AI Leaders’ Slowdown Calls Send Chip Stocks Lower

Calls by prominent AI leaders to slow the advance of model capabilities hit the trade built around rapid AI expansion. U.S. indexes were set for a lower open Monday as Nvidia fell 2.5% in premarket trading and Intel, AMD, and Marvell Technology dropped sharply in early trading.

The immediate catalyst was Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei’s call for AI companies to slow the pace of capability development. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and xAI chief executive Elon Musk said they agreed, making the proposal a wider industry signal even though its scope and timing remain undefined.

The fastest sell-off was in AI infrastructure

At 8:26 a.m. Eastern time, Nasdaq 100 futures were down 1.62%, compared with declines of 0.67% for S&P 500 futures and 0.42% for Dow futures. Intel was down 6.5%, AMD 5.5%, and Marvell 7.5% in early trading; Amazon was off about 1%.

Investors were not reacting to a completed cross-company pact. They were assessing what a real slowdown could mean for the heavy technology spending that has supported chipmakers and broader AI valuations. A material reduction in the pace of development could reduce the need for that spending, but the reports do not define how any restraint would work.

The warning did not pull every technology stock down

Software names that have faced fears of AI disruption moved the other way. ServiceNow, Adobe, and Workday rose as investors reassessed how AI could affect their businesses. Cybersecurity stocks also gained sharply: the First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF added nearly 6%, Amplify Cybersecurity ETF rose more than 7%, and Global X Cybersecurity ETF climbed 10%, according to CNBC.

That split suggests investors are treating a potential slowdown as more than a broad technology shock. For companies that sell chips and networking equipment into the AI build-out, less urgency to advance model capabilities could mean weaker demand expectations. For cybersecurity providers, safety concerns around more capable systems were interpreted as a reason their products may be needed more, not less.

Wall Street sees sharply different motives and outcomes

• JPMorgan’s trading desk called the decline a buying opportunity, saying it did not expect an AI pullback to cause near-term revenue declines or margin compression.
• Bank of America called recent appeals for restraint “noise” amid accelerating capital expenditure and said Washington was unlikely to handicap domestic AI champions while weighing guardrails.
• Some analysts and investors argued that safety messaging could serve incumbent frontier labs by encouraging regulation that slows smaller competitors.

The skeptical case is a view, not an established motive. Michael Burry argued that the warnings could constrain smaller rivals, while economist Brian Jacobsen said the strongest arguments for caution should be grounded in evidence rather than fear. China’s Foreign Ministry also described the slowdown appeals as fear-mongering that could disrupt global AI governance.

A stated safety policy, but no shared operating plan

OpenAI has separately said it may slow or stop development or deployment when proceeding would create an unacceptable safety risk. That company policy does not answer the larger market question: whether competing AI developers will adopt comparable limits, and whether those limits would alter the scale or timing of infrastructure demand.

For now, the sell-off reflects that unresolved choice rather than a known reduction in AI investment. Bank of America still identified Nvidia, AMD, Marvell, Analog Devices, ON Semiconductor, Micron, and Lam Research as relatively resilient or positioned for a rebound. The next test is whether the leaders calling for caution put specific limits behind their endorsement.