// BBC BUSINESS NEWS — FINANZA
Shares in Musk's SpaceX plunge as tech and AI stocks fall
Shares in Elon Musk's SpaceX have plunged as tech and artificial intelligence stocks more broadly plummeted a day after the Democrats swept to victory in the midterms.
Those losses dragged the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite stock index down, which had fallen by more than 5% at one point in early trading.
The market has been reacting to possible tougher scrutiny of data centre construction and the artificial intelligence (AI) industry following Democrat wins in key data centre states including Texas.
Following the election, some tech leaders have acknowledged they need to improve their communication around data centres and the benefits of AI.
SpaceX shares were down more than 9% in by lunchtime in Thursday trading, while Tesla shares dropped more than 11%.
Musk had spent nearly $450m backing Republican campaigns, including at least $45m in support of Ken Paxton for the Texas senate seat, but Texas was turned blue in the Democratic tsunami on Tuesday night.
Texas governor-elect Gina Hinojosa campaigned heavily against data centres, pledging a moratorium on new construction in the sector.
Shares in chipmakers have been suffering, with AMD dropping more than 14% on Thursday, while Micron shares had dropped by as much as 17% before recovering slightly.
Intel shares are down by more than 7% and shares in Nvidia have fallen nearly 9%, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index had fallen by 10%.
The stock falls also hit the S&P 500 index, which dropped by 3.8% by lunchtime.