{"text":[[{"start":0,"text":"US tech stocks were set to fall on Thursday after overnight earnings from Alphabet fuelled renewed uncertainty over the pace of spending on building out AI infrastructure."}],[{"start":21.56,"text":"Futures contracts tracking the Nasdaq 100 pointed to the tech-heavy index opening 1.2 per cent lower, while those for the broader S&P 500 were down 0.4 per cent."}],[{"start":33.06,"text":"The falls on Wall Street come after Google parent Alphabet reported lower than expected capital expenditure in the third quarter but still spent more than it brought in for a second straight quarter, with weakness in core search advertising. Alphabet dropped 10.2 per cent in pre-market trading."}],[{"start":50.8,"text":"“The results raised questions about whether the pay-offs will come fast enough to justify the company’s soaring capex spend,” Deutsche Bank analysts wrote on Thursday, adding that earnings from Alphabet and Samsung Electronics have “renewed doubts about the returns on AI spending”."}],[{"start":67.96,"text":"Thursday’s drop in tech stocks marked a continuation of a volatile month for the sector as investors fret about the sustainability of the debt-fuelled AI infrastructure boom. The Nasdaq 100 is on track to lose more than 3 per cent in October, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor index of US chip stocks has fallen 7.5 per cent so far."}],[{"start":89.7,"text":"In South Korea, shares in Samsung Electronics fell more than 4 per cent after the company’s chipmaking division, which supplies data centres, reported lower than expected operating profit. Investors were also disappointed by a lack of detail on its shareholder return programme, said fund managers."}],[{"start":108.52,"text":"Samsung shares are down more than 30 per cent from their peak in June amid uncertainty about the sustainability of the hundreds of billions of dollars being spent on AI infrastructure."}],[{"start":118.52,"text":"In Europe, chipmakers were weaker in early trading. ASML was down 0.8 per cent and BE Semiconductor Industries fell 1 per cent."}],[{"start":128.92,"text":"In other results after the market closed on Wednesday, Microsoft reported it invested less than expected in new data centres during the last quarter, blaming construction delays as its ambitious plans to meet demand from customers including Anthropic and OpenAI came up against real-world constraints."}],[{"start":145.72,"text":"Microsoft was up 4 per cent in pre-market trading."}],[{"start":149.36,"text":"Analysts said the results showed investors were still sensitive to any signs of a negative outlook for AI from tech earnings."}],[{"start":155.44,"text":"“Clearly risk assets, equities, are very much pivoting on any news on this front,” said Mitul Kotecha, head of Asian macro strategy at Barclays. “Markets are becoming more discerning on returns on investing in AI.”"}],[{"start":168.434,"text":"US government bonds rallied on Thursday, partly in response to a lower oil price but also continuing a recent run of gaining ground as investors flock to safety from AI."}],[{"start":178.92,"text":"The 10-year Treasury yield was 0.05 percentage points lower at 4.99 per cent as the price rose."}],[{"start":191.12,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1793264586_7026.mp3"}