Chip stocks plunge as earnings and election fears hit AI spending

Chip stocks led a broad US market selloff on Thursday, November 5, 2026, as investors weighed disappointing chip earnings against the possibility of slower AI data-center construction after the midterm elections. The Philadelphia semiconductor index fell 12.3%, its worst day since March 2020, while the Nasdaq 100 lost 6.3%, NBC News reported.

Update, Nov. 6, 4:41 a.m. ET: Chip stocks steadied in premarket trading Friday, with Nvidia up 3.6% and AMD, Intel, Broadcom and Micron up between 5% and 8.3%, Reuters reported. Reuters said Thursday's rout wiped nearly $3 trillion off S&P 500 companies' market value amid fears that Democratic control of Congress could bring tougher AI regulation.

Those are different indexes. The broader Nasdaq Composite finished the November 5 session down 5.52%, according to Reuters' closing report. Reuters described its biggest daily decline since April 2025 and said it confirmed a correction, meaning a fall of at least 10% from its recent closing high. The Nasdaq 100's larger percentage decline should not be substituted for the Composite's move.

Nvidia fell 9.2% on November 5, NBC reported. CNBC put the company's lost market capitalization at almost $450 billion. That is a change in the market value of its shares, not cash leaving Nvidia's balance sheet. Arm dropped 13% and Qualcomm 9.5% during the same session, according to NBC; Reuters also reported Qualcomm's 9.5% decline.

The damage extended across the supply chain. AMD, Micron and Applied Materials all suffered double-digit percentage losses on November 5, CNBC reported. The breadth matters: selling reached processors, memory and equipment suppliers rather than remaining confined to one company's outlook. Our AI chips and memory guide covers the GPUs, TPUs and HBM in that supply chain.

The reports point to overlapping pressures, not a single proven cause. NBC linked the start of the selloff to mixed Qualcomm and Arm results released the previous evening. CNBC highlighted Qualcomm's disappointing current-quarter forecast, while Reuters noted weaker-than-expected smartphone-chip sales. Election results added another concern: newly elected officials and local restrictions could make data-center development harder, threatening the pace of the infrastructure buildout.

That is a risk to future spending, not evidence that every announced project has been cancelled. Strong reported sales and falling share prices can coexist when investors become less confident about what comes next. Our earlier AMD earnings coverage separates reported results from management's forward guidance.

The financing question also remains distinct from the construction question. Our AI capex framework explains why cash flow, debt and supplier orders need separate checks. The companion guide to reading capex, scheduled for 10:30 AM Toronto EST on November 9, distinguishes cash purchases, leases and guidance; Thursday's price moves do not make those spending measures interchangeable.