A trio of major headlines since Wednesday’s close is breathing life back into the riskiest corners of the AI trade, reversing a sharp selloff and sending speculative names sharply higher.
Micron confirms AI demand is still red hot
Micron $MU ( ▲ 7.31% ) delivered a blowout earnings report and issued Q2 guidance that landed well above even the most bullish expectations. The results reinforced a simple message the market had started to doubt: AI infrastructure demand is still running hot, especially for memory.
That matters far beyond Micron. When one of the most cyclical parts of the AI supply chain posts numbers like this, it reassures investors that spending from hyperscalers and model builders has not suddenly fallen off a cliff.
Lower inflation and OpenAI cash help risk appetite return
At the same time, November core CPI inflation cooled far more than expected. While the data was messy due to shutdown-related distortions, lower inflation still boosts appetite for riskier companies that rely on cheap capital to fund growth.
Add in reports that OpenAI is discussing another massive fundraising round at a much higher valuation, and the picture gets clearer. More cash for OpenAI means more spending power for data centers, chip suppliers, energy providers, and infrastructure partners across the AI ecosystem.
Together, those forces are driving big gains in speculative AI-linked stocks like Bloom Energy $BE ( ▲ 10.32% ) , Cipher Mining $CIFR ( ▲ 7.76% ) , POET Technologies $POET ( ▲ 11.01% ) , CoreWeave $CRWV ( ▲ 22.99% ) , IREN $IREN ( ▲ 10.06% ) , and Nebius $NBIS ( ▲ 13.95% ) , as investors pile back into names that had been hit hardest during the recent pullback.