Tech and chip makers lose $1 trillion in massive AI sell-off

Investors sold off $1.3 trillion from the 20 most valuable chip stocks over the past week, led by Nvidia's $238 billion loss, according to CNBC analysis. Morningstar Chief Equity Strategist Michael Field attributed the decline to sentiment rather than fundamentals, noting that AI companies like OpenAI spend far more than they earn, with OpenAI reporting a $38.5 billion net loss last year.

Tech and chip makers lose $1 trillion in massive AI sell-off Investors are thinking twice about the stocks that have most benefited from the AI boom. The 20 most valuable chip stocks have lost $1.3 trillion over the past week after a big sell-off, according to analysis by CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/29/chip-selloff-sk-hynix-samsung-softbank.html . According to the outlet's data, Nvidia led in losses after investors liquidated $238 billion since the market closed on Friday. There's perhaps no bigger sign that investors are getting cold feet when it comes to artificial intelligence, as Nvidia has benefited more than any other company from the AI boom. You May Also Like Other companies in the memory space have also taken a big hit. SK Hynix lost $176 billion. Samsung is down $173 billion. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. lost $119 billion. Micron shed $113 billion. And AMD is down $110 billion. Terms of Use https://www.ziffdavis.com/terms-of-use and Privacy Policy https://www.ziffdavis.com/ztg-privacy-policy . Tech companies have seen demand in memory and storage skyrocket as AI companies buy out supply to power their insatiable compute needs. Due to this, RAM https://mashable.com/tech/ram-prices-expected-to-rise-nearly-50-percent-ai-boom-report and SSD storage supply has dwindled for everyday consumers. Consumer tech companies like Apple have been forced to institute on their products as a result. https://mashable.com/tech/apple-price-increases-full-list price hikes Despite this, however, investors are seemingly starting to question their AI-related investments. “This decline appears to be driven largely by sentiment rather than fundamentals,” Morningstar's Chief Equity Strategist Michael Field told CNBC. “Simply put, it’s loss of confidence,” he added. “We continue to see upside in many AI names, but these are growth stocks, and, as such, much of their value comes from cash flows expected far out into the future, which requires a lot of faith from investors.” Investor concern surrounding AI technology seems rooted in the fact that while these companies make billions of dollars, they're spending way more than they make. According to recent reporting from the Financial Times https://www.ft.com/content/e15b0d7e-ff6b-4f16-ba7a-4068feddb828 and , AI giant OpenAI had a net loss of $38.5 billion last year. Just this week, OpenAI https://www.wheresyoured.at/exclusive-openai-financials/ Ed Zitron that it will spend $750 billion on infrastructure through 2030. Finally, Google recently experienced https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/22/openais-ai-spending-spree-has-ballooned-to-750b/ announced its first-ever negative cash flow quarter https://mashable.com/tech/google-ai-bill-cash-flow-negative , thanks to spending on AI infrastructure. Of course, investor sentiment on AI can turn around quickly. Topics Artificial Intelligence https://mashable.com/category/artificial-intelligence OpenAI https://mashable.com/category/openai Nvidia https://mashable.com/category/nvidia