ON is still up 38% year to date, Texas Instruments up 79% YTD, Qualcomm up 8% YTD, and NXP up 14% YTD even after the drop. The iShares Semiconductor ETF was at $517, up 1%, and the Invesco QQQ Trust at $722, up 0.1%. The source also notes: ON Semiconductor's management called automotive 'very stable with a good outlook' on August 3; a pending acquisition of Synaptics, revised earlier this month, remains a moving piece; and the Federal Reserve's policy decision is scheduled for today.
- Related manufacturers
- ON Semiconductor, NXP Semiconductors, Skyworks Solutions, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, TE Connectivity
- Impact score
- 96 / 100, high impact