Investors have focused on two AI-related themes at once. They have questioned whether heavy AI spending will deliver near-term payoffs. They have also assessed which industries AI could disrupt through automation and pricing pressure. Those concerns have weighed on parts of tech and on sectors linked to software and logistics.
Several large technology companies have outlined major capital plans tied to AI infrastructure. Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet, alongside Meta, have signaled combined AI-related spending plans of about $660bn for this year, up about 60% from last year. Markets have treated those figures as a key input for valuations across the AI supply chain.
AI disruption worries have also spread beyond public software stocks. Software and services have lost about $2 trillion in market value from an October peak. BNP Paribas has estimated that roughly a fifth of private credit exposure ties to software, which has added pressure to some alternative asset managers.