What happened
After the US midterm elections, markets reacted on Thursday with a one-day delay. According to the BBC, tech companies in the US, Europe and Asia together lost trillions of dollars in market value. Citing Dow Jones data, the BBC reports the Nasdaq Composite fell more than 5.5 percent, losing an estimated 2.5 trillion US dollars. According to heise online, the Nasdaq fell 5.5 percent and the S&P 500 4.4 percent. Both sources report the PHLX Semiconductor Sector Index fell more than 12 percent.
In Asia the sell-off continued on Friday. According to the BBC, Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 6.3 percent in the afternoon, and South Korea's Kospi fell more than 8 percent in morning trading, triggering a trading halt. heise online reports the Nikkei at one point fell more than 7 percent.
Background
According to the BBC, Democrats won both the US Senate and the House of Representatives. Several Democratic candidates had campaigned against the expansion of data centers and AI. Texas governor-elect Gina Hinojosa has, according to the BBC, called for a moratorium on new data center construction. According to heise online, local votes on AI data centers went against construction almost everywhere, with one exception in Harwood, North Dakota.
Senator Bernie Sanders called for a national data center moratorium, according to the BBC. President Donald Trump blamed Democrats for the market drop, according to the BBC.
Assessment
According to the BBC, the sell-off has several causes: concern that the large sums spent on AI infrastructure may not deliver returns, and the prospect of a sharp slowdown in data center construction. According to heise online, a regulatory shift could slow the building boom. Which measures will actually be implemented remains open according to the sources.
For German companies that buy AI services from the US, slower data center development there could in future affect capacity and prices. Whether this happens cannot be reliably derived from the available sources.
Sources
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