Investors are rotating out of large AI cloud providers and into chip suppliers after concerns emerged about massive infrastructure spending. Apple and Microsoft stumbled on capex worries, but Micron and Taiwan Semiconductor—which supply memory and chips to AI companies—are rallying. The shift reflects a view that the real value lies with companies selling the AI plumbing, not just building AI services.
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Major tech stocks including Apple and Microsoft came under pressure this week as investors worried about soaring AI infrastructure costs. Apple fell 6.2% on the week and Microsoft is down 22% year to date, despite strong earnings. Meanwhile, memory chip makers Micron and Taiwan Semiconductor—suppliers to AI companies—surged, with Micron beating revenue consensus by 17.60% and guiding Q4 revenue of $50.0 billion（約8兆円） ± $1.0 billion（約1600億円）.
Why it matters
A venture capitalist noted Friday that concentrated bets on big cloud providers may have been misguided. The real money flow is moving toward the companies building AI hardware and infrastructure: Microsoft spent $30.88 billion（約4.9兆円） on capex in Q3 alone, up 84% year over year, while Alphabet guided 2026 capex of $175 billion（約28兆円） to $185 billion（約30兆円）. Investors are asking how those spending bills compound, and shifting focus to suppliers instead.
What to watch
Alphabet offers a lower valuation entry point at P/E of 15x (versus Apple's 36x and Microsoft's 26x), and Q1 FY26 revenue grew 21.8% to $109.9 billion（約18兆円） with Google Cloud up 63% and backlog nearly doubling sequentially to over $460 billion（約74兆円）. Taiwan Semiconductor has guided full-year 2026 growth above 30%.
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