More than $2 trillion is wiped off America's Nasdaq in October as fears over Big Tech's AI spending spree deepen
A Google DeepMind promotional screen introducing Gemini, the AI brand whose new Gemini 4 Carbon model Sundar Pichai unveiled just before Alphabet's earnings call as its shares tumbled over 10%.A two-week Alphabet share-price chart, sourced from Yahoo Finance, showing the plunge that wiped $500 billion from the company's value after profit collapsed 25% to $26.2 billion.
Intel's stock plunged nearly 30% on Friday — its worst single-day drop since 1974 — dragging the Nasdaq down 2.9% for its worst session since June, as a wave of disappointing earnings from Big Tech giants fuelled growing panic over AI spending. Alphabet had already suffered its biggest one-day collapse on record the day before, wiping nearly $500 billion from its market value. The S&P 500 fell 1.8% and finished a third consecutive week in the red.
The trigger: Meta, Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft combined are pouring more than $720 billion into AI data centres this year, yet returns are failing to materialise fast enough to satisfy investors.
Amazon burned through $42.4 billion in free cash flow over the past 12 months, while Advanced Micro Devices fell 11% and Nvidia lost 4% on Friday alone.
Intel described its own outlook as grim, with its finance chief warning the PC slowdown will persist 'at least through the first half of next year' even as it ramps AI spending further.
