Magnificent Seven Lose About $1.04 Trillion in a Day as AI Spending Pressures Big Tech Cash Flow

According to ChainCatcher citing SemiAnalysis, U.S. technology stocks sold off sharply after the midterm elections amid concerns about tighter AI regulation and slower data-center construction. On November 5, the Magnificent Seven lost about $1.04 trillion in market value. Nvidia fell 9.26%, shedding more than $440 billion in market value—two to four times the declines of major customers Microsoft, Google and Amazon. Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta generated a combined operating cash flow that no longer covered capital expenditures in the third quarter, leaving a shortfall of about $26.4 billion, compared with a surplus of about $61.7 billion a year earlier. Amazon’s trailing 12-month free cash flow swung from a $14.8 billion inflow to a $42.4 billion outflow. Meta’s free cash flow turned negative for the first time in more than a decade, while Google’s long-term debt rose from about $20 billion to $125 billion. On Election Day, 40 of 41 local ballot measures concerning data centers across 10 states favored restrictions; 27 restrictive or opposition measures passed. SemiAnalysis said the policy changes may have limited impact on projects already underway in 2027 but could affect computing-capacity expansion plans from 2028 onward. More than 90% of Nvidia’s revenue comes from data centers. Meanwhile, Google Cloud’s third-quarter operating profit tripled year over year, AWS operating profit rose from $11.4 billion to $17.8 billion, and Microsoft Azure revenue grew 48%.