Why did the Archer Materials (ASX:AXE) share price crumble 7% today?

The bears have got ahold of the tech company's share price in 2022.

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Key points
  • Archer Materials shares continued their descent today
  • The company released an update today on its progress and operations recently
  • The Archer Materials share price is down more than 14% in the past 12 months

The Archer Materials Ltd (ASX: AXE) share price sunk on Tuesday, closing 7.37% in the red at 88 cents.

Investors offloaded Archer shares at a trading volume almost double the company's 4-week average with more than 961,000 shares changing hands.

Today, the materials technology company released an announcement regarding its "operations and growth". The post was labelled non-price sensitive although investors didn't appear to react positively to it.

Investor looking dismayed at computer screen with falling asx share price

Image source: Getty Images

What did Archer announce?

The premise of the announcement was to provide shareholders with an update on the company's progress on its operations and growth, Archer said.

The company raised $25 million in October to execute its growth strategy which involves "domestic and international capabilities in advanced semiconductor design, fabrication, and prototyping".

Archer also noted it has proceeded to gain access to the Australian Nanofabrication Facility, UNSW Sydney node.

The facilities should help Archer transition from single device-oriented research and development towards small-batch, high-resolution fabrication of nanodevice prototyping.

As part of its biochip development, the company's researchers are preparing for "automated testing" across various other genomic facilities in Sydney.

It also recently expanded its Sydney offices to include "The Quantum Terminal". According to Archer, the terminal is a co-working space that houses organisations within quantum technology, high-performance computing, and artificial intelligence technology spaces.

As well, it will be attending the AusMedtech conference in Melbourne during May 2022 and the BIO international conference in San Diego, scheduled for June 2022.

The market appears to have reacted poorly to the update with investors continuing to offload shares until the closing bell.

Aside from that, the ASX tech sector continued its weakness today, with the S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) finishing down less than 1% today, taking it 24% lower year to date.

This sector weakness also appears to be plaguing Archer's share price as part of a longer-term downtrend.

TradingView Chart

Archer Materials share price snapshot

The Archer Materials share price is down more than 14% in the past 12 months and 22% this year to date.

It's fallen 16% in the past month alone.

At its current share price, the company has a market capitalisation of $219 million.

Motley Fool contributor Zach Bristow has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia's parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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