Stocks retreat from records as chip stocks fall, core inflation rises

Nuclear energy company Oklo is whipsawing in postmarket trading after posting Q1 results.

Here are the key first-quarter numbers: 

• Net income of -$33.1 million, or a $0.19 loss per share (compared to analyst estimates of -$29.5 million in income and a $0.19 loss per share).

Shares of America’s most valuable zero-revenue company were down over 2% just after the bell before rebounding to trade 3% higher, and then fell into the red again; its price-to-sales ratio remained unchanged throughout.

Oklo is a longtime retail darling. The reaction to these results can be a good read into traders’ appetite for speculative investments, which is probably more useful information than knowing precisely how much money it lost in a three-month period.

Not content with merely powering the AI boom at some point in the future, Oklo also plans on utilizing the technology to develop its reactors. Ahead of its earnings announcement on Tuesday, management teased new AI-integrated workflows for Oklo’s up-and-coming facilities:

“The project scope includes the development and application of technical guidance on model setup, benchmarking and validation strategies, and AI agents to accelerate existing workflows.” 

Last week, Oklo announced that it had cleared another regulatory hurdle for its Aurora Powerhouse reactor, currently under construction in Idaho. The nuclear reactor would, if completed, could produce up to 75 megawatts of electricity using Oklo’s small, fast-fission technology, enough to power tens of thousands of homes or cater to the high energy demands of AI data centers. 

Oklo and companies like NuScale and TerraPower have benefited from the Trump administration’s streamlined permitting process. And as AI data centers continue to push up demand, Oklo is up over 150% over the past year.

US memory stocks are getting slammed on Tuesday after South Korean policymaker Kim Yong-beom suggested that citizens should get a “national dividend” funded by AI profits.

Now, those remarks have since been watered down: South Korea’s “Blue House” (or presidential office) said these remarks reflected the official’s personal views. Kim later indicated that his suggestion referred to excess tax revenues from leading chip giants, rather than any new windfall tax.

The KOSPI Index, and top weights Samsung and SK Hynix, finished off their lows after this clarification, but the damage still spread stateside.

Are Micron, Sandisk, Western Digital, and Seagate Technology Holdings South Korean companies?

<checks notes>

No, they are not.

But they are memory stocks, and this seems to have been enough of a catalyst to throw a wrench into the skyward trend for the cohort.

Along with being highly correlated by the nature of their businesses, US memory stocks also recently started to trade in the same vehicle as their South Korean counterparts. The Roundhill Memory ETF — the fastest ever to surpass $6 billion in assets, per Bloomberg Intelligence — holds all of these companies within the same wrapper.

The near parabolic run in these stocks had raised the risk that this group could reverse course for any reason — or no reason whatsoever. (Remember Google’s TurboQuant? I don’t.)

T1 Energy shares are whipsawing in early trading after the solar equipment maker reported its Q1 financial results today, posting a quarterly loss far smaller than feared.

Key numbers:

• Loss per share: $0.08 (estimate: $0.18).

• Revenue: $177.65 million.

• Operating expenses: $51.6 million.

• Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash: $123.7 million.

Shares were up nearly double digits in premarket trading, but have since proceeded to dip into the red.

Management highlighted the operational ramp-up at its G1_Dallas facility and continued progress on its flagship G2_Austin solar cell plant. The company is targeting a larger financing solution, which includes a significant debt component, to fund its capex needs for Phase 1 of G2_Austin.

Following a successful $160 million convertible note offering in April, the company said it has reduced its remaining Phase 1 funding requirement to approximately $225 million.

“Our team made excellent progress during the first quarter to advance our top priorities,” said Dan Barcelo, CEO and chairman of T1 Energy. “As we look ahead, we are focused on hitting key construction milestones, targeting a comprehensive financing package for G2_Austin in the second quarter, building our offtake coverage through our developer customer base, and driving profitability as T1 grows.”

Shares of Quantum Computing are mooning in early trading after the company posted better-than-expected Q1 sales.

For the period ended March 31, QCi reported:

• Revenue of $3.7 million (compared to analyst estimates of $3.1 million).

• A loss per share of $0.02 (estimate: a $0.05 loss).

The boost in sales was primarily linked to the two acquisitions that closed in the quarter, of Luminar Semiconductor and NuCrypt.

Despite having the most straightforward name (and ticker) connected to the theme, Quantum Computing is seemingly less focused on developing hardware that leaves classical supercomputers in the dust, and more driven to carve out a supporting role in the AI boom.

For instance, earlier this year, the company announced that its NeuraWave photonics computing platform designed for edge inference cases was deployment-ready. This technology includes a plug-in card that aims to accelerate the processing and decision-making capabilities of AI-enabled machines in resource-limited environments using photonics (light) to reduce heat.

“QCi made significant operational progress in the first quarter of 2026, furthering our mission of delivering accessible, scalable, and affordable quantum machines and photonic solutions for practical use across high-growth markets, including high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, aerospace and defense, and advanced sensing and imaging,” said CEO Dr. Yuping Huang in the press release. “As demand for faster and more efficient data processing grows, it is becoming increasingly clear that photonics will be a critical component of future technological advancements given its low power consumption and ability to operate at room temperature.”