Nasdaq 100 Correction Raises Questions About AI Spending Boom

The Nasdaq 100 has entered correction territory, plummeting more than 10% from its recent peak as of July 28. A brutal selloff in semiconductor and memory stocks is behind this decline, raising questions about whether the AI spending boom is a sustainable trend or a bubble waiting to burst.

Dell shares cratered by 13%, while Intel shed 7%. Several memory manufacturers fell roughly 10% during the US session. The anxiety didn't stay contained to US markets, with Asian exchanges getting hit even harder. Samsung and SK Hynix plunged more than 15% due in part to reports of a Chinese state-backed company mass-producing chipmaking equipment.

This isn't the first correction of 2026, as the Nasdaq already went through one back in March that wiped out approximately $17 trillion in value across global markets. The market rout in March led to SpaceX's IPO being a somewhat muted affair, with shares correcting significantly from their initial highs by the time the company was formally added to the index.