Microsoft · Amazon · Apple · U.S. · Wall Street · The Guardian Technology
The recent rot may have started with the failure of Firmus, an Australian datacentre company, to list on the ASX
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The multi-billion dollar initial public offering was, at one stage, on track to make Firmus worth more than Telstra, even before having delivered on its promised earnings.
Key facts
- Corporate bonds issued by these companies now account for nearly 10% of the global investment-grade credit market, from 0.5% at the end of 2024, according to the International Monetary Fund
- Last week, the Nasdaq 100, an index of the 100 biggest non-financial stocks on the American tech-heavy Nasdaq exchange, dropped by 5.5%, triggering the usual angst that the AI boom is about to go bust
- On the S&P 500, meanwhile, tech titans Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla now account for 35% of the American sharemarket index, up from 12% a decade ago
- Despite the recent wobbles, the Nasdaq 100 is still worth nearly three times more than at the start of 2023
Summary
The world is holding its breath as it waits to find out whether this year’s estimated $US1tn investment in artificial intelligence is resting on a castle made of sand. Last week, the Nasdaq 100, an index of the 100 biggest non-financial stocks on the American tech-heavy Nasdaq exchange, dropped by 5.5%, triggering the usual angst that the AI boom is about to go bust. The recent rot may have started with the failure of Firmus, an Australian datacentre company, to list on the ASX. That proved to be a fever dream of its founders and a wake-up call to investors in Australia and around the world to reconsider the potential value of similar businesses.