AI Stocks Hit as Nasdaq Slides and Anthropic’s IPO Valuation Is Marked Down

U.S. equity markets have turned sharply against high‑growth tech, with AI‑linked names bearing the brunt of the sell‑off. The tech‑heavy Nasdaq Composite has dropped about 12% from its recent peak, putting it firmly in correction territory. Chipmakers seen as bellwethers for the AI boom, such as Nvidia and Micron, have swung wildly, with a brief rebound on Friday failing to erase steep losses from earlier in the week.

Against this backdrop, frontier‑model startup Anthropic is reportedly facing downwards pressure on the valuation for its planned initial public offering. While the company is still aiming for a multitrillion‑yen price tag, investors are becoming more cautious about the staggering compute costs required to train cutting‑edge models and the uncertain pace at which those investments can be turned into profitable revenue streams. Market watchers say the deal could become a key litmus test for how public markets now value AI growth stories.

The shift suggests that the “AI at any price” phase may be giving way to a more discriminating environment where cash flow, unit economics and governance matter as much as model benchmarks. For both would‑be issuers and already‑listed AI companies, the challenge will be to prove not only technical leadership but also credible paths to sustainable profits in a more skeptical market.