AI has become a core driver of the U.S. stock market, with technology stocks accounting for nearly half of the S&P 500’s market capitalization.

On November 6, U.S. equities plunged sharply—exposing an inescapable reality: the artificial intelligence (AI) industry has deeply reshaped the operating logic of both financial markets and the broader macroeconomy. Merely on concerns that newly elected Democratic lawmakers might delay data center construction, U.S. stocks tumbled significantly this week. This reaction was no anomaly: as of November 3, the S&P 500’s total market capitalization has surged by nearly $32 trillion since OpenAI launched ChatGPT—and over half of that gain (more than $16 trillion) is concentrated in just 10 AI-heavy companies. Today, roughly 44% ($610 billion) of U.S. pension assets are directly allocated to the technology sector. Moreover, AI’s influence has long spilled beyond tech: power generation firms, turbine manufacturers, uranium miners, and other non-tech companies have tightly aligned their strategies with the AI wave—making their stock prices increasingly synchronized with the broader AI supply chain’s performance.