AI Trade Cools as Bitcoin Stages a Rebound

Memory and semiconductor stocks have led equity markets this year, powered by surging demand for the computing hardware behind artificial intelligence. That rally has coincided with a weaker stretch for crypto, as investors chased what became the market's dominant theme. Recent price action suggests the balance may be shifting. AI bellwethers have started to lose steam while bitcoin (BTC) has bounced from a low not seen in nearly two years. ETF performance highlights the divergence. Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) more than doubled in the first half of the year, and VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) gained 60%, both closely linked to AI-driven compute demand. By contrast, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) — the largest bitcoin ETF — is down 30%, broadly matching bitcoin's decline. Some of the strongest AI-linked winners have been in memory. Sandisk (SNDK), which designs and manufactures NAND flash used across AI servers, smartphones and data centers, is up more than 530% this year. Micron Technology (MU), a major producer of DRAM and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in AI infrastructure, has climbed more than 230%. In recent days, investors have begun to reassess. DRAM has slid about 25% from its June 22 record high, while SMH has retreated 12%. Bitcoin, after dipping below $58,000 on July 1, is back above $61,000 and recently traded around $61,779.89. Selling pressure in AI-related names intensified Wednesday after Bloomberg reported that Meta Platforms (META) is forming a unit called Meta Compute to sell excess GPU (graphics processing unit) capacity to third parties. The report rattled companies that benefited from the AI compute boom, particularly 'neocloud' providers that lease GPU infrastructure to AI developers. That group includes former bitcoin miners that have redeployed their fleets toward high-performance computing (HPC) and GPU hosting. IREN (IREN), Cipher Digital (CIFR) and TerraWulf (WULF) have each fallen at least 20% from their all-time highs. It remains too early to label the move a durable rotation. Still, after months of capital moving into AI infrastructure at crypto's expense, the pullback in chip leaders alongside bitcoin's rebound may be an early sign that investors are starting to rebalance risk back toward digital assets.