2026 was meant to be the year Wall Street’s trillion-dollar artificial intelligence (AI) bet started paying off. Instead, it’s turning into a test of nerves.
In the first half of the year, many AI stocks hit record highs as US hyperscalers like Google's Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft recorded bumper earnings.
Two of the largest AI players — Anthropic and OpenAI — announced plans for public listings, following SpaceX's much-hyped IPO in June, which briefly made Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire.
AI models, meanwhile, got noticeably better at difficult tasks in the race to beat human intelligence.
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The second half of 2026, however, has brought a lot more uncertainty. While the stock of Nvidia, a chipmaker, pushed even higher last month, many hyperscalers and chip or memory firms have seen their stock prices gyrate wildly.
Then last week, after the Democrats secured control of the United States Congress in the midterm elections, technology stocks sold off dramatically, with the Magnificent Seven — including Meta, Apple, Amazon and Tesla — losing more than $1 trillion in value in a single trading day.
In a further twist, the AI sector took another hit this week as Nvidia shares plunged nearly 10% over two days.…
