Tech Weekly: Strong AI Earnings Power a Volatile Week

This week's tech sector performance

US stock futures started the week in positive territory on Monday (August 10) after President Trump told Axios’ Barak Ravid he was “low-keying” it in negotiations with Iran.

However, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) falling share price weighed on the market after the chipmaker said it was planning to raise US$15 billion through a share sale.

Shares of NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) also dropped after the AI heavyweight said it would partner with a group of financial firms, including Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO) and Blackstone (NYSE:BX), to establish a US$500 billion funding package for AI infrastructure development.

All major indices on Wall Street closed lower, while technology added 1.1 percent to the S&P/TSX Composite Index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX), sending the index to a new record close of 36,458.33.

On Tuesday (August 11), global markets edged down after Mohsen Rezaei, the newly appointed secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until ⁠the US changes its conduct and accepts Iran’s conditions to end the war, which include the release of frozen assets and an end to wars throughout the region.

Wall Street closed lower, with Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) accounting for a significant portion of the losses. The TSX hit another record close.

Futures were higher on Wednesday (August 12) after upbeat quarterly results from CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV), Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ:SMCI) and data center company Nebius Group (NASDAQ:NBIS). Data center operators and chipmakers rose, with IREN gaining almost 10 percent and the PHLX Semiconductor Index advancing by over 2 percent.

On Thursday (August 13), the S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) and S&P/TSX Composite Index both notched record-high closes, fueled by inflation data that showed US producer prices were unchanged ⁠in July as goods prices fell and the cost of services increased marginally, supporting expectations the Federal Reserve ⁠will not raise interest rates in September. The Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) also had a strong day as technology stocks advanced, but fell short of its June 2 record high.

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq-100 (INDEXNASDAQ:NDX) fell short of hitting a new record this week, but managed to cross back above the 30,000 threshold on Thursday to mark its highest level in over two months.

On Friday afternoon (August 14), US stocks drifted near record highs after giving back gains from earlier in the day following a report from the Commerce Department that showed retail sales dropped 0.6 percent in July, the largest monthly decline in over a year.

The pull-back in consumer spending is being linked partly to persistent inflation and elevated gas prices weighing on shoppers.

At the closing bell, the Nasdaq Comp finished the week at 26,729.16, a 0.28 percent decline on the day but 0.18 percent for the week.

3 tech stocks moving markets this week

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

1. Nebius Group (NASDAQ:NBIS)

Nebius Group led gains with a 40.64 percent improvement.

2. Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT)

Copart saw a boost of 10.12 percent for the week.

3. Sandisk (NASDAQ:SNDK)

Sandisk saw a gain of 25.34 percent

Top tech news of the week

• Sony (NYSE:SONY) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE:TSM) said they would invest about 1 trillion yen in a joint venture to mass-produce next-generation image sensors in Japan as early as 2029.

• Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) introduced a new lightweight model, Muse Glimmer, on Monday, designed to run on laptops and home PCs. The model focuses on agentic tasks such as schedule management.

• SK Hynix (KRX:000660,OTCPL:HXSCL) said it would invest 54 trillion won toward two new memory chip manufacturing plants in South Korea.

• Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is reportedly considering an overhaul of its smartphone and smartwatch lineups, according to sources for Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Gurman notes that near-term releases will follow standard upgrades, with the broader redesign and new wearable form factors remaining long-term projects targeted for 2027–2028. In other Apple news, Jefferies analysts downgraded the company’s stock to “underperform” and lowered its price target to US$263.66, citing challenges with introducing new form factors, rising memory costs and limited progress in AI efforts.

• SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPXC) and xAI introduced Grok Bot, an AI agent created alongside Cursor. ARK reaffirmed its belief that SpaceX remains primed for substantial long-term growth, despite a brief decline in stock price after its inaugural public earnings call last week driven by worries over AI capital expenditures and share unlocks.

• Amazon's self-driving unit, Zoox, debuted paid robotaxi rides for passengers in Las Vegas this week.

• eVTOL developers, Joby Aviation (NYSE:JOBY) and Archer Aviation (NYSE:ACHR), both announced major defense acquisitions this week. Joby is acquiring Resonant Sciences for US$500 million to build out a dedicated defense division, while Archer is acquiring Boeing’s Wisk Aero, Insitu and SkyGrid units to integrate established defense revenue streams.

• Derivatives exchange CME Group said on Tuesday that it is collaborating with index creator Silicon Data to introduce two compute futures contracts on October 5, pending regulatory review. According to energy head Pete Keavey, each contract corresponds to one month of rental access for an Nvidia H100 or Blackwell B200, part of an effort to standardize compute into a tradable commodity.

• Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) announced a Critical Infrastructure Finance Initiative on Wednesday, targeting US$250 billion in mobilized investments over the coming year. This followed an announcement by Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) on Monday regarding a US$1.5 trillion, decade-long infrastructure initiative.

• While AI and computing infrastructure are primary drivers behind both initiatives, neither firm is investing exclusively in AI. Capital also extends to broader national security, defense, biotechnology and physical supply-chain modernization.

• SpaceX stock gained after CEO Elon Musk published a video of an employee meeting revealing that Starlink reached 22 million mobile subscribers and approximately 12 million fixed wireless customers in Q2. Additionally, Musk outlined plans for SpaceX to reach 10 gigawatts of AI computing capacity by late 2027, a tenfold expansion.

• The Information, citing sources familiar with Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) internal plans, said the company is planning to unveil a limited-edition, SpaceX-branded Roadster equipped with cold-gas thrusters to demonstrate short hovering capabilities.

• Reddit (NYSE:RDDT) said it will join the S&P 500 index next Tuesday (August 18), replacing AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB).

• Anthropic is reportedly planning a US$2 trillion IPO for October. Following its recent Series H round, Anthropic maintains a post-money valuation of roughly US$965 billion.

Major tech stocks report earnings

1. CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV)

Stock surged in extended trading after CoreWeave reported Q2 revenue of US$2.58 billion, a 112 percent increase YoY, beating consensus estimates.

Adjusted operating income was US$128 million, more than double the company’s guided midpoint of US$60 million.

FY2026 revenue guidance was raised to US$12.4 - US$13.2 billion, up from US$12.0B - US$13.0 billion, but FY2026 capex guidance was also lifted to US$35 - US$39 billion, up from US$31 - US$35 billion to fund massive GPU cluster expansions.

2. Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ:SMCI)

Super Micro Computer’s stock jumped over 17 percent on margin expansion driven by favorable high-margin products, reduced tariffs, lower inventory reserves and expectations that hyperscaler appetite for liquid-cooled GPU servers remains at record highs.

Q4 EPS came in at US$1.70 versus the expected US$0.71

FY2027 revenue guidance came in at US$65 - US$72 billion, nearly 30 percent above estimates, alongside US$60 billion in new quarterly orders.

However, revenue fell short of consensus due to customer-side delays in utility power, facility cooling and data center construction rather than product demand.

The company said that gross margins are expected to normalize back toward around 10.6 - 12 percent in upcoming quarters.

3. Nebius Group (NASDAQ:NBIS)

Nebius Group saw its stock price jump by over 16.5 percent in early trading that day after the company reported revenue os US$582.3 million, representing growth of 454 percent YoY, beating expectations.

Cloud revenue accounted for 98 percent of total revenue and came in at US$574.9 million a 514 percent annual improvement.

Adjusted EBITDA was positive, US$236 million, up from a loss of US$21 million a year prior.

The company’s performance was driven by strong pricing power and operational leverage; Nebius Group also expanded its contracted power footprint target to 5 GW.

4. Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Cisco Systems saw its stock drop by over four percent after-hours on Wednesday, despite beating top- and bottom-line estimates.

Q4 revenue was US$17.3 billion, up 18 percent YoY, while EPS was US$1.22, 23 percent higher from the year before.

AI infrastructure orders reached US$4.0 billion, pushing full-year FY2026 AI orders to US$9.3 billion, growth of 4.5x YoY.

The company said top-line momentum is being propelled by a multi-year AI networking supercycle, driven by enterprise network upgrades and major design wins with leading hyperscalers for its Silicon One chips.

However, gross margins dropped 210 basis points year-over-year to 66.3 percent and are projected to slide further to 65 - 66 percent next quarter. This margin squeeze is largely a result of selling a higher proportion of lower-margin hardware switches relative to high-margin software, combined with flat growth in recurring service subscriptions.

5. Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Applied Materials reported its fiscal Q3 earnings, showing EPS at a record US$3.50, beating Wall Street consensus estimates of US$3.40.

Revenue reached a record US$9.12 billion, up 25 percent YoY and topping expectations of US$8.99 billion.

Strong AI infrastructure build-out and robust demand in leading-edge logic, DRAM and advanced packaging drove results.

Management raised its calendar 2026 semiconductor systems growth forecast to more than 30 percent and projected strong Q4 revenue around US$10.25 billion.

Despite this, the stock slid by over five percent in after-hours trading.

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) finished the week 0.75 percent higher, while the Invesco PHLX Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXQ) declined by 0.10 percent.

The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH) rose by 0.37 percent.

Tech news to watch next week

Macro policy signals will take center stage next week, offering crucial insight into enterprise demand and consumer health.

On Tuesday (August 18), Chinese AI and internet giant Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) reports earnings alongside US ADP employment data, setting the tone for global tech sentiment.

Macro focus shifts to central bank policy on Wednesday (August 19) with the release of the US Federal Reserve’s meeting minutes. The busiest slate arrives Thursday (August 20), led by earnings from global e-commerce titan Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) and marine tech developer Kraken Robotics (TSXV:PNG,OTCQB:KRKNF) alongside key US economic data including jobless claims, the Philadelphia Fed Index, leading indicators and the Q2 quarterly services survey.

Finally, Friday (August 21) rounds out the week with the August US S&P Global PMIs, providing an updated pulse on overall business and manufacturing activity.