Tech and chip makers lose $1 trillion in massive AI sell-off

Investors are thinking twice about the stocks that have most benefited from the AI boom.

The 20 most valuable chip stocks have lost $1.3 trillion over the past week after a big sell-off, according to analysis by CNBC.

According to the outlet's data, Nvidia led in losses after investors liquidated $238 billion since the market closed on Friday. There's perhaps no bigger sign that investors are getting cold feet when it comes to artificial intelligence, as Nvidia has benefited more than any other company from the AI boom. 

Other companies in the memory space have also taken a big hit. SK Hynix lost $176 billion. Samsung is down $173 billion. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. lost $119 billion. Micron shed $113 billion. And AMD is down $110 billion.

Tech companies have seen demand in memory and storage skyrocket as AI companies buy out supply to power their insatiable compute needs. Due to this, RAM and SSD storage supply has dwindled for everyday consumers. Consumer tech companies like Apple have been forced to institute price hikes on their products as a result.

Despite this, however, investors are seemingly starting to question their AI-related investments.

“This decline appears to be driven largely by sentiment rather than fundamentals,” Morningstar's Chief Equity Strategist Michael Field told CNBC. “Simply put, it’s loss of confidence,” he added. “We continue to see upside in many AI names, but these are growth stocks, and, as such, much of their value comes from cash flows expected far out into the future, which requires a lot of faith from investors.”

Investor concern surrounding AI technology seems rooted in the fact that while these companies make billions of dollars, they're spending way more than they make. According to recent reporting from the Financial Times and Ed Zitron, AI giant OpenAI had a net loss of $38.5 billion last year. Just this week, OpenAI announced that it will spend $750 billion on infrastructure through 2030. Finally, Google recently experienced its first-ever negative cash flow quarter, thanks to spending on AI infrastructure.

Of course, investor sentiment on AI can turn around quickly.