THE PARTY IS OVER, OR AT LEAST THE BILL JUST ARRIVED! US tech stocks tumbled for a second straight day on Friday as investors balk at the hundreds of billions of dollars being poured into artificial intelligence, the BBC reported.
Intel shares plummeted by as much as 30%, putting the chipmaker on track to lose more than $130bn in value. That came a day after Google owner Alphabet’s market value plunged by more than $500bn. The tech-heavy Nasdaq sank more than 3.5%.
Intel’s finance chief David Zinsner said the firm didn’t expect to bring in more cash than it spent this year, forecast weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue, and said: “Looking ahead, we see the PC slowdown continuing at least through the first half of next year.” And yet it plans to spend even more on equipment.
The carnage spread. Reddit fell 26% after weaker daily user numbers and a warning that Google’s AI search is hurting referral traffic. Roblox dropped nearly 20%. Amazon, which has committed to $220bn in spending this year and revealed it spent more cash than it made, was down about 1.6% after sliding as much as 6% overnight.
The big picture: Meta, Alphabet, Oracle, Amazon and Microsoft have committed to spending $800.6bn between them in 2026. “Investors have turned ruthless, punishing any signs of disappointment,” said Kathleen Brookes of XTB. “The AI trade has had a good run in recent years, but now investors want payback.”
Perspective check: the Nasdaq is still up 7.6% over the past year. But if AI stocks keep stumbling, Brookes warns, “it could suggest the AI trade is past its peak.”
Featured image: AI-generated editorial illustration by Bugle Blast.
Sources: BBC News
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