Viewpoint: Mounting concerns over AI capital expenditure are weighing on global tech stocks across the board.

Against the backdrop of ongoing fallout from Micron Technology’s (MU) earnings report, global tech stocks have faced broad sell-offs, with major tech giants including Apple (AAPL) also plummeting sharply, stoking market concerns over the profit outlook of traditional tech leaders. Analysts noted that while Apple has not been deeply involved in the AI infrastructure capital expenditure race, amid rising AI supply chain costs and pressure to adjust product prices, market fears that price hikes could dampen end-user demand, further weighing on revenue and profit performance in the coming quarters, prompting investors to lock in profits for now. Meanwhile, market focus has shifted from AI computing power demand to capital returns. Data compiled by Bloomberg shows that the massive free cash flow accumulated by the world’s five largest hyperscale cloud providers over the past two decades has shrunk significantly amid intense AI capital expenditure in the last two years. Analysts believe the current market is exhibiting the classic "sell shovels, buy shovels under pressure" trading logic: AI hardware and semiconductor suppliers are seeing their stock prices rise amid sustained orders, while cloud computing and internet giants bearing massive AI investments are facing pressure on cash flow and profitability. If AI hardware costs continue to climb in the future, and the AI infrastructure build-out cycle lasts roughly a decade as Jensen Huang has stated, who will ultimately bear the ongoing investments and how commercial returns will be realized will become the core test facing global tech stock valuations.