Tech Selloff Deepens as AI Spending Doubts Hit Nasdaq, SpaceX
Cover image from finance.yahoo.com, which was analyzed for this article
Nasdaq and Big Tech shares tumbled with SpaceX also slumping post-IPO as investors questioned AI spending levels. Global markets followed lower with oil prices reacting to Iran developments.
PoliticalOS
Tuesday, June 23, 2026 — Business
The core uncertainty remains whether AI infrastructure spending will produce measurable revenue gains before valuations compress further. Markets are registering that doubt through broad selling in chip and hyperscale names, with SpaceX's post-IPO reversal serving as the clearest single-stock illustration.
What outlets missed
No outlet examined the specific terms or size of SpaceX's senior notes offering or how the $100.8 billion cash position might buffer further volatility. Coverage also omitted any detail on how the Reflection computing agreement could affect SpaceX revenue recognition or valuation multiples. Broader context on whether recent Fed rate expectations already priced into futures was absent, leaving the monetary-policy angle as a standalone data point rather than integrated with the AI-spending narrative.
Investors are confronting steep losses in technology shares as questions intensify over whether the enormous capital outlays on artificial intelligence will generate returns quickly enough to justify current valuations. The pullback follows a rapid post-IPO surge in SpaceX shares that has now reversed sharply.
Futures on the Nasdaq 100 pointed to a decline exceeding 2.5 percent on Tuesday, which would erase more than $1 trillion in index market value if realized, according to Reuters calculations. SpaceX, which completed its U.S. debut on June 12, has lost more than $600 billion in market value across the prior three sessions and traded at $149.10 in premarket action, down 3.6 percent and only about 9 percent above its $135 offering price. Its market capitalization stood near $1.95 trillion.
Chip stocks led the declines. Intel fell 6.8 percent, Advanced Micro Devices dropped 5.2 percent, Micron Technology lost 8 percent, and SanDisk and Western Digital each declined more than 7 percent. South Korea's Kospi index closed 10 percent lower, with SK Hynix and Samsung each off more than 12 percent. In Europe the Stoxx 600 shed about 1 percent, led by a 3 percent drop in its technology sub-index.
Six of the seven largest technology companies by market value also traded lower in premarket action, with combined losses projected at $345 billion. Traders have increased bets on Federal Reserve rate increases totaling 50 basis points by December, up from expectations of a single 25-basis-point move two weeks earlier, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool.
Company disclosures show SpaceX held $100.8 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of June 19 and announced a senior unsecured notes offering along with a computing agreement granting Reflection access to its Colossus infrastructure. Analysts noted that the moves represent routine volatility rather than a fundamental breakdown, with one describing the session as another "gut check moment" in the ongoing AI expansion.
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