The US presidential election could have wide-reaching consequences for the tech sector, with potential impacts on major players like Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL, ETR:APC), NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA, ETR:NVD) and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA).
Wall Street and the tech world will be watching election results "with white knuckles," said Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives.
A second-term win for Donald Trump could escalate the US-China “cold tech war” and lead to "stepped-up tariffs."
This, stated Ives, would "significantly" impact the tech supply chain for the likes of Nvidia, with Beijing retaliatory impacts on Apple and Tesla "likely", and overall would "slow the pace of the AI revolution".
Another issue in the electoral spotlight is the future of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chair Lina Khan, which could hinge on the election outcome and potentially continue or curtail her antitrust agency's fight against big tech monopolies.
"A Harris White House win [would be] more bullish on the margins," Ives said, while a Trump administration would be "a net negative for Big Tech."
For Tesla, Ives highlighted a nuanced outlook, suggesting that the potential removal of EV subsidies under Trump might actually favor the company but Musk "betting on Trump" could alienate some US consumers, despite the contained impact to date.