US technology shares remained volatile across two sessions, with Alphabet recovering on Monday while major semiconductor stocks retreated again in Tuesday premarket trading.
Alphabet shares climbed more than 1.7% on Monday as investors returned to technology stocks and analysts maintained a broadly positive outlook ahead of the company's quarterly results. The recovery came after Alphabet lost close to 2.5% in the previous session, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ended an eight-session losing streak with a gain of more than 2.5%. All three major US stock indexes moved higher toward midday as investors reassessed artificial intelligence spending following last week's sell-off. Easing oil prices and relatively stable Treasury yields also supported equities.
Google was reported to be developing Gemini 4 Carbon, an upgrade to its recently released Gemini 4 Argon model, as competition intensified among AI developers including OpenAI and Anthropic. Google also announced new features for Gemini Notebook, such as Short Video Overviews and interactive Learning Overviews designed to help students prepare for exams.
Wall Street analysts remained mostly constructive on Alphabet. KeyBanc lowered its price target to $410 from $435 but kept an Overweight rating, while UBS raised its target slightly to $380 and JPMorgan increased its target to $425 from $420, citing rapid growth in Google Cloud and strong enterprise demand for Google's custom TPUs. Alphabet is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings on October 28.
Nvidia, AMD and Intel came under renewed pressure on Tuesday, threatening to reverse a semiconductor recovery that lasted barely one session. Nasdaq 100 futures slipped around 0.3% after the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.11% on Monday and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 1.61%. The reversal followed heavy selling in Asian chip stocks, while Brent crude climbed above $110 a barrel.
South Korea's KOSPI fell approximately 3.7%, led by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Newly listed AI infrastructure provider Elice plunged around 30% on its market debut. Investors remained focused on whether AI infrastructure spending would generate returns exceeding its financing costs. Dario Perkins of TS Lombard warned that debt across parts of the AI ecosystem could reach $2 trillion by late 2027.
Meta's earnings on Wednesday were seen as a key test of whether major technology companies intend to sustain ambitious AI spending plans. Intel's quarterly results are scheduled for October 29. For cryptocurrency markets, the developments matter mainly through broader risk appetite and sentiment around AI-related assets, although no crypto tokens were directly named.
