Tech Weekly: Heavy Selling Results in Weekly Loss for Nasdaq

This week's tech sector performance

Markets started the week on a cautious note.

Monday (June 22) was a mixed picture, driven by Strait of Hormuz headlines and falling oil prices after mediators in Switzerland wrapped high-level talks aimed at finding a permanent end to the Iran war. Markets closed the day unevenly, with the Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) finishing lower.

Tuesday (June 23) saw a sharper, tech-led, risk-off session that dented both Wall Street and the S&P/TSX Composite Index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX) as investors repriced the cost of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and prepared for a potentially more hawkish US Federal Reserve, increasing pressure on long-duration tech stocks.

Meanwhile, a bond sale from SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPXC) fed into the broader tech risk narrative.

The Nasdaq slid about 2.5 percent shortly after the open before recovering some losses by midafternoon.

On Wednesday (June 24), concerns about tech stock valuations appeared to persist ahead of Micron's (NASDAQ:MU) earnings report, sending the ⁠Nasdaq, S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) and S&P/TSX Composite lower, with Canada’s main index logging its lowest closing level since June 11.

Nasdaq futures surged on Thursday (June 25) on Micron’s positive results and upbeat outlook after the prior session, but gains ultimately reversed as fresh US data renewed inflation concerns.

Losses in Big Tech shares brought the Nasdaq to a lower close.

All three indexes traded higher on Friday (June 26) despite elevated risk sentiment tied to renewed geopolitical developments in the Middle East. A cargo ship was struck near the Omani side of the strait, prompting the UN’s maritime agency to pause its ship escort operation through the waterway.

The Nasdaq finished the day at 25,297.62, logging a weekly loss of 4.6 percent.

3 tech stocks moving markets this week

This week's top tech stock movers, according to TradingView data, were:

1. DoorDash (NASDAQ:DASH)

DoorDash saw its share price rise 9.74 percent this week.

2. Axon Enterprise (NASDAQ:AXON)

Axon Enterprise saw a 9.4 percent improvement.

3. GE HealthCare Technologies (NASDAQ:GEHC)

GE HealthCare Technologies saw a gain of 8.84 percent.

Top tech news of the week

• Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) announced a US$3.9 billion all-stock acquisition of Modular, a Los Altos startup that develops software enabling AI models to run across various processors without chip-specific code. Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon emphasized that horizontal platforms provide customers with greater deployment choices. The deal should close later this year.

• Chevron (NYSE:CVX) announced a 20 year power purchase deal with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) on Monday to provide gas-fired power for the tech company’s major West Texas data center project.

• Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) is investing US$900 million in Indian fintech startup Cred for a roughly 20 percent stake. The deal values the fintech platform at US$4.5 billion. Cred founder Kunal Shah has also been appointed global head of WhatsApp. Also this week, Meta unveiled its latest selection of smart glasses, and the New York Times reported that the firm is building a prediction market app.

• Getty Images (NYSE:GETY) announced a multi-year partnership with OpenAI that will allow ChatGPT’s search tools to access its library of nearly 500 million media assets.

• Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is investing US$75 million in a research-based partnership with film studio A24. The companies will co-develop filmmaking tools and workflows.

• Open-source AI startup Reflection said it has signed a deal with SpaceX, agreeing to pay the company US$150 million a month through to 2029 for access to computing power to train and scale its AI models.

• OpenAI has begun testing Jalapeño, the first in a family of homegrown computer chips developed in collaboration with Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO). The company plans to start using the chips to handle customers’ AI queries later this year. In other OpenAI news, the New York Times said that the company's long-awaited initial public offering (IPO) may not happen until next year.

• Micron delivered its latest quarterly results, giving a sales forecast that exceeded expectations. Revenue surged 346 percent year-on-year to US$41.46 billion, driven by massive AI demand. Additionally, inventory days dropped to 120 days, and the company eliminated US$4.4 billion of debt off its balance sheet. Micron expects record revenue of US$50 billion next quarter, and highlighted that its advanced AI memory chips are fully booked through 2027. Shares jumped 14.5 percent in after-hours trading during a week that was punishing for tech stocks. MEXC data shared with the Investing News Network shows Micron becoming the platform’s most-traded stock and equity index futures instrument after its earnings release, with trading also picking up across AI memory and semiconductor-linked names, including Sandisk (NASDAQ:SNDK), SK Hynix (KRX:000660,OTCPL:HXSCL) and NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA).

• In its first quarterly earnings report since its May IPO, AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems (NASDAQ:CBRS) reported GAAP revenue of US$193.4 million, up 94 percent year-on-year, and a US$20 billion infrastructure partnership with OpenAI. Despite these results, the company’s share price dropped during extended trading; the decline came after a forecast suggesting that full-year gross margins could settle between 38 and 41 percent, a decrease from the 46.5 percent recorded in the opening quarter.

• Agility Robotics said it will go public in a US$2.5 billion SPAC deal with Churchill Capital (NASDAQ:CCXI). Upon closing of the transaction, the company is expected to operate as Agility; it said it will be listed on a major North American exchange under the ticker symbol “AGLT.”

• South Korea’s SK Hynix, a major global memory chipmaker, plans to raise more than US$29 billion through a listing of US ADRs on the Nasdaq. The funds will go toward building capacity, with none earmarked for shareholders or debt. Shares are slated to begin trading on July 10.

• Chip startup SambaNova is looking to secure between US$800 million and US$1 billion in new funding, according to Executive Chair Lip-Bu Tan, who also leads Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) as CEO. Sources for the Information indicated that the round could value the company at approximately US$10 billion.

• Probook, an AI operating system for home services, announced a US$40 million funding round, including a US$34 million Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz and a US$6 million seed round led by Sequoia Capital, to transform the dispatch process in home services. The funding will enable Probook to automate dispatch operations, reducing manual oversight and increasing technician-to-dispatcher ratios significantly. The company said that it plans to expand its engineering teams to meet growing demand and accelerate its go-to-market strategy.

• Ornn, a startup that tracks AI compute costs, raised US$33 million in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. The startup seeks to treat fragmented AI computing power like a standardized financial commodity by aggregating GPU capacity from various neoclouds onto a single liquid platform. The Ornn Compute Price Index, a live, transaction-based benchmark tracking GPU costs on the Bloomberg Terminal, is slated to back the first regulated, cash-settled compute futures contracts through a partnership with Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE).

• NVIDIA introduced Halos for Robotics, an independent safety system that acts as a real-time co-pilot to stop smart robots from causing accidents. By blending a secure operating system with full 360 degree sensor awareness, the technology ensures robots can instantly detect nearby humans and safely freeze or maneuver away. A dedicated safety processor runs in parallel with the robot's main AI, constantly monitoring operations and stepping in as an unhackable guardrail if the primary system fails.

• US President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on quantum technology this week. The first establishes a five year national initiative for the Department of Energy to develop a high-level quantum computer in collaboration with the Department of Defense. The second mandates that federal agencies transition to post-quantum cryptography by 2031 to protect against emerging encryption threats.

• Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) said it is raising MacBook and iPad prices due to the “rapid expansion of AI data centers,” which is causing an “extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage.” The announcement caused Apple’s share price to lose more than 4 percent on Thursday.

• Dr. Henry Legg, a physicist and lecturer at the University of St. Andrews, published a peer-reviewed critique in the journal Nature, challenging the high-profile “topological quantum breakthrough” that Microsoft announced in February 2025 regarding its Majorana 1 chip. Legg claims that the breakthrough was a false positive caused by basic Python programming bugs and data cherry picking that mathematically mistook experimental noise for a discovery.

Tech ETF performance

Tech exchange-traded funds (ETFs) track baskets of major tech stocks, meaning their performance helps investors gauge the overall performance of the niches they cover.

This week, the iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX) lost 9.79 percent, while the Invesco PHLX Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXQ) lost 9.95 percent.

The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH) erased 8.84 percent.

Tech news to watch next week

Key items for investors to watch next week include Canada’s April monthly real GDP data on June 30, along with the US Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. July 1 will bring the release of Canada’s S&P Global Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), plus the US S&P Global PMI and the ISM Manufacturing PMI.

The USMCA trade pact review will also be into focus on July 1, while Canadian markets are closed for Canada Day.

The main labor market release arrives July 2, with US nonfarm payrolls for June and initial weekly jobless claims.