Nasdaq AI Rebound Pushes Up 1.1% as $28B SK Hynix IPO Looms

For AI investors and technologists, Monday's market rebound is more than a relief rally; it's a crucial barometer for the AI infrastructure boom. With SK Hynix's record $28 billion Nasdaq IPO looming, the sector's ability to maintain stratospheric valuations is being severely tested. The sharp contrast between Broadcom's Apple-driven surge and the recent double-digit drops in SK Hynix shares exposes the bifurcated reality of AI hardware: long-term contract winners thrive, while pure-play memory providers face extreme volatility even with massive year-to-date gains.

A sharp recovery in artificial intelligence stocks propelled the broader U.S. equity market higher on Monday, July 6, 2026, as the S&P 500 rose 0.7% and closed within 1% of its all-time high. The advance was particularly concentrated in AI-related names, with the Nasdaq Composite surging 1.1%, even as a majority of stocks within the S&P 500 actually declined on the day. This divergence underscores the ongoing reliance of the market on a narrow set of mega-cap AI beneficiaries — a dynamic that has left investors increasingly anxious about whether the massive capital expenditures flowing into AI infrastructure can be justified by future returns. The day’s gains came after a turbulent stretch for the sector, which saw sharp sell-offs in the final two sessions of the previous week, before a three-day holiday weekend for the Fourth of July. The rebound thus serves as both a relief rally and a fresh test of the AI investment thesis, particularly with a historic capital raise on the immediate horizon.

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With SK Hynix's record $28 billion Nasdaq IPO looming, the sector's ability to maintain stratospheric valuations is being severely tested.

The strongest catalyst for Monday’s upturn was Broadcom, which climbed 3.7% after announcing long-term agreements to supply silicon products to Apple. The move marked a dramatic reversal from its back-to-back losses of more than 2% on Wednesday and Thursday of the prior week. Broadcom’s tie-up with Apple highlights the deepening entanglement of AI chipmakers with the consumer electronics ecosystem, where demand for on-device AI processing is accelerating. However, the stock’s recent whiplash illustrates the fragility of AI valuations: even companies with concrete, high-profile deals are not immune to the sector-wide rotation that has seen investors churn through winners and losers as risk appetite ebbs and flows.

Looming over the market is the upcoming initial public offering of South Korean memory maker SK Hynix, which plans to raise $28 billion through a Nasdaq listing later this week. If successful, it would rank as one of the largest U.S. equity offerings in history, second only to SpaceX’s $75 billion IPO from just a month ago. The offering is a monumental test of global investor appetite for AI infrastructure plays, given that SK Hynix’s stock has already more than tripled on Seoul’s exchange so far this year on the back of AI-driven memory demand. Yet its day-to-day swings have been vertiginous, including a staggering 14.6% single-day plunge on July 2 — a vivid reminder that even the most fundamental AI exposure carries extreme downside risk. The juxtaposition of skyrocketing year-to-date gains and brutal daily drawdowns encapsulates the current phase of the AI boom: enthusiasm is enormous, but conviction is thin, and prices are highly sensitive to any whiff of momentum.

The SpaceX parallel is instructive. The company, which owns the xAI business, saw its own post-IPO performance wobble, with shares erasing early gains to fall 1% in the last session before its scheduled inclusion in the Nasdaq 100 index. This inclusion is significant because it forces passive funds like the QQQ exchange-traded fund to purchase the stock, creating a mechanical demand tailwind that can briefly mask underlying sentiment. Yet SpaceX’s inability to hold onto initial gains suggests that even the most ballyhooed AI-affiliated listings are struggling to meet elevated expectations. The SK Hynix deal will provide a cleaner read on pure-play AI memory demand, as the company is not diversified into aerospace or other non-AI verticals in the same way SpaceX is.