AI Spending Narrative Dominates Markets as Chipmakers Outshine Software

The technology sector was dominated by the narrative of AI spending last week as investors favored chipmakers and infrastructure firms while software stocks faced pressure.

IBM suffered its worst week on record, falling 26% after weak preliminary second-quarter results. The company attributed part of the slowdown to customers prioritizing investments in AI infrastructure over software-related spending.

Nokia's shares slumped 18% despite launching its AI-RAN platform designed to improve network performance using AI instead of hardware upgrades.