U.S. tech megacaps slide as SpaceX shares return to earth, AI expense concerns grow
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- SpaceX shares dropped about 12% to US$161.81 — their third straight session of losses after last week's post-IPO rally — while the company launched a notes offering; the stock had IPO'd at US$135 and closed its first trading day at US$160.95.
- Alphabet fell 6%, on pace for its biggest one-day drop since May 2025, set to erase more than US$256 billion in market capitalization on AI-spending jitters.
- Google DeepMind senior research scientist and Nobel laureate John Jumper said he was leaving for AI startup Anthropic, marking the lab's latest high-profile departure.
- Amazon lost 4.8%, while Meta Platforms and Microsoft each eased about 3%, with the three stocks combined set to lose more than US$248 billion in market value.
- Micron Technology bucked the selloff, jumping 5.8% to a record high after announcing a strategic agreement with Anthropic to scale next-generation AI infrastructure.
- David Wagner of Aptus Capital Advisors characterized the move as a "broader sector pullback on ongoing anxiety over tech companies' massive capital spend on the AI infrastructure," adding that clearer evidence AI products can justify the spending remains absent.
- Micron, SanDisk, and Western Digital are the best-performing stocks on the S&P 500 so far this year, emerging as the biggest winners of Wall Street's hopes for robust AI-related demand.
Why it matters: Aptus Capital's Wagner framed Monday as a "checks vs. checks" divergence: memory and storage names receiving AI infrastructure dollars (Micron +5.8% to a record) rallied, while hyperscalers writing the checks — Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft — shed roughly US$504 billion combined in market value. The source states investors now want clearer evidence that AI products can generate returns justifying the spending.
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