Dot-com telecom and chip-equipment bust (2001)
Telecom and internet firms poured money into fiber and chips during the dot-com boom. When demand fell short, orders collapsed. Semiconductor-equipment sales dropped by roughly half in 2001, and Applied Materials cut thousands of jobs.
Equipment makers slashed guidance and staff as customers froze spending almost overnight.
The bust showed how far equipment orders can overshoot real demand before snapping back.
Today's AI buildout rests on a bet that datacenter demand keeps rising. The 2001 crash is a reminder that capacity can get ordered faster than it gets used.
