Late Tuesday.Microsoft, Alphabet and Supermicro reported disappointing quarterly results for investors, resulting in a close relationship with theAIThe market value of the companies involved evaporated by $190 billion.
The sell-off after these tech giants reported after the closing bell underscores the high expectations of investors, who have pushed shares of these companies to record highs in the AI-driven stock market rally of recent months, in anticipation of integrating the technology across the corporate sector. Shares of Google's parent company, Alphabet, fell 5.6% after advertising revenue missed estimates in December.
Alphabet also said it will spend significantly more on data centers this year to support its AI initiatives, highlighting the cost of the fierce competition between it and AI rival Microsoft. While Google Cloud's revenue growth slightly exceeded Wall Street's target, boosted by the AI focus, Microsoft's Azure grew even faster. Microsoft beat analysts' expectations for its quarterly revenue with new AI features that have attracted more customers to its cloud and Windows services. However, its shares fell 0.7% in after-hours trading after briefly touching a new all-time intraday high early Tuesday.
Optimism about AI has pushed Microsoft's market capitalization past $3 trillion this month, surpassing Apple's. Chipmaker Supermicro, in itsFirstShares tumbled 6% after missing quarterly revenue forecasts while expecting strong sales of its AI processors. Shares of NVIDIA, which rose 27% in January and tripled in the last year on optimism about AI, also gave back some of those gains in after-hours trading, ending up down more than 2%. Server maker Super Micro Computer, another company benefiting from AI-related demand, saw its shares fall more than 31 TP3T. Earlier on Tuesday, it had climbed to an all-time high after reporting stunning quarterly results the day before.