IBM's warning highlights a growing divide between artificial intelligence winners and everyone else in the tech universe. On Tuesday, International Business Machines Corp. said it failed to predict that its customers would shift their spending away from the company's products so they can focus on servers, storage and memory products used in AI computing.

The company's shares plunged 25% for their worst day ever in data going back to the 1960s. But in a much broader sense, the revelation explained how the current technology trade is throwing a wrench into the stock prices of huge companies that provide popular products and services unrelated to AI.

The warning from IBM underscores a broader shift where capital flows toward AI infrastructure, leaving traditional enterprise software and services vendors struggling to maintain growth trajectories.

Analysts say the rout signals a structural change in tech investing, where AI exposure has become a primary determinant of valuation multiples across the sector.