Dell Plunges 11% After Barclays Downgrade as AI Buildout Fears Hit Data Center Stocks
Updated
Updated · CNBC · Oct 14
Dell Plunges 11% After Barclays Downgrade as AI Buildout Fears Hit Data Center Stocks
3 articles · Updated · CNBC · Oct 14
Summary
Dell sank 11% on Wednesday, leading a broad sell-off in data center equipment after Barclays cut Dell, HPE and NetApp to hold-equivalent ratings.
Barclays said it has not seen a meaningful enterprise AI spending inflection, arguing recent revenue strength reflects higher memory prices rather than a true AI-driven hardware refresh.
5% of IT budgets is typically what businesses are allocating to AI, the analysts said, with only about a quarter of enterprise AI spending going to hardware.
Oracle fell 9%, CoreWeave dropped 15% and HPE, Super Micro and NetApp also slid as investors questioned whether debt-heavy AI infrastructure buildouts can pay off in a higher-rate environment.
Memory-market weakness added pressure: Micron is down 11% this week, SK Hynix 13% in U.S. trading and Western Digital more than 8% after CXMT reported progress on a new chip structure.