# Tech stocks plunge as voters reject AI datacenter expansion

> The Nasdaq fell 5.2% on Thursday after midterm election results showed voters opposing new AI datacenters, threatening the capex boom that has driven tech stocks.
- Title: Tech stocks plunge as voters reject AI datacenter expansion
- Summary: The Nasdaq fell 5.2% on Thursday after midterm election results showed voters opposing new AI datacenters, threatening the capex boom that has driven tech…
- Keywords: nasdaq, tech stocks, ai datacenters, midterm elections, nvidia, meta, microsoft, semiconductor stocks, capex spending, Fortune
- Source: Fortune — https://fortune.com/2026/11/05/tech-stocks-are-suffering-the-biggest-selloff-since-covid-as-investors-see-premature-end-to-ai-datacenter-boom
- Author: Alexei Oreskovic
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: nasdaq, tech stocks, ai datacenters, midterm elections, nvidia, meta, microsoft, semiconductor stocks, capex spending
## Tech stocks crater on Thursday
The Nasdaq fell more than 1,340 points, or 5.2%, in midday trading, shedding more than three trillion dollars in market cap.It was the biggest daily drop since the Liberation Day tariff announcement in April 2025.
## Semiconductor stocks hit hardest
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Sector index, tracking the 30 largest chip companies, was down more than 1,000 points on track for its single biggest day loss since March 2020. Micron and AMD each fell roughly 14%.
## Big Tech takes losses across the board
Meta fell 3.4%, Microsoft fell 2.8%, and Nvidia fell 8%. Google, with its search advertising business, was down only 1.6% on Thursday, faring better than rivals.
## Voters rejected datacenter expansion
Thursday's selloff followed Wednesday's midterm election results. Voters overwhelmingly approved candidates and ballot measures that sought to curtail the buildout of AI data centers in the United States.
## Meta warns of harder datacenter builds
Meta President Dina Powell McCormick said building data centers in the U.S. is going to be harder. Every hyperscaler is now thinking about building outside the United States because they are enormous investments.

> going to be harder
## Capex growth expected to peak sooner
Dan Ives at Yorkville Ives expects tech capex growth to peak next year instead of 2028 or 2029.He estimates ten to twenty percent of planned eight hundred to one thousand AI datacenters in the U.S.
## Key takeaway

Tech stocks suffered their worst day since April 2025 as investors feared midterm election results will slow the AI datacenter buildout that has powered the sector.