Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Chip stocks slide in US and Asia as AI jitters rattle investors

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 53 posts

Re: Chip stocks slide in US and Asia as AI jitters rattle investors

#41

Post by randusername »

cautiouscat wrote: post #5
elliotec wrote: post #4

I'm cautiously optimistic that this is the beginning of a much needed correction toward sobriety with regards to AI investment. The macro effects of all the money going into AI are apocalyptic. Maybe we can take some deep breaths and move forward a little smarter if the hype fest slows down a tad. And if we're lucky, eventually be able to afford RAM again.

I hope you’re right. It does seem like we’re finally coming down off the peak of the hype cycle. I use Claude Code daily, but man I am just tired of hearing about AI. I’m tired of holding off on backing up my home server because disks are so expensive. I’m tired of HN being 50% articles about AI.

I'm tired of friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors being revealed as soulless time-optimizing automatons.

2026 has been the year "you're not just X, you're Y" creeped into sermons and birthday cards. I want off this roller coaster.

Re: Chip stocks slide in US and Asia as AI jitters rattle investors

#42

Post by apercu »

broodbucket wrote: post #9
dmix wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The macro effects of all the money going into AI are apocalyptic The doomer discourse around AI is about as overhyped as the investors are. It's two parties getting pumped up by social media who will be disappointed it's just some new higher economic tier rather than a quick boom or bust. It always takes twice as long for new markets to fully mature. Industries need to actually adapt technology before they see seri…

The doomers aren't the one investing billions, so I think they're a slightly lower cause for concern than the ones significantly reshaping the economy.

Trillions in some cases.

Re: Chip stocks slide in US and Asia as AI jitters rattle investors

#43

Post by zparky »

tehlike wrote: post #26
indemnity wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had to buy an SSD and some RAM to help my son build a PC. The SSD cost 30% more than I paid two years ago and was half the capacity (1TB). The RAM cost double what I paid two years ago, was slower, and was half the capacity (32GB).

I bought 12 sticks of 64g lrdimm for about 400. Now each stick is likely over 240$

try over $900: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DSR5P84D

or $1500: https://www.ebay.com/itm/198367094185

its ridiculous...

Re: Chip stocks slide in US and Asia as AI jitters rattle investors

#44

Post by yogthos »

jurgenburgen wrote: post #40
yogthos wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China has tightly integrated domestic supply and a centrally planned economy. That's why China has consistently been able to do things that are simply impossible in the west.

Why is our economy so shitty?

Because that's what capitalism selects for. Making profit is a singular selection function for companies, with any social good being strictly incidentally. So, the slimiest companies that cheat, scam, pollute, and do anything they can to externalize their costs end up dominating the market over time. Early on, there is incentive to make a better product to get a customer base and brand recognition. But competition means that some companies win and other lose, which means winners get bigger and harder to compete with over time. Once they get big enough, they no longer have to worry about making a good product. They can just muscle out or buy up new competitors. That's the monopoly stage, and at that point enshittification becomes the name of the game.

Destin from Smarter Every Day just did a good show on the problem incidentally https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS6HEes8daw

Re: Chip stocks slide in US and Asia as AI jitters rattle investors

#45

Post by anon373839 »

randusername wrote: post #41
cautiouscat wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope you’re right. It does seem like we’re finally coming down off the peak of the hype cycle. I use Claude Code daily, but man I am just tired of hearing about AI. I’m tired of holding off on backing up my home server because disks are so expensive. I’m tired of HN being 50% articles about AI.

I'm tired of friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors being revealed as soulless time-optimizing automatons. 2026 has been the year "you're not just X, you're Y" creeped into sermons and birthday cards. I want off this roller coaster.

I'm tired of this too, but don't judge your friends too harshly. What I've learned is that many folks are copying slop because they feel insecure in their abilities. They think that the AI will do a better job than they can, not realizing that the human touch is what the recipient actually wants.

Re: Chip stocks slide in US and Asia as AI jitters rattle investors

#46

Post by goalieca »

dmix wrote: post #25
elliotec wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm mostly talking about incredibly environmentally destructive data centers and energy use on the current trajectory. Not even thinking about water problems, the gas and coal requirements alone are climate disasters. [1] [2] But if it is a bubble, which many would argue is the case, an AI capex bust with it's circular financing collapse is one of, if not THE top threat to global financial stability. ~$725B combined…

China managed to double energy production between 2015-2025 (including 60 nuclear reactors). On paper the west should be able to do the same, tech companies are putting huge money into solar, natural gas, and nuclear. Most of the limitations are as you mention people protesting the whole idea of new industry and energy, which is the source of most of the risk. That plus open model/Chinese competition undercutting som…

China has been building coal power plants like crazy. They brought around 80GW online in 2025 alone.

Re: Chip stocks slide in US and Asia as AI jitters rattle investors

#47

Post by phil21 »

broodbucket wrote: post #34
grey-area wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Em dashes are not the problem, nobody cares about their use. Shoddy and melodramatic writing that doesn’t even make sense is the problem.

The point is that nowadays people will see anything with emdashes and assume it is slop even if it's hand written

Certainly has changed my writing style. Now I just vastly overuse commas in inappropriate ways!

Re: Chip stocks slide in US and Asia as AI jitters rattle investors

#48

Post by qlte »

dmix wrote: post #25
elliotec wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm mostly talking about incredibly environmentally destructive data centers and energy use on the current trajectory. Not even thinking about water problems, the gas and coal requirements alone are climate disasters. [1] [2] But if it is a bubble, which many would argue is the case, an AI capex bust with it's circular financing collapse is one of, if not THE top threat to global financial stability. ~$725B combined…

China managed to double energy production between 2015-2025 (including 60 nuclear reactors). On paper the west should be able to do the same, tech companies are putting huge money into solar, natural gas, and nuclear. Most of the limitations are as you mention people protesting the whole idea of new industry and energy, which is the source of most of the risk. That plus open model/Chinese competition undercutting som…

And yet, despite those hypothetical rosy scenarios on paper, tens of millions of ratepayers across different regions in the US are seeing their power bills increase right now, even with inefficient gas turbines being deployed on-site and bypassing emissions rules.

There’s a hyperscalar arms race where new data centers are measured in gigawatts, which is a uniquely perverse metric to the data center buildout that literally uses consumption as the lead marketing in press releases. Oracle is currently in the news protesting that a utility had the audacity to require a payment to guarantee the 7 billion+ of infrastructure necessary for their planned 1GW+ datacenter, taking for granted that the upside should accrue to their investors with all the risk being carried by ratepayers.

All of that is without even getting to the miserable state of consumer electronics which now routinely see 30%+ price increases for the same specs. Or these same companies laying off hundreds of thousands with press releases pointing to AI “efficiencies”.

The idea that “doomers” are just being manipulated by social media negativity instead of their actual lived experiences and direct observations feels like motivated reasoning or a bit out of touch.

Re: Chip stocks slide in US and Asia as AI jitters rattle investors

#49

Post by lenkite »

yogthos wrote: post #44
jurgenburgen wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is our economy so shitty?

Because that's what capitalism selects for. Making profit is a singular selection function for companies, with any social good being strictly incidentally. So, the slimiest companies that cheat, scam, pollute, and do anything they can to externalize their costs end up dominating the market over time. Early on, there is incentive to make a better product to get a customer base and brand recognition. But competition me…

The BIGGEST mistake of capitalism is the blank check given to acquisitions and mergers. Its like permitting a ravenous organism that grows by consuming others and pretending that the gigantic mutated Jupiter-sized Shoggoth with a billion devouring tentacles is still the same species as the cute friendly hamster-sized blob that it started out as.

Re: Chip stocks slide in US and Asia as AI jitters rattle investors

#50

Post by elliotec »

igor47 wrote: post #24
elliotec wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm mostly talking about incredibly environmentally destructive data centers and energy use on the current trajectory. Not even thinking about water problems, the gas and coal requirements alone are climate disasters. [1] [2] But if it is a bubble, which many would argue is the case, an AI capex bust with it's circular financing collapse is one of, if not THE top threat to global financial stability. ~$725B combined…

Hmm. I'm as big an environmentalist as anyone, but I'm pretty sceptical of the data centers as eco disasters narrative. Your sources indicate that renewables already meet over 50% of new data center demand, and the demand is predicted to drive advancements in technologies like SMRs. The water use of a data center is less than a golf course. Gas and coal cannot compete with renewables on price and speed of deployment,…

The sources say over 40% of incremental demand will need to be met with gas and coal over the next 4 years, which have 30-40 year book lives. So we're locking in that much more non-renewable energy for at least a generation.

The water thing is a separate issue, and it's not about "water use" itself.

Post reply on HN