SYDNEY: Asian stocks faltered as concerns about the exploding costs of AI investment hounded the tech sector, though Wall Street futures were trying to make a comeback as chip providers gained.
Google parent Alphabet reported solid results after the bell, but it was targeting capital expenditure of US$175 billion to US$185 billion this year, sharply above analysts’ estimates. Shares swung wildly – down over 6% at one point -before settling just 0.4% lower after-hours.
Investors have been rotating out of technology giants and into cyclical stocks amid fears of AI disruptions to jobs. The recent selloff, triggered by a new legal tool from Anthropic’s Claude large language model, has wiped out about US$830 billion in market value since Jan 28.