SEC Sell-Off Documents Reveal: 9 AI Giants' Executives Cashed Out $7.4 Billion Before US Stock Market Crash

Author: Protos Staff

Compiled by: Shenchao TechFlow

Senchao Insight: This week, Nasdaq tech stocks faced a significant one-day plunge, with the broader market even triggering circuit breakers. However, regulatory filings disclosed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reveal that months before the crash began, the executive teams of Silicon Valley's core hardware and cloud computing giants had already initiated an epic wave of sell-offs. This article dissects the real profit map of billions of dollars in capital precisely exiting at high levels based on 282 authentic SEC Form 4 filings.

Precise Retreat Before the Plunge

From May to October this year, during a period when the stock prices of nine leading AI companies in the U.S. approached historical peaks, core personnel within these companies cumulatively cashed out a staggering $7.4 billion.

Since November, the AI core index, which has garnered significant attention on Wall Street, has cumulatively dropped by 16%. In Thursday's severe sell-off, the market capitalization of the U.S. tech sector shrank by over $3.2 trillion in a single day. The overseas markets also suffered indiscriminate blows, with the Korea Composite Stock Price Index plummeting by 8.5% and triggering a trading halt.

However, before this liquidity crunch occurred, the masterminds and executives of the AI tech empire had already safely locked in substantial profits.

Figure: Cash-Out Amounts and Distribution Details of Nine U.S. AI Companies from May to October

The Sell-Off List Behind the Regulatory Documents

Regulatory statistics show that in the 282 SEC Form 4 internal trading reports submitted from May to October, the total cash-out amount for the nine companies reached $7.39 billion (excluding $179 million used for mandatory option tax payments).

This wave of intensive sell-offs included top decision-makers from Nvidia, Oracle, Micron Technology, Broadcom, AMD, SanDisk's parent company, CoreWeave, Arista Networks, and Astera Labs.

Among them, Nvidia's senior director Mark Stevens alone sold off $407 million worth of stock in June and notified the SEC of further sell-off applications. Since the beginning of this year, Stevens has cumulatively sold over 6 million shares of Nvidia common stock through five regulatory filings, with personal cash-out exceeding $1.3 billion.

Meanwhile, four other senior insiders at Nvidia also added to their sell-offs, totaling $24.5 million in stock. In Thursday's plunge, Nvidia closed down 3.7%, marking an 11.2% cumulative retreat from its previous peak.

High-Level Cash-Outs from Silicon Valley's Star Unicorns

At Broadcom, the co-founder Henry Samueli sold off stocks worth up to $750 million within 2026, while three senior vice presidents collectively reduced their holdings by $14 million.

In the AMD camp, seven internal executives cumulatively cashed out $262 million through 19 filings. In Thursday's plunge, AMD's stock price fell by 17.3% to $404.40, a cumulative drop of 38.6% from its previous historical high. Among them, AMD CEO Lisa Su sold 360,000 shares, cashing out $169 million, while executive Forrest Norrod also gained $45 million.

SanDisk CEO David Goeckeler sold off in two high-position filings in September, cashing out $105 million, and another five insiders collectively cashed out $41 million.

As a leader in cloud computing, CoreWeave's executives have cumulatively implemented sell-offs of up to $740 million since being included in the Nasdaq 100 index. As of Thursday's close, CoreWeave's stock price had plunged 68% from its 2026 peak.

At Micron Technology, insiders cashed out a total of $279 million through 18 filings, with CEO Sanjay Mehrotra contributing $182 million personally. At Oracle, vice chairman Jeffrey Henley led a reduction of $63.7 million.

These objective data from the bottom-level regulatory filings in the capital market indicate that while retail investors and quantitative funds blindly bet on the infinite growth of AI computing power, the industry insiders who truly understand the hardware supply chain cycles and delivery bottlenecks have already completed the cashing out of billions of dollars at high levels.

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