For the first half of 2024, computer and semiconductor names like Dell Technologies Inc (NYSE:DELL), NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:AMD) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) could no wrong. Hype around artificial intelligence and heightened demand for chips helped push share prices higher, creating what some experts have called a bubble.
But so far, in the second half of the year, the run in technology has faltered. The Invesco QQQ Trust Series (NASDAQ:QQQ), a fund that tracks the NASDAQ 100, is down more than 5% throughout the last month.

In the last month, Dell's stock is down 25%, Nvidia's more than 15%, while AMD is down around 13%.

Earnings reports from companies like Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) drove their respective stocks lower, creating more uncertainty among investors in the tech community.

Why Are Semis Trading Lower? There are a number of potential reasons why the semiconductor industry has struggled throughout the last few weeks. The first six months of the year were so strong for the group of stocks that it's reasonable to expect them to pull back and come down to earth at some point.
After all, the iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX), which tracks semi-names like NVIDIA and AMD, is still up around 20% YTD, despite a 10% drawdown in the last month. And while there is still a substantial amount of hype around the AI opportunity, some analysts have begun expressing doubts about how long it will take for companies to realize the benefits of their expensive investments in the developing technology.

Upcoming earnings this week from names like Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) and other tech companies actively investing in AI could shed more light on how much return they are seeing now. AMD is also set to report earnings Tuesday after the bell, having fallen more than 35% from its high in March.
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