Opinion: AI Capital Spending Concerns Escalate, Global Tech Stocks Simultaneously Under Pressure

BlockBeats News, June 26th. As the impact of Micron's (MU) financial report continued to ferment, global tech stocks experienced a widespread sell-off. Large-cap tech stocks such as Apple (AAPL) also saw a sharp decline, triggering market concerns about the profit outlook of traditional tech giants. Analysts pointed out that although Apple has not deeply participated in the AI infrastructure capital expenditure race, facing rising AI supply chain costs and pressure to adjust product prices, the market is worried that price increases may dampen end-demand, further affecting revenue and profit performance in the coming quarters, prompting investors to take profits.

At the same time, the market focus has shifted from AI computing power demand to capital returns. Bloomberg compiled data shows that the massive free cash flow accumulated by the world's top five hyperscale cloud providers over the past two decades has significantly shrunk in the past two years under the intense AI capital expenditure drive. Analysts believe that the current market is presenting a "sell the shovels to make money, buy the shovels under pressure" trading logic—AI hardware and semiconductor suppliers are benefiting from ongoing orders leading to stock price increases, while cloud computing and internet giants undertaking massive AI investments are facing pressure on cash flow and profitability. If future AI hardware costs continue to rise, and the AI infrastructure construction cycle, as mentioned by Huang Renxun, is expected to last about ten years, who will ultimately bear the continuous investment and how to achieve commercial returns, will become the core test for the global tech stock valuations.