US tech stocks mixed as storage, optical and hardware shares slide

The split matters more than the headline: gains in mega-cap platforms and weakness in storage, optical and hardware names point to rotation within tech rather than a sector-wide move. That divergence suggests investors are treating AI-adjacent hardware as the more cyclical, crowded part of the trade while platform cash flows hold up. The read-through for crypto and RWA markets is indirect, since hardware sentiment often tracks broader risk appetite. Whether the hardware pullback stays contained or spreads to the platform names is the open question.