In the artificial-intelligence trade selloff on Monday, optical networking and glassmaker Corning was one of the stock's getting hit the hardest. It wasn't just AI worries that were hitting Corning.

The AI trade was in some serious trouble Monday after Elon Musk, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for a slowdown in the pace at which AI is developing, citing concerns about cybersecurity and the possibility that humans will lose control of the machine systems.

"I have become convinced that fully addressing the risks requires even more prudence-not just investing in risk prevention, but pacing the rate of capabilities advancement so that risk prevention has time to keep up. We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models. Progress will still seem fast, and we must make wise use of the time we gain," Amodei wrote.

The investor response was swift and decisive.

Chip makers Intel and Advanced Micro Devices fell 6.4% and 5.7%, respectively. Marvell Technology stock also declined 7.8% while Micron Technology dropped 6.2%. Lam Research fell 6.6%, with hardware makers Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Dell Technologies falling 9.2% and 6.2%, respectively.

Among optical networking stocks, Corning stock fell 7.8%, Ciena declined 6.6%, Coherent dropped 8.3%, and Lumentum moved 6.7% lower.

Corning and other optical networking companies have become a major part of the AI trade as the data-center buildout has boosted demand for fiber-optic cables that transit data.

That means these sector stocks are at the whim of AI sentiment and when that sentiment shifts shares will suffer.

Stocks in the optical networking sector have repeatedly been on the frontlines of AI-trade selloffs in recent months. The pattern was on pace to continue on Monday.

While Corning was selling off in tandem with other AI-trade related stocks, a regulatory filing late Friday could have been adding to the selling pressure.

Corning announced it had entered into an equity distribution agreement with Goldman Sachs for up to $2 billion in stock.

Mizuho Securities John Roberts wrote Monday the plan appears to be to a way generate cash as the company looks to complete major projects. The firm lowered its Corning price target to $180 from $210.

"While optical cabling and connectors are relatively asset-light, furnaces for glass optical fiber production is asset-heavy. Corning's recent optical contracts with enterprise and carrier customers include sharing of capex requirement and risk, but this of course depends on the continued financial strength of those customers," Roberts wrote.

"We view the option of issuing equity as a 'belt and suspenders' backstop to allow the completion of major projects under most scenarios," the analyst added.

The question of "financial strength of customers" might be the key here, and with the AI selloff on Monday investors will have to wait and see if Big Tech heeds the calls to slowdown AI development.