Nvidia falls 9.26% to $181.60 as chip stocks shed $2.5 trillion

The session was notably worse for semiconductors than for the broad market. The S&P 500 fell 4.36% and the Dow dropped 3.44%, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 5.52% and moved into correction territory, more than 10% below its October peak. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index's roughly 12.25% decline made the chip complex the epicenter.

The trigger appears tied to politics as much as earnings. Following the November 3 U.S. midterms, investors began pricing in the possibility of greater scrutiny of AI facility development, including electricity costs, water consumption and permitting. That is political risk rather than an enacted nationwide construction ban, but it can extend project schedules and complicate financing.

A second thread is the gap between building AI infrastructure and earning from it. Operators must secure land, grid connections, cooling, networking, financing and paying customers before projects generate durable income. Reuters cited a UBS estimate that approximately 30% of expected U.S. data-center capacity additions for 2028 could be at risk from potential construction pauses—a scenario-based estimate of exposure, not evidence of cancellations. On November 6, Reuters reported firmer Nasdaq futures as some chip shares stabilized in early trade.