Overview
- Tech and chip stocks plunged in a one-day sell-off that erased an estimated $3.2 trillion after Thursday's market rout, with the Nasdaq down about 5–5.5% and semiconductor indexes falling more than 10%.
- Selling concentrated on firms tied to AI infrastructure, including chipmakers and data-center operators, with big losses for Nvidia, Micron, AMD and cloud-linked 'neocloud' companies.
- The shock spread quickly overseas with Asian markets hit hard and Seoul triggering an automatic trading halt while Tokyo and other indexes fell roughly 5–6%.
- Progressive Democrats and state-level outcomes, notably a Democratic win in Texas tied to promises of data-center moratoria, have raised investor expectations of tougher oversight and congressional hearings in 2027.
- Some companies have already issued reputational and operational responses, such as OpenAI pledging to cover data-center energy costs, but analysts warn that policy uncertainty could slow capital spending and reshape where and how firms build AI infrastructure.