Nasdaq sinks more than 2% as investors raise questions about AI debt

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Tech stocks are having a tumultuous week as concerns, including higher interest rates and mounting AI debt, continue to weigh on investor sentiment.

The Nasdaq Composite fell roughly 2.5% on Friday, bringing its weekly losses to almost 5% and putting the tech-heavy index on track for its worst week since June. The S&P 500 fell 1.4%, putting its weekly losses at more than 2%, also its worst week since June.

The Nasdaq and S&P clinched record highs just 10 days ago. But since then, the market has stumbled as jitters spread about whether rising borrowing costs will put pressure on risky corners of the AI boom that are reliant on debt.

At the center of concerns is a niche group called neoclouds, which rent computing power to companies in the AI boom. CoreWeave ( CRWV ), a neocloud that went public in 2025 and is backed by Nvidia, has emerged as a particular source of market anxiety.

CoreWeave has tens of billions of dollars of debt on its balance sheet as it borrows money to fund its growth. Recently, its bond yields surged to levels that signal distress, or a higher risk of default.

“It’s unclear that (CoreWeave is) going to get a sufficiently good return to pay down the debt that they borrowed,” Gil Luria, head of technology research at D.A. Davidson, told CNN. “As people get concerned about the trajectory of the buildout, they are the subprime tranche of the AI trade, and that’s why they’re selling off first.”

Luria said he thinks demand for AI is real and growing, but for companies like CoreWeave, that’s in tension with concerns about unsustainable financing and steep interest rates.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stepped in to assuage concerns on Thursday, telling Bloomberg that he’s optimistic about CoreWeave, an endorsement that helped the company’s stock rally on Thursday. But it was short-lived: The stock dropped 14% on Friday.

CoreWeave shares have lost one-quarter of their value this week. The stock is down more than 60% since a peak shortly after its IPO in March 2025.

Adding to market anxiety this week: A sharp drop in semiconductor chipmakers, the so-called “picks and shovels” of the AI boom.

A closely watched index of semiconductor chip stocks dropped 3.9% on Friday, falling for the eighth day in a row.

Investors sent chip stocks soaring this year on expectations for a massive AI buildout and a shortage of chips that would allow the companies to reap enormous profits. But those stocks are losing their luster as Wall Street reckons with concerns about rising costs and the politicization of data centers that could hamper forecasts for the buildout.

Meanwhile, semiconductor stocks haven’t recovered since Chinese memory chipmaker CXMT announced earlier this week that it made headway on advanced memory chips. The development is roiling investors who were betting US and South Korean chipmakers would have a dominant market share and pricing power, and are now debating whether cheaper, efficient chips from China could spoil that outlook.

“The market sells first, asks questions later,” said Thomas Martin, portfolio manager at Globalt Investments. “That’s why you get the volatility.”

The semis index is down more than 20% since a peak in June, although it’s still up almost 60% year-to-date.

South Korea’s stock market had a tumultuous week. The benchmark Kospi index is heavily weighted in just two companies: chipmaker titans SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics.

The Kospi tumbled 14.5% this week, its worst weekly performance since 2008. The Kospi had soared this year, and in June was up as much as 116% year-to-date. But the Kospi has wiped out all of its gains across the past six months and is now up 35% year-to-date.

Semiconductor chips, critical for AI, have become an increasingly important part of the stock market. The semis industry accounts for roughly one-fifth of the S&P 500’s market value. Further losses could spell trouble for the broader market.

Wall Street’s fear gauge, the VIX, surged 30% on Friday and rose above 20 points — a level that signals elevated volatility in markets.

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受利率上升和人工智能债务不断增加等担忧持续影响，科技股本周走势动荡，投资者情绪承压。

纳斯达克综合指数周五下跌约2.5%，周跌幅接近5%，并有望创下自6月以来最糟糕的单周表现。标普500指数下跌1.4%，周跌幅超过2%，同样创下自6月以来最糟糕的单周表现。

纳斯达克指数和标普500指数在10天前刚刚创下历史新高。但自那以后，市场便开始走低，因为人们担心不断上升的借贷成本是否会对人工智能繁荣中那些依赖债务的高风险领域造成压力。

市场担忧的焦点在于一个名为“新云”（neocloud）的细分群体，它们向人工智能蓬勃发展的企业出租计算能力。CoreWeave (CRWV) 是一家新云服务商，计划于 2025 年上市，并获得英伟达的支持，它已成为市场焦虑的焦点。

CoreWeave的资产负债表上背负着数百亿美元的债务，该公司通过借贷来为其增长提供资金。近期，其债券收益率飙升至表明公司陷入困境或违约风险较高的水平。

“目前还不清楚CoreWeave能否获得足够的收益来偿还其借贷，”DA Davidson技术研究主管吉尔·卢里亚告诉CNN。“随着人们对该项目建设前景的担忧日益加剧，CoreWeave就像人工智能交易中的次级贷款，这也是为什么他们最先抛售股票的原因。”

卢里亚表示，他认为对人工智能的需求是真实存在的，而且还在不断增长，但对于像 CoreWeave 这样的公司来说，这与对不可持续融资和高利率的担忧存在矛盾。

英伟达首席执行官黄仁勋周四出面安抚市场担忧，他告诉彭博社，他对CoreWeave技术持乐观态度，这一表态一度提振了公司股价，推动其股价在周四上涨。但好景不长：周五，英伟达股价下跌了14%。

CoreWeave的股价本周下跌了四分之一。自2025年3月IPO后不久达到峰值以来，该股已下跌超过60%。

本周加剧市场焦虑的因素是：半导体芯片制造商（人工智能繁荣时期所谓的“镐和铲”）股价大幅下跌。

备受关注的半导体芯片股指数周五下跌3.9%，连续第八个交易日下跌。

今年，投资者预期人工智能的大规模部署将导致芯片短缺，从而使芯片公司获得巨额利润，因此芯片股大幅上涨。但随着华尔街开始担忧成本上升和数据中心政治化可能阻碍人工智能部署的预期，这些股票的光环正在逐渐褪去。

与此同时，自中国存储芯片制造商CXMT本周早些时候宣布其在先进存储芯片领域取得进展以来，半导体股票一直未能恢复元气。这一消息令投资者感到不安，他们原本押注美国和韩国芯片制造商将占据主导地位和定价权，如今却在争论来自中国的更便宜、更高效的芯片是否会破坏这种前景。

“市场总是先抛售，后提问，”Globalt Investments的投资组合经理托马斯·马丁表示，“这就是市场波动的原因。”

虽然自 6 月份达到峰值以来，半成品指数已下跌超过 20%，但今年迄今为止仍上涨了近 60%。

韩国股市经历了动荡的一周。基准股指KOSPI的权重主要集中在两家公司：芯片巨头SK海力士和三星电子。

韩国综合股价指数（KOSPI）本周暴跌14.5%，创下2008年以来最糟糕的单周表现。KOSPI今年曾一路飙升，6月份年初至今涨幅高达116%。但过去六个月的涨幅已被抹去，目前年初至今的涨幅仅为35%。

半导体芯片是人工智能的关键组成部分，在股市中的地位日益重要。半导体行业约占标普500指数市值的五分之一。进一步的下跌可能会给整个市场带来麻烦。

华尔街恐慌指数VIX周五飙升30%，升至20点以上——这一水平表明市场波动性加剧。