Financial expert Nguyen Mu Hoa has sounded the alarm over a potential bear market, suggesting that the recent boom in tech stocks is coming to an end. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which surged by 83% in the first half of 2026, has masked the troubling reality beneath the surface.

Despite headlines celebrating the rise of AI-driven stocks, the S&P 500 technology sector reveals a different story. Approximately 60% of companies within this index have experienced declines of over 20% from their peak values. This indicates a significant shift in investor sentiment, as funds are moving away from software companies and flocking towards hardware firms.

Notably, some of the hardest-hit companies are well-known names in the industry. Gartner, a leading technology research firm, has seen its stock plummet by 66%, while Intuit and Oracle have dropped by 65% and nearly 58%, respectively. Other major players like Accenture, ServiceNow, Salesforce, and Adobe are also facing steep declines, primarily due to their reliance on software and IT services.

Nguyen Mu Hoa attributes the downturn in software stocks to two key factors. First, the high price-to-earnings ratios that were previously awarded to these companies have become unsustainable. As market optimism wanes, these stocks are forced to give back their inflated valuations. Second, the dual nature of AI presents uncertainty for software companies, which now face questions about whether AI will enhance their offerings or threaten their market positions.

In contrast, companies that are closely tied to hardware and the tangible benefits of AI, such as Fortinet and Arista Networks, have seen minimal declines, with Fortinet dropping less than 1%. This shift indicates that investors are reallocating their resources from software and services, which require time to prove their AI value, to hardware firms that are already benefiting from AI trends.

Nguyen Mu Hoa emphasizes that this is not a broad bull market but rather a selective and concentrated migration of capital. Investors in the Vietnamese stock market should be aware that a similar phenomenon is occurring within the AI supply chain, suggesting that the era of widespread market gains may be over.