Tech Rotation Charts: Hardware Leads as Software Stocks Cool

Last week, significant divergence emerged within the Mag7: the AI computing chain ( $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ ) and memory chips ( $Micron Technology (MU.US)$ , $SanDisk (SNDK.US)$ ) led gains, while cloud services ( $Microsoft (MSFT.US)$ , $Amazon (AMZN.US)$ , $Alphabet-A (GOOGL.US)$ ) came under pressure. The market's central concern is wait-and-see sentiment ahead of $Apple (AAPL.US)$ 's new product launch, and geopolitical risks suppressing risk appetite.

Asset Rotation Analysis

Mag7: Overall positioned in the leading zone, but with intense internal divergence. NVDA, META, TSLA, and AAPL all sit in the leading quadrant. META and NVDA showed clear upward expansion in their 5-day trajectories, with relative strength and momentum strengthening in tandem—consistent with their respective gains of 6.7% and 5.89% last week. MSFT, however, has slipped into the weakening quadrant, with relative momentum falling below the benchmark and its 5-day trajectory continuously trending downward, corresponding to last week's 2.69% decline. Both GOOGL and AMZN remain in the lagging quadrant with no signs of trajectory improvement, lagging in both relative strength and momentum, with last week's declines of 2.35% and 2.97% respectively.

Other Hardware Sectors: Overall performance was robust, with most names in the leading or improving quadrants. The memory chip chain was particularly prominent— $SanDisk (SNDK.US)$ , $Micron Technology (MU.US)$ , and $Dell Technologies (DELL.US)$ all sit in the leading quadrant with upward trajectories, surging 17.17%, 8.98%, and 14.88% respectively last week. $Intel (INTC.US)$ , $KLA Corp (KLAC.US)$ , $Corning (GLW.US)$ , $Broadcom (AVGO.US)$ , and $Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.US)$ are in the improving quadrant, with INTC rising 7.07% and KLAC gaining 5.73% last week. $ASML Holding (ASML.US)$ and $Marvell Technology (MRVL.US)$ are in the weakening quadrant, with MRVL's 5-day trajectory deteriorating sharply (both relative strength and momentum declining), despite the stock still rising 3.2% last week—momentum has clearly faded. $Credo Technology (CRDO.US)$ is deeply lagging, plunging 26.72% last week with a continuously deteriorating trajectory. Overall, AI infrastructure (memory, networking, foundry) remains the absolute main theme in the hardware sector.

Other Software Sectors: Divergence is extremely pronounced. $Salesforce (CRM.US)$ , $ServiceNow (NOW.US)$ , $Snowflake (SNOW.US)$ , and $CrowdStrike (CRWD.US)$ are in the leading quadrant, but CRM and NOW's momentum trajectories have shown signs of flattening or pulling back. $Palantir (PLTR.US)$ and $Atlassian (TEAM.US)$ are in the weakening quadrant, with PLTR falling 6.42% last week. Notably, a large number of names including DASH, DDOG, MDB, FIG, and PANW are in the lagging quadrant with substantial losses last week (FIG down 16.31%, MDB down 17.44%, PANW down 10.32%, DASH down 10.56%), indicating that the software sector is undergoing intense defrothing. $Uber Technologies (UBER.US)$ , $NEBIUS (NBIS.US)$ , and $CoreWeave (CRWV.US)$ are in the improving quadrant, with NBIS rising 8.23% and CRWV gaining 6.09% last week, showing capital seeking new AI narrative names within the software sector.

Quantitative Factor Rankings

Dual Signal Names: META, NVDA, MU, INTC, KLAC, CEG, and GILD simultaneously appear in the top 10 of both the residual momentum and volatility-adjusted momentum strategies, constituting a strong resonance signal. Among these, META, NVDA, MU, INTC, and KLAC all belong to AI infrastructure or platform companies, highly consistent with their leading or improving quadrant positions in the RRG analysis.

CEG (Constellation Energy), as an AI power supplier, appearing in both strategies reflects market pricing of AI electricity demand. REGN appears in both the residual momentum and OBV strategies but is a pharmaceutical name independent of the AI main theme.

Weekend Events

AAPL

- [2026-09-06] Apple announced another price increase for Apple TV and Apple One bundle plans, with Apple TV monthly fees rising from $12.99 to $14.99, indicating the services business continues to drive growth through price increases.

- [2026-09-06] Apple will hold a new product launch event on September 9 at Apple Park. This will be the first iPhone launch under new CEO John Ternus, drawing significant market attention.

MSFT

- [2026-09-07] Microsoft experienced a large-scale outage of Outlook and Exchange Online, with OpenAI's ChatGPT also experiencing issues the same day, raising market concerns about cloud service stability.

- [2026-09-05] The Seattle Times and Newsday filed lawsuits against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging unauthorized use of news content to train AI models, with copyright litigation risks continuing to accumulate.

- [2026-09-05] CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 Microsoft shares on September 1 through a trading plan, cashing out approximately $43.39 million, sparking discussion about insider signals.

- [2026-09-04] Microsoft announced it will restructure its financial reporting structure starting fiscal year 2027, separately disclosing AI and cloud business segments to improve AI business transparency.

GOOGL

- [2026-09-06] Google released the Gemini 3.8 Flash model and launched the Fairwind project, accelerating its pace in the AI race.

AMZN

- [2026-09-06] Amazon's Zoox expanded its autonomous robotaxi service to Las Vegas airport, further deepening its presence in autonomous mobility and AI policy.

NVDA

- [2026-09-06] CEO Jensen Huang stated that OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra model marks the arrival of AGI, with the model trained on Nvidia chips.