U.S. technology shares gave back their post-election advance Thursday as investors weighed whether newly elected officials would curb data-center construction, a source of recent growth for chipmakers, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported.
The Nasdaq Composite fell more than 5% in late-morning ET trading before paring its losses, AFP said. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped more than 8%. Nvidia fell more than 6%, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) lost 12% and Micron Technology declined 11%.
AFP reported that opposition to data centers spans political affiliations and that some midterm winners had proposed pausing new projects. The agency linked recent revenue growth at Nvidia, AMD and Micron to technology companies’ expansion of AI data centers.
AFP also cited recovering oil prices as a drag on equities. Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, told AFP that the prospect of congressional action toward the technology industry was adding to investor uncertainty. Beauchamp said AI shares had propelled this year’s market rally and that uncertainty could unsettle sentiment, AFP reported.
EconoTimes has previously covered investor concerns about AI spending and technology stocks.
