Global technology stocks fell sharply on Friday, 6 November 2026, as losses on Wall Street spread into Asian and European markets, according to BBC reporting. The selloff came as results from the US midterm elections added to existing concerns about the pace of artificial intelligence investment and data centre construction. Japan's Nikkei 225 closed 6.04% lower, Investing.com reported, while MarketWatch said markets across Asia and Europe were absorbing the force of the US selloff.
Why it matters
The decline links two forces that have been building for months: unease about how quickly money is flowing into AI infrastructure, and a political shift in the United States that could slow it down. Several Democratic candidates campaigned on limiting the rapid expansion of AI and the construction of data centres, and some of them won. For investors who have priced technology shares on continued AI growth, that combination is a reason to sell first and ask questions later.
The reaction was not confined to one country or one exchange. The falls in Japan followed losses in New York, and European markets opened weaker as well, according to MarketWatch. That pattern suggests the midterm outcome acted as a trigger for a repositioning that was already under way rather than a purely local event.
A Texas race with direct stakes for Musk's companies
One of the most closely watched contests involved Elon Musk, the head of Tesla and SpaceX, who has invested heavily in AI products. According to BBC reporting, Musk put nearly $450m into Republican campaigns — described as more than anyone has previously spent in a single election cycle. That included millions directed at supporting Ken Paxton, the Republican candidate in the Texas Senate race, who lost.
Texas matters to Musk beyond politics. Both Tesla and SpaceX have their corporate headquarters in the state. The state's governor-elect, Democrat Gina Hinojosa, has called for a halt on approvals for new data centres until at least January. Shares in Tesla and SpaceX were among those declining on Thursday, the BBC reported.
Musk responded on X on Wednesday, writing that data centres in space were looking appealing under the circumstances. The remark was characteristic of his public style, but it also pointed to a practical problem: a company whose AI ambitions depend on physical computing capacity now faces a state government inclined to pause that capacity.
Peter Bardenfleth-Hansen, a former close colleague of Musk's at Tesla, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the past few days had been costly for his old boss. He said Musk was paying a price for being so closely tied to Trump.
Political money meets market math
The scale of Musk's spending is notable on its own. Nearly $450m in a single cycle is a figure with few precedents in US politics, and the BBC reporting places it above anything spent before by an individual donor. The results, however, did not go his way in the races highlighted. Paxton's defeat in Texas is the clearest example, and it lands in the state where both of Musk's main companies are based.
The broader Democratic platform on AI and data centres is what connects the election to the market moves. Candidates who argued for slowing the build-out of computing infrastructure won seats, and investors read that as a possible constraint on the sector's growth trajectory. Data centres are the physical layer beneath AI services, and approvals for new ones are typically a state and local matter — which is why a single governor's stance can move sentiment.
What to watch
Attention now turns to whether Hinojosa's proposed pause on data centre approvals becomes formal policy after January, and whether other newly elected officials follow with similar measures. Markets will also be watching whether the selloff continues into next week or stabilises once the initial reaction to the midterms fades.
