demand for semiconductors has never been higher with industry sales increasing by more than 20 each month for almost a year now yet chip stocks are one of the worstperforming sectors in the us market this year that paradox reflects the cliff that investors see looming for the economy and the stock market because of a toxic combination of surging inflation and higher interest rates chips used in everything from cars to computers to factory equipment are seen as one of the sectors in technology that’s most tied to the cycles of the economy