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Sector Update: Tech Stocks Decline Thursday Afternoon

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Tech stocks were lower Thursday afternoon, with the State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) decreasing 0.2% and the State Street SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) falling 1.5%.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor index increased 0.1%.

In sector news, Australia has passed a law ordering Meta Platforms' (META) Facebook and Instagram, Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google, Microsoft's (MSFT) LinkedIn and ByteDance's TikTok to pay millions of dollars if they don't forge commercial deals with media outlets for posting news on their platforms, Reuters reported.

In corporate news, Meta Platforms has become one of Microsoft's largest AI customers, as the social media company is spending hundreds of millions of dollars per year to access AI models via Microsoft's Azure cloud service, Bloomberg reported. Meta shares were down 0.8%, and Microsoft decreased 0.3%.

Alibaba's (BABA) fiscal Q1 earnings missed expectations even as revenue edged past Wall Street's views, while the company continued to spend heavily to build AI infrastructure. Alibaba shares were down 0.1%.

SpaceX (SPCX) approached Cognition AI about a potential takeover, Bloomberg reported. There are currently no active deal talks between SpaceX and the AI coding startup, but they continue to discuss a potential partnership, the report said. SpaceX shares were down 6.5%.

Micron Technology (MU) on Thursday unveiled Micron Research Labs, a research institution in Boise, Idaho, backed by a planned $10 billion investment over the next decade. Micron shares rose 2%.

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