U.S. tech stocks came under pressure on Friday, driven by concerns about the rapid pace of investment in AI and a series of disappointing earnings reports in the semiconductor sector. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.2%, closing out a week in which the tech-heavy index struggled to maintain recent highs.

Semiconductor sector hit hard

Among the notable tumblers, Marvell Technology plunged nearly 19%, resembling Bitcoin’s early days, after revealing that its data center revenue had failed to meet market expectations.

The stock was downgraded from “buy” to “neutral” by Bank of America in response to these earnings. Meanwhile, Nvidia, whose market capitalization makes it the largest listed semiconductor company globally, dropped 3.3% on Friday.

The company flagged ongoing uncertainty in its sales to China, largely due to U.S. export restrictions impacting its AI chips.

For the week, Nvidia shares fell 2.1%, marking their steepest weekly decline since May. Broader weakness in chipmakers dragged the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index to its lowest point since mid-April.

The S&P 500 also retreated, down 0.6% for its largest single-day drop of the month, though it still managed to finish August up 1.9%. The tech stocks selling is likely attributed to investors taking profits near month-end, especially after a hot August when technology shares led markets to record levels.

Tech stocks overheated and China uncertainties loom

Despite the hundreds of billions of dollars of investment already poured into data centers fueling generative AI projects like ChatGPT, actual revenues in this space remain relatively modest.

According to Morgan Stanley, generative AI products from major cloud providers such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google brought in about $45 billion last year.

Marvell, a key supplier of custom semiconductors to these companies, has faced additional headwinds, including trade tensions and questions around its growth prospects. Its shares, which had previously surged on the AI hardware boom, have slumped more than 40% since the beginning of 2025.

Nvidia, meanwhile, awaits clarification from the U.S. government regarding a deal to resume H20 chip exports to China, with the administration set to collect a revenue share from those sales.

Chinese authorities have discouraged local firms from buying Nvidia’s technology, ramping up efforts to support domestic alternatives. Cambricon, a leading Chinese AI chipmaker, recently posted record profits and claimed advancements that bring its products closer to Nvidia’s standards, sending its stock price soaring.

Shares in U.S.-based Super Micro Computer, a vital part of Nvidia’s supply chain, fell 5.5% after reporting internal accounting challenges.

Bitcoin price slumps further into the weekend

While tech stocks and AI-linked companies face their own market turbulence, Bitcoin has not been immune to broader risk-off sentiment.

Bitcoin’s price fell below $108,000 on Saturday, heading into the weekend, down nearly 7% for the week and at its lowest point since July.

Selling has accelerated as investors react to persistent uncertainty around U.S. monetary policy, sticky inflation, and weakening labor market data.

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Bitcoin’s price increased 0.5% to $109,600 on Wednesday after United States inflation data for May came in below market expectations.

The asset’s move comes after a period of sustained strength, where it has held a range between $109,000 and $110,000 over the last three days.

The latest Consumer Price Index report showed year-over-year inflation of 2.4%, up from 2.3%, and core inflation of 2.8%, both figures below consensus forecasts.

The monthly core reading, which strips out food and energy, rose by just 0.1%, matching its slowest pace of the year and suggesting underlying price pressures are easing.

A deeper look into the BLS data reveals a notable divergence. The soft headline number was primarily driven by a 1.0% monthly fall in the energy index, with gasoline down 2.6%.

Declines in airline fares and used vehicles also contributed. However, persistent inflation remains in services, as the shelter index rose 0.3% for a fourth straight month, preventing a more substantial drop in the overall inflation rate.

This broad-based cooling of price pressures, particularly in the core measure, could bolster expectations for future interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

The price reaction places Bitcoin near its recent highs but still below the all-time high of $111,900 set on May 22.

This stability follows a recovery from the prior week, during which Bitcoin traded between $103,000 and $105,000 and experienced a brief drop to $100,000 on June 5.

Tariff impact on inflation

The CPI data currently shows no clear evidence of a broad tariff impact pushing up prices. In fact, for key goods categories where tariffs would be most visible, the data points towards disinflation or deflation.

Here’s a breakdown of the analysis from the report:

Core Goods Prices Are Flat: The most important indicator here is the Commodities less food and energy commodities index.

This category, which covers most of the tangible, often imported, goods that would be subject to tariffs, showed 0.0% change for the month. This flatness suggests a lack of inflationary pressure from these goods.

Key tariff-sensitive categories decreased. Looking deeper, several major categories where tariffs would be expected to appear actually saw prices fall in May:

• New vehicles: -0.3%
• Apparel: -0.4%
• Used cars and trucks: -0.5%

Services, not goods, drive current inflation. The report explicitly states that inflation in May was driven by services, which are not directly affected by import tariffs.

• The Shelter index, the largest component of the CPI, rose by +0.3%.
• The Motor vehicle insurance index also rose sharply by +0.7%.

Therefore, while an analyst could argue that a small increase in a category like Household furnishings and operations (+0.3%) might contain a tariff component, the overwhelming evidence in the May 2025 report points away from tariffs as a current driver of inflation.

The dominant story in this data is falling energy prices counteracting persistent inflation in the services sector, particularly housing.

Given several’ 90-day pauses’ in tariff collection and technical issues collecting tariffs, tariff revenue has yet to come close to the levels required to replace the IRS, as President Trump promised. Thus, it is perhaps unsurprising that tariffs have visibly affected inflation.

Tariff revenue collected from US importers of $16 billion in April, followed by a projected $23 billion in May, post Liberation Day, is marginal in terms of the entire US economy.

Auradine Inc., a US-based Bitcoin miner manufacturer, announced today that it will announce its expanded portfolio of mining products at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas.

“Our goal is to democratize access to Bitcoin mining and enable innovative integration,” said CEO and co-founder of Auradine Rajiv Khemani. “Whether you’re running a megawatt container or building a small form factor heater miter miter for your home, it will help you succeed by providing tips, systems and support. This new chapter is about providing efficient innovation, expansion and operations to miners.”

The new ASIC offering, designed for both industrial and small deployments, supports customizable form factors and is already adopted by operators such as Mara Holdings, Futurebit, and Deep South Operating. Along the chip, Auragin continues to produce a wide range of mining rigs to support a variety of deployment needs.

“Aurazine’s ability to provide both high-performance chips and scalable infrastructure is consistent with Mala’s mission to stay at the forefront of Bitcoin mining,” said Mala Holdings Chief Technology Officer Ashu Swami. “We are pleased with our partnership with Aurazine with our cutting-edge engineering capabilities and innovation.”

Auradine’s modular 1 MW container units were developed in collaboration with Fog Hashing and Fbox and are designed to accommodate 100-200 miners each. Merkle Standard, the first to deploy the system, reported increased energy efficiency and operational flexibility.

“We were the first to deploy Aurazine container solutions and quickly exceeded our expectations,” said the COO of Merkle Standard Monty Stahl. “The combination of performance, energy efficiency and modular design gives you the flexibility to expand operations faster and smarter than traditional infrastructures allow. This is a kind of innovation that mining has long required.”

The recent $153 million Series C funding provides flexible mining infrastructure and supports the push to supply ASIC chips for third-party integration. The company also plans to extend its hardware expertise to AI and network through its Auralinks initiative.

“We were one of the first to try out Aurazine’s ASIC chips and were immediately impressed with the support and customizations our team provided,” added LLC Brock Tompkins, CEO of Deep South Operating. “It helps miners like us to be scalable and efficient while raising the standard for what decentralized mining looks like.”