Last week was an absolute bloodbath.

• Alphabet (GOOG) dropped 12%.

• Intel (INTC) plunged 24%.

• Fortinet (FTNT) lost 24%.

These are enormous moves for enormous companies.

So what happened?

Is the AI trade really falling apart?

Is it time to sell out of our tech stocks?

Let’s take a look behind the numbers – at the real stories driving these massive moves.

What Happened to Alphabet?

Alphabet (GOOG) reported:

• Revenue: $127.6 billion vs. $128.2 billion expected

• Earnings per share: $2.67 vs. $3.02 expected

• Google Search revenue: $63.4 billion, up 12%

Missing both revenue and earnings expectations is never a good sign.

But the real problem is what AI is doing to Alphabet's most important business: Google Search.

Think about how Google traditionally makes money.

You search for something. Google gives you a page full of links and advertisements. You click on one of those and Google gets paid by advertisers.

AI is changing that.

Search for something on Google today and an AI-generated answer appears right at the top of the page.

You get your answer without ever looking at one of the links or ads below it.

It's great for users.

But it’s a huge problem for Google's advertising business.

There have also been questions raised about whether changes to Google's ad-pricing system have helped inflate recent Search revenue.

If higher ad prices are doing some of the work, the underlying growth in Google's core business could be weaker than the 12% headline number suggests.

That's what investors are trying to figure out.

Any positive news could send the stock higher. Until then, I expect shares to remain under pressure.

What Happened to Intel?

Intel's quarter wasn't terrible.

• Revenue: $16.51 billion vs. $16.5 billion expected

• Earnings per share: $0.52 vs. $0.40 expected

Then management started talking about the future.

For the third quarter, Intel said it expects adjusted earnings per share of $0.25 on revenue between $15 billion and $16 billion.

Analysts were expecting EPS of $0.43 and revenue of $17.1 billion… Ouch.

Memory is a big part of the problem.

AI data centers are consuming enormous amounts of memory, creating shortages and sending prices through the roof.

That's fantastic for my Micron (MU) investment.

It's terrible for companies like Intel that sell chips for PCs.

Memory is one of the components inside your computer.

When memory gets significantly more expensive → The entire computer gets more expensive → Consumers and businesses buy fewer computers → Fewer computers means fewer Intel processors sold.

Intel does have booming demand for its data-center processors.

The problem is it can’t make enough of them because some of the specialized materials needed to assemble the chips are in short supply.

So Intel is getting squeezed from both directions.

High memory prices are hurting its PC business, while supply shortages are preventing it from selling as many data-center chips as customers want.

This is the real story behind why investors hated the outlook.

And ironically, one of Intel's biggest problems is another sign that the AI infrastructure boom is still very much alive.

What Happened to Fortinet?

Fortinet (FTNT) fell 24% last week after reporting earnings.

• Revenue: $2.08 billion vs. $2.06 billion expected

• Earnings per share: $0.91 vs. $0.85 expected

These numbers look pretty good. And they come at a time when rogue AIs are a real threat.

So why did the stock get crushed?

There's also a bigger story here – deeper than the numbers.

Fortinet is a cybersecurity company best known for its firewalls.

Think of a firewall as a security guard at the front door of a company's network. It monitors the traffic coming in and out and blocks anything suspicious.

This job is still very important.

But cybersecurity is changing quickly because of AI.

Companies don't just need to protect the front door anymore. They need to monitor what's happening across employees' computers, cloud applications, company data, identities, and now AI systems.

This is where companies like Palo Alto Networks (PANW) and CrowdStrike (CRWD) differentiate themselves.

Fortinet has been losing market share to these companies because they both offer more comprehensive cybersecurity platforms.

So I wouldn't look at Fortinet's 24% collapse and conclude something is wrong with cybersecurity.

It’s proof that not all cybersecurity companies are created equal.

If you want cybersecurity exposure, stick to Palo Alto Networks (PANW) and CrowdStrike (CRWD).

It Wasn't All Bad News Last Week

Plenty of stocks got crushed.

But there were also some major winners:

• SK Hynix (SKHY): Shares jumped 13% after the memory giant reported that quarterly operating profit increased more than sevenfold. More importantly for my Micron investment, the company says demand for high-bandwidth memory is twice what it can currently supply.

• Vertiv (VRT): Shares jumped 16% after earnings. Vertiv sells the power and cooling equipment needed to keep massive AI data centers running. Orders increased 60% year over year, providing another sign that companies are still spending heavily on AI infrastructure.

• Microsoft (MSFT): Shares initially jumped about 4% after earnings as Azure revenue increased 48%. Microsoft also said demand for its cloud and AI services continues to exceed the computing capacity it has available.

Here’s What’s On Deck This Week

We’re not done with earnings season yet.

• Monday: Apple (AAPL) and Palantir (PLTR) report after the closing bell. Palantir will be especially interesting given its enormous run and the expectations already baked into the stock.

• Tuesday: AMD (AMD) reports after the bell. This will give us another look at AI chip demand and whether AMD is making any progress closing the enormous gap with Nvidia. Arista Networks (ANET), another major beneficiary of AI data-center spending, also reports.

• Wednesday: Uber (UBER) reports before the market opens. Qualcomm (QCOM) and Arm (ARM) report after the bell, giving us even more information about what's happening across the semiconductor industry.

• Thursday: Cloudflare (NET), Airbnb (ABNB), DraftKings (DKNG), IonQ (IONQ), and several other high-growth names report.

There’s plenty in here that could move the market.

And if last week was any indication, expect more big swings as investors continue separating the winners from the losers.