Market move
Semiconductor shares tumbled as the AI trade lost steam following Democrats' victory in the midterm elections. On Thursday, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index sank 9.2%, putting it on track for its softest session since June, with every constituent negative.
That slide caps a rough stretch. The SOX is off about 12% this week, a pace that would mark its worst weekly performance since April 2025 and a fifth straight weekly decline, the longest such run since that month.
Politics meets the AI buildout
Democrats won control of both the Senate and the House on Tuesday. The vote also surfaced backlash to data centers, and in Texas, Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa called for an immediate moratorium on building them.
Why does that matter? Data centers are the backbone of AI infrastructure and are packed with racks of chips. If spending on those facilities slows, the ripple effects for chipmakers could extend for years.
When markets shift, investors look for tools that can reveal new opportunities. We're hosting our first ever investor livestream on 11/17 to show you how to use ChatGPT and Claude to invest like a pro, hosted by Briefs Finance CEO Jaspreet Singh. Save your seat.
Movers and your portfolio
Selling was broad across semis. Nvidia was down as much as 7.5%, the largest one-day intraday decline since April 2025. Advanced Micro Devices sank 15%, Micron declined 13%, Broadcom fell 7.2%, and Intel slipped 9.2%. Qualcomm tumbled 10% after disappointing results, while Arm dropped 13% after releasing its own results.
The losses spilled over to hardware makers beyond chip designers. Storage names Western Digital and Seagate both declined more than 14%, and so-called neocloud players CoreWeave and Nebius Group NV were down sharply as well. One counterweight came from Deutsche Bank, which said the group looks appealing, particularly compared with software.
Learning how to use new tools can help you gain a thoughtful investing edge. On 11/17, our CEO Jaspreet Singh goes live for our first ever investor livestream on how to use ChatGPT and Claude to invest like a pro. Register to join him.
