Oracle Craters 15% After AI Spending Spree Spurs Jitters, Pulls Nvidia and AMD Down Too

With input from Bloomberg, CNBC, the New York Times, Forbes, AP, and Reuters.

Oracle just reminded Wall Street that the AI boom comes with a real price tag.

The software and cloud giant’s stock tumbled about 15% on Thursday after it reported quarterly revenue of $16.06 billion, slightly below the $16.21 billion analysts were looking for despite booming AI demand. That tiny miss was enough to spook investors who are already nervous about how much cash Oracle is burning to chase artificial intelligence.

The sell-off didn’t stop with Oracle. Other big AI names fell in sympathy:

• Nvidia dropped more than 3%;
• AMD slid about 3%;
• CoreWeave fell around 5%;
• Other chip and AI-linked stocks like Broadcom and Micron also traded lower.

The broader market reflected the split mood:
The S&P 500 dipped, the Nasdaq fell more sharply thanks to tech weakness, while the Dow actually pushed higher as money rotated into less AI-heavy names.

Oracle has spent the past year reinventing itself as an AI infrastructure powerhouse, building massive data centers and inking headline deals — including a $300 billion partnership with OpenAI and huge cloud contracts with companies like TikTok and Meta.

To do that, it’s been loading up on debt:

• $18 billion raised in a jumbo bond deal in September;
• Billions more coming via construction loans for data centers in states like New Mexico and Wisconsin;
• Citi estimates Oracle will raise $20–$30 billion in new debt every year for the next three years.

On its earnings call, Oracle said it now expects about $50 billion in capital expenditures through May 2026 — up from a prior forecast of $35 billion. For fiscal 2025 alone, capex was $21.2 billion.

That’s a huge ramp-up. And investors noticed.

Free cash flow for the quarter was negative $10 billion, nearly twice as bad as the already-negative Wall Street expectation. That number matters a lot in an AI “bubble” environment, because it signals how easily a company can actually pay back what it borrows.

Principal Financial Officer Doug Kehring tried to reassure investors, saying Oracle is committed to keeping its investment-grade debt rating and pointing to creative financing options where customers or suppliers help foot the chip bill. Some customers may bring their own chips, and some suppliers may lease chips instead of selling them, “synchronizing our payments with our receipts,” he said.

Despite all the hand-wringing, Oracle’s core AI and cloud metrics still look strong. Cloud infrastructure revenue jumped, and its backlog of contracted revenue — a key AI demand indicator — continues to swell.

Analysts at Wedbush called the situation a “high-class problem” driven by massive AI demand and argued that any sector-wide pullback could be a buying opportunity rather than a sign the AI story is over.

Even after this week’s drop, Oracle shares are still up about 34% year-to-date, a sign of how far and fast they’d climbed on AI hype.

But Thursday’s sell-off showed how fragile that enthusiasm can be. For now, the market is asking a simple question:

If Oracle (and its AI partners) are going to spend this much, how long will investors be willing to wait for the payoff?