US Technology Stock Market Shows Clear Divergence
Since the third quarter of 2026, the US technology stock market has shown a clear pattern of "ice and fire coexisting." New-generation information technology-related stocks represented by artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and big data have continued to strengthen, pushing the Nasdaq index to continuously refresh historical highs; while traditional semiconductor and hardware manufacturing sectors have adjusted, showing relatively weak market performance.
Data shows that as of early October, the Nasdaq index has risen by more than 15% since the beginning of the year, with AI-related component stocks contributing more than 60% of the index's increase. At the same time, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has fallen by nearly 8% from its high point of the year, showing the structural divergence within the technology sector.
Behind this divergence pattern reflects the market's reassessment of the future development direction of the technology industry. As the commercialization process of AI technology accelerates, the market has given higher valuation premiums to companies that can directly benefit from the AI wave; while for traditional semiconductor companies, although the industry fundamentals are solid, their performance is relatively weak in the short term under market sentiment fluctuations and valuation adjustment pressure.
AI Giants Lead Technology Stock Rally
Among US technology stocks, AI-related companies are undoubtedly the most eye-catching sector in market performance. AI giants represented by NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Google, with their leading position and technical advantages in the field of artificial intelligence, have seen their stock prices continue to rise, becoming the main driving force behind the Nasdaq's increase.
As the leading enterprise in AI chips, NVIDIA's stock price has doubled in 2026, with its market value breaking through the $3 trillion mark. The company's latest financial report shows that data center business revenue increased by more than 80% year-on-year, with AI-related chips contributing the main growth momentum. Market analysts generally believe that as global AI applications continue to deepen, NVIDIA's leading position in the AI chip field is unlikely to be shaken in the short term.
Technology giants such as Microsoft and Google have also made significant progress in the AI field. Microsoft provides AI services through its Azure cloud platform, with strong demand from enterprise customers; Google continues to exert efforts in AI search, AI assistants and other fields, with the commercialization process accelerating. The stock prices of these companies have all hit historical highs, reflecting the market's high optimism about the commercial prospects of AI.
Semiconductor Sector Faces Adjustment Pressure
In stark contrast to the continuous strengthening of AI giants' stock prices, the semiconductor sector has faced obvious adjustment pressure recently. Although the global semiconductor industry is still in a recovery cycle, under market sentiment fluctuations and valuation adjustment pressure, semiconductor stocks have shown relatively weak overall performance.
Analysts point out that the adjustment of the semiconductor sector is mainly affected by three factors: first, the increase in global macroeconomic uncertainty, with some consumer electronics demand recovery not meeting expectations; second, the gradual release of semiconductor industry capacity, with the supply-demand relationship tending to balance; third, the relatively large increase in the early stage, with a certain valuation callback demand.
However, from a long-term perspective, the semiconductor industry still has strong growth potential. With the rapid development of emerging applications such as 5G, Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence, semiconductor demand will continue to grow. The advantages of industry leaders in technology research and development and market share will become more prominent, providing good investment opportunities for long-term investors.
Technology Stock Valuation Analysis: Rationally View High Valuations
Currently, the overall valuation of US technology stocks is at a historically high level. Especially AI-related stocks, their valuation multiples are significantly higher than the market average. How to view the high valuations of technology stocks has become the focus of investor attention.
From a fundamental perspective, technology giants, especially AI-related companies, their profitability is indeed continuously improving. The rapid growth of emerging businesses such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence has brought considerable revenue and profit growth for the company. This improvement in fundamentals provides support for the high valuations of technology stocks.
However, investors also need to be alert to the risks of overvaluation. On the one hand, the valuation of technology stocks has already reflected relatively optimistic growth expectations. Once performance falls short of expectations, stock prices may face greater adjustment pressure; on the other hand, the technology industry has a fast pace of technological updates and iterations, and corporate moats may be disrupted by new technologies, which is also a risk point that technology stock investment needs to pay attention to.
For Asian investors, when allocating US technology stocks, they need to pay more attention to the valuation safety margin, select high-quality companies with solid fundamentals and relatively reasonable valuations for long-term investment. At the same time, they can reduce the risk of individual stocks through diversified investment.
Interpretation of Technology Giants' Financial Reports: AI Commercialization Process Accelerates
Recently, major US technology giants have successively released their third-quarter financial reports for 2026. From the financial data, it can be seen that the AI commercialization process is accelerating, and related businesses have become the main driving force for the growth of technology giants.
NVIDIA's financial report shows that data center business revenue increased by 82% year-on-year, with AI chips accounting for more than 70% of the revenue. The company's CEO Jensen Huang said in a conference call that global AI computing demand remains strong and is expected to maintain high-speed growth in the next few quarters.
Microsoft's cloud computing business revenue increased by 28% year-on-year, with Azure AI service revenue increasing by more than 60%. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that AI is becoming an important tool for enterprise customers' digital transformation, and market demand far exceeds expectations.
Google's parent company Alphabet's financial report shows that search business revenue increased by 15% year-on-year, with AI
