OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra model release drove sharp gains across AI infrastructure stocks Tuesday, with CoreWeave up nearly 15% and a wave of chipmakers, photonics firms, and cloud providers rallying on renewed confidence in AI spending.
OpenAI's release of its GPT-6 Astra large language model late last week sent shares of AI infrastructure companies sharply higher in midday trading Tuesday, with CoreWeave climbing almost 15% and a broad range of chipmakers, photonics firms, and cloud providers posting significant gains.
The model, which began a phased rollout last week, is being touted for advances in cybersecurity and computer skills. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on X that Astra was trained using 100,000 Blackwell graphics processing units. "400K GPUs coming online next," Huang wrote, signaling continued expansion of computing capacity dedicated to OpenAI's models.
Photonics stocks also rallied on the news. Lumentum gained 12% and Coherent rose 9%, while fiber optic provider Corning and AI cloud company Nebius were each up 10%, reflecting broader demand expectations tied to AI infrastructure buildout.
Broadcom shares climbed 2.5% Tuesday, underscoring the chipmaker's ties to OpenAI. The two companies worked together on the development of OpenAI's Jalapeno chip, designed for inference — the day-to-day use of AI models. Broadcom also counts Anthropic as a growing customer, with Anthropic projected to become Broadcom's largest custom chip customer in fiscal 2027 and sustain that position into fiscal 2028, according to CEO Hock Tan.
Ben Reitzes of Melius Research wrote in a note to clients Tuesday that the launch "shows OpenAI is so back," adding that Astra "should start to dawn on people that OpenAI's repositioning around coding and enterprise has clearly improved its chances for a successful IPO in 2027."
Qualcomm also posted gains Tuesday, rising 4% after announcing a data center infrastructure partnership with Amazon Web Services. As part of the deal, Qualcomm said it issued Amazon warrants to purchase 25 million shares for $4 billion.
Not all sectors shared in Tuesday's rally. Travel stocks declined as gasoline futures rose, with October delivery contracts last up about 2%. Expedia Group fell 6% and Booking Holdings dropped 5%, while Tripadvisor and Airbnb each shed about 3%.
In the pharmaceutical sector, Amgen slid almost 10% after rival Novartis' cholesterol drug pelacarsen fell short in a closely watched clinical study, dampening expectations for Amgen's own drug olpasiran ahead of late-stage data due in 2027 or early 2028. BMO Capital Markets cut its rating on Amgen to market perform while keeping its price target at $450, implying upside of just 3%.
Novartis itself tumbled 13% after Phase 3 results showed its del-desiran drug produced no significant improvement in patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1 — the third drug-trial disappointment for the company in a week.
Boston Scientific dropped 5% after the medical device maker said a recent cyberattack likely hurt its sales and profit targets for 2026.
On the upside outside AI, quantum computing stocks rallied after the U.S. government agreed to take minority equity stakes in several companies as part of a $300 million CHIPS Act deal. D-Wave Quantum gained more than 7%, Rigetti Computing rose 4%, and Quantinuum added 3%. Bloom Energy jumped 10% ahead of its scheduled addition to the S&P 500 on September 21.
With OpenAI's IPO now widely expected in 2027 and Anthropic's financial trajectory drawing increasing scrutiny from investors, the reception to GPT-6 Astra signals that the market remains highly sensitive to perceived momentum shifts among the leading AI labs — and that the hardware ecosystem surrounding those labs continues to move in lockstep with their fortunes.
Jay Goldberg is a staff writer at TechEchelon covering technology, markets, and policy. He files the breaking news and deal coverage that move the publication's core desks.
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