AI Infrastructure —
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What changed in the AI trade, and why it mattered.
AI infrastructure sector strength dropped sharply, with networking, power, and dc-infrastructure the weakest links.
Sector-wide strength fell from 72% to 64% of names above the 200 EMA in a week, with networking collapsing to 38% from 62% and semicap dropping to 56% from 100%; this broad deterioration outside of compute suggests the selloff is rotating through the supply chain rather than staying contained to chips.
Semiconductor equipment · Networking · Data-centre infrastructure · Power
Networking and semicap names sold off hard, with GLW, TER, COHR, ALAB, and ONTO each down over 11% and several crossing below their 200 EMA.
KLA, GLW, and COHR all crossed below their 200 EMA today, confirming the networking group's strength collapse; these are optics, test, and connectivity suppliers whose weakness signals stress in the physical buildout layer of the AI trade, not just chip demand sentiment.
Semiconductor equipment · Networking· GLW, TER, COHR, ALAB, ONTO, KLAC
AI slowdown warnings hit chipmakers broadly, pulling Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom, Micron, and Intel lower.
Two separate reports cite an 'AI slowdown' and 'AI warning' as the driver behind declines across the core compute names; this is a sentiment-driven risk-off move in the most crowded part of the trade rather than a company-specific issue.
Compute · Memory· NVDA, AMD, AVGO, MU, INTC· Source 1· Source 2
Hyperscaler strength improved to 80% from 60% even as the broader complex weakened.
This divergence, hyperscalers strengthening while compute suppliers and infrastructure names weaken, points to demand-side confidence holding even as supply-chain and capex-exposed names get hit; Meta's data center expansion in Utah is a concrete demand signal consistent with this.
Qualcomm rose 6.8% on reports of a new Amazon AI chip deal potentially worth up to $60 billion, with a separate compute fabric partnership also announced.
A large potential order from Amazon and an expanding AI data center push give Qualcomm a new demand narrative outside its core mobile business, a read-through for custom silicon and compute fabric suppliers more broadly.
Compute · Hyperscalers· QCOM, AMZN· Source 1· Source 2· Source 3
Servers and memory sectors held at 100% strength, unchanged on the week, despite sharp single-day drops in Supermicro and HPE.
Even with SMCI down 8.4% and HPE down 10.8% on the day, the servers group's strength measure stayed at 100%, and memory also held at 100%; this is a case of sharp daily price moves not yet showing up as a strength deterioration, worth watching for whether it persists.
FOMC meeting with updated projections lands within the next week.
The rate decision and Summary of Economic Projections is flagged as the single biggest macro input to how AI infrastructure multiples are set, arriving right as sector strength is already deteriorating.
Theme-wide
Published 15/09/2026, 12:02 UTC · claude-sonnet-5