Pre-Market: SMCI Surges Nearly 20%; Google Slides Post-Earnings; AI Software Stocks Sink

U.S. stock futures pointed to a mixed open on July 23, with sharp divergence across the tech landscape. AI hardware names surged, led by Super Micro Computer (SMCI) soaring nearly 20% and Nvidia (NVDA) climbing over 2%. Meanwhile, AI software and cloud services came under heavy selling pressure—ServiceNow (NOW) and Palantir (PLTR) each dropped more than 6%, while Google (GOOGL) slipped over 1% post-earnings as a sharp capex hike stoked free cash flow concerns.

AI Hardware Rallies: SMCI Up ~20%, Nvidia Adds 2%

Super Micro Computer (SMCI) surged 19.84% to $30.56 in pre-market trading with volume exceeding 163 million shares. Nvidia (NVDA) rose 2.30% to $212.06 on volume of 138 million shares. Intel (INTC) fell 2.68% to $102.62. Analysts noted Nvidia is expanding beyond its AI GPU dominance into the $200 billion CPU market, with the Vera Rubin platform expected this autumn and a CPU revenue target of $20 billion for the year. Despite substantial prior gains, AI adoption remains in its early stages, with sustained innovation underpinning robust demand.

Google Slips Post-Earnings as Capex Hike Stokes Worries

Alphabet (GOOGL) fell 1.46% to $342.09 pre-market on volume of 39.33 million shares. Apple (AAPL) edged down 0.56% to $325.89; Amazon (AMZN) lost 1.09% to $244.85; Netflix (NFLX) dipped 0.20%. Alphabet posted Q2 revenue of $119.8 billion, beating estimates with strong cloud momentum, but raised full-year capex guidance to $195–$205 billion (up from $180–$190 billion), while free cash flow turned negative to -$5.9 billion, triggering investor anxiety over the pace of AI investment returns. Noah Holdings' CIO office observed that the market is repricing AI capex through a free-cash-flow lens, rather than signaling the end of the AI narrative.

AI Software Stocks Broadly Lower: ServiceNow, Palantir Down Over 6%

ServiceNow (NOW) tumbled 6.47% to $95.46; Palantir (PLTR) slid 6.10% to $124.57; UiPath (PATH) plunged 11.13% to $10.70. Google's aggressive AI spending ramp triggered a ripple effect, with markets concerned that enterprise AI software vendors face an increasingly competitive landscape. Additionally, Google's announcement of deep integration of its Gemini 4 model into search and cloud products could exert substitution pressure on certain standalone AI software tools.

Elsewhere, Tesla (TSLA) fell more than 5% pre-market following its earnings report, which set an Optimus V4 production target of 10 million units per year and flagged that the AI5 chip is expected to enter production mid-next year. Among bank stocks, Bank of America (BAC) inched up 0.65% to $61.62. Small-cap China-concept stocks saw wild swings, with Zhongchao skyrocketing 191.84%, Zhibao Tech surging 44.75%, while Li Bang plunged over 42%.