A selloff in chipmakers sent stocks lower as a news report on OpenAI’s revenue intensified worries that the artificial-intelligence spending spree is becoming harder to justify.
Equities extended losses after the Financial Times said revenue at the ChatGPT developer is about $20 billion less than has been previously signaled. The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.6%. A gauge of semiconductor giants sank 3.5%. Brent crude pared its gain as President Donald Trump said the US won’t attack Iran before the midterm elections. Treasuries rose on a solid sale of 30-year bonds.
OpenAI was on track to generate annualized revenue of nearly $50 billion based on its performance as of the end of September, the Financial Times reported. The figure represents a significant jump from the year prior, but less than the nearly $70 billion revenue run rate that some outlets had reported.
Investors are questioning how long AI spending can last, especially as companies’ big investment plans come under pressure because of rising borrowing costs around the world.
The reaction to Samsung Electronics Co. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s blowout results was muted amid worries about the staying power of an investment boom propped up by rising debt levels.
“In other words, investors are becoming a bit skeptical about how long this huge AI spending can last with borrowing costs rising in a significant way,” said Matt Maley at Miller Tabak.
Elevated borrowing costs can pressure stock valuations and raise the bar for companies to deliver strong results, particularly after the market’s recent advance, according to Bret Kenwell at etoro.
“We retain strong conviction in the AI growth story, and believe AI-related investment remains a powerful tailwind for the broader equity market,” Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi at UBS Chief Investment Office said in a recent note. “But the increasing concentration of market gains reinforces the importance of managing risk through a broadly diversified equity portfolio.”
This is particularly relevant to AI, where it is not yet clear how value creation will ultimately be distributed among chip designers, cloud providers, model developers, and application companies, she added.
“Ongoing questions over returns on investment, AI safety, financing, and execution could also contribute to periods of volatility, especially while elevated yields increase the cost of capital,” Hoffmann-Burchardi noted. “Diversification can help investors retain exposure to the structural opportunity without relying excessively on a narrow group of market leaders.”
Corporate Highlights:
- The Trump administration said it would suspend an immigration program for multiple tech firms, including Microsoft Corp. · , alleging widespread abuse of a worker visa system.
- Oracle Corp. · is using a novel power strategy to keep several data centers on track: trucking natural gas directly to the server farms.
- Broadcom Inc. has held early discussions to arrange financing to help OpenAI purchase the custom AI chips the pair is developing together, according to people familiar with the matter.
- Alphabet Inc. · ’s Google announced a Gemini agent for the workplace, ramping up competition with OpenAI, Anthropic PBC and Microsoft Corp. for corporate customers.
- Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. · jumped after the Financial Times reported that Starbucks Corp. has worked with advisers in recent months on a takeover proposal for the burrito chain.
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Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- The S&P 500 fell 0.7% as of 2:04 p.m. New York time
- The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.6%
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
- The MSCI World Index fell 0.7%
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
- The euro rose 0.1% to $1.1209
- The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.3228
- The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 157.74 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
- Bitcoin fell 3.3% to $80,617.63
- Ether fell 6.1% to $2,415.84
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined five basis points to 5.23%
- Germany’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 3.49%
- Britain’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 5.48%
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude rose 4.1% to $91.90 a barrel
- Spot gold rose 0.5% to $4,130.93 an ounce