By Martin Baccardax
The dot-com bubble began to burst in the spring of 2000, when presidential candidates George Bush and Al Gore emerged from their party conventions, the human genome project unveiled its first draft, and 'American Beauty' dominated the Oscars with five awards, including best picture.
That was around the same time that three U.S. tech stocks, Cisco Systems, Intel and Corning, hit all-time highs that soon followed into collapse as the broader market nursed historic losses, and investors fled a sector that had powered U.S. markets for several years before it.
More than a quarter-century later, however, those same three stocks are leading an old-tech revival that has powered U.S. markets to a series of record highs, paced by an insatiable appetite for all things related to artificial intelligence. Investors are seeing few signs of a pullback like the one during the turn of the century crash that rocked tech markets for a decade.
Cisco Systems, which topped its 2000 peak in December of last year, has gained more than 32% so far this year, and looks set to rise another 15% on Thursday, after topping earnings forecasts last night as part of an AI pivot led by CEO Chuck Robbins.
"1999 called, and it wants its networking boom back," said Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani, who lifted his price target on the stock. "This is a breakout print and we expect as investors appreciate the durability of growth here the stock should work higher."
Intel took a bit longer, topping its dot-com era peak in April as part of an astonishing 200% surge since the start of the year, powered by its links to the Trump administration. CEO Lip-Bu Tan's leadership has added more than $500 billion in market value since he took on the role in March of last year.
Corning, meanwhile, has surged more than 135% so far this year and topped its old record of $113 a share, set in September of 2000, in early February. The fiberoptic group has cut deals with AI chip maker Nvidia and supplies glass for Apple's iPhones.
The three stocks also sit in the State Street Technology Select Sector ETF, which has surged more than 38% since the start of the second quarter and hit an all-time high of $178.30 earlier this week.
The symmetry of all three reaching new peaks over the past six months, however, can't go unnoticed in a market that has ridden the AI investment wave to historic heights over the past six weeks.
An index of the so-called Magnificent Seven tech giants has powered more than 27% since the end of March, with Nvidia, Alphabet, and Apple now worth a combined $15 trillion, which is more than the $10 trillion value of the entire Shanghai Composite, the biggest non-U.S. market in the world.
Tech is also responsible for the lion's share of broader market gains, comprising more than two-thirds of the S&P 500's 17.3% advance since the lows of late March.
"There are clear similarities between the AI bull market cycle and the dot-com boom of the late 1990s," said Jeff Buchbinder, chief equity strategist at LPL Financial. "Technology stocks provided market leadership; valuations were elevated; there were segments of market speculation; and technology advances were life changing."
But he also notes that the AI buildout is being financed largely through cash flows, tech stock valuations are today less than half of what they were at the dot-com peak, and IPOs are built on proven business models and revenue streams.
"In terms of what companies are leading the current technology revolution, how the stock market is valuing them, how much speculation is taking place, and what stage of the cycle we're in, we see important distinctions," he added. "We think this bull market still has a way to go and expect the technology sector to lead."
Write to Martin Baccardax at martin.baccardax@barrons.com
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May 14, 2026 07:22 ET (11:22 GMT)
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