Shares of OpenAI partners such as SoftBank Group Corp. and Oracle Corp. fell after reports that the AI startup recently missed sales and new user targets, reigniting concerns about the spending prospects of technology companies ahead of earnings season.
SoftBank fell 11% in Tokyo, and CoreWeave, Oracle and AMD fell about 3% in pre-market trading on U.S. stocks. Although OpenAI has reached cooperation with dozens of companies, the market usually focuses on a small number of core partners, including Nvidia, SoftBank, Oracle, Microsoft, CoreWeave and AMD, and regards them as alternative targets for investment in ChatGPT developers.
Investors are paying close attention to whether there are signs that technology companies are still sticking to previously announced large-scale capital expenditure plans to build AI infrastructure.
Amanda, Head of Research at Energy Group Capital Lyons said, "The market needs to see this to maintain the current AI narrative. The key is that this is a very narrow path: any sign of slowing spending will be seen as negative for the entire ecosystem, but if spending increases significantly, it may raise questions about returns and sustainability."
A basket of companies related to OpenAI has significantly underperformed peers in recent months. Since the end of 2024, stocks in this group have gained about 75%, while a group of stocks related to Alphabet have gained more than 300%.
Reporters reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter, that OpenAI, once at the forefront of the artificial intelligence boom, failed to achieve multiple monthly sales targets in 2026, even as rival Anthropic made progress in the programming and enterprise markets.