Amazon and Intel results deepen Wall Street worries over AI spending costs

Amazon and Intel results after Thursday's market close intensified Wall Street concerns about the AI boom's costs, revealing that surging data-center spending is straining tech giants' finances and squeezing consumer demand for devices. Amazon forecast holiday-quarter sales below expectations, while Intel flagged weak PC demand, triggering broad selloffs in tech and semiconductor stocks. Amazon's massive cash burn from data-center investments has turned once debt-light tech giants into major borrowers, with Alphabet and Meta also burning cash in the September quarter. Microsoft joined the borrowing binge with a $25 billion debt sale. Intel blamed a memory chip shortage and a factory explosion in Israel for a $600 million revenue loss, sending its shares down 18%. The AI infrastructure race has driven the semiconductor index up over 60% in 2026, but tightening financing terms have pressured leveraged AI firms and stalled IPOs. The SOX has fallen 13% from its October high and 21% from its June peak, with investors increasingly wary of smaller AI cloud companies' heavy borrowing.