Oracle shares surged sharply in New York trading on Monday, extending a rebound that gathered pace as renewed spending commitments from Big Tech eased fears that artificial intelligence could undermine long-term demand for enterprise software.
Oracle stock climbed more than 10% intraday to trade around $158, marking its strongest single-day advance since September. The rally pushed the company’s market value back above $450 billion, following weeks of volatility that had dragged the shares far below last autumn’s highs.
The move came after Amazon reiterated plans to invest roughly $200 billion this year in data centres, chips and related infrastructure, reinforcing the view that cloud and AI spending remains robust even as investors reassess near-term returns. Similar commitments from Alphabet, Meta Platforms and Microsoft have helped stabilise sentiment across the software sector.
Oracle had been one of the stocks most exposed to concerns that generative AI could reduce the need for traditional software, contributing to a broad sell-off that pushed many technology names sharply lower. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF remains down nearly 30% from its peak, underscoring how deeply those worries had cut into valuations.
Analysts at D.A. Davidson moved to upgrade Oracle to a buy rating, arguing that fears of software being displaced were overdone. In a client note, the firm said companies were still willing to pay for Oracle’s database and cloud products and were unlikely to abandon critical systems simply because AI tools were becoming more capable.
Attention has also returned to Oracle’s expanding relationship with OpenAI, which relies on the company’s cloud infrastructure as it scales up computing capacity. Improved confidence around OpenAI’s strategy, fundraising progress and next-generation models has helped shift sentiment after months of scepticism about whether the economics of large-scale AI would ultimately work.
Not everyone on Wall Street is convinced. Melius Research cautioned that Oracle still faces meaningful execution risk, pointing to heavy capital requirements and uncertainty over whether OpenAI will ultimately outpace rivals such as Google and Anthropic. The firm noted that debt and equity issuance could weigh on the stock as Oracle finances its expansion.
Oracle itself has signalled how seriously it is taking that challenge. The company plans to raise between $45 billion and $50 billion this year to build additional cloud capacity, aiming to meet contracted demand from some of the world’s largest technology customers, including Nvidia, Meta and Advanced Micro Devices.
Even after Monday’s rally, the shares remain well below their peak levels from late summer, leaving investors divided over whether the rebound marks a turning point or simply a relief rally after an extended sell-off. With Oracle trading at roughly 30 times trailing earnings and volume running well above its recent average, the coming weeks may test how durable the renewed optimism really is.
A fuller breakdown of the market reaction and analyst debate was first reported by Bloomberg , highlighting how shifts in AI spending expectations continue to ripple through the software industry.
