Tech stocks were lower Thursday afternoon, with the State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) falling 1.1% and the State Street SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) decreasing 0.4%.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped 2.2%.

In corporate news, Amazon's (AMZN) Amazon Ads, the tech giant's advertising arm, has entered into a partnership with OpenAI through which it will let its advertisers place ads in ChatGPT, according to media reports. Separately, Amazon-backed Anthropic has granted the EU Agency for Cybersecurity, or ENISA, access to its Mythos 5 AI model, months after first promising access, Bloomberg reported. Amazon shares were fractionally higher.

Bending Spoons (BSP) has agreed to buy workspace collaboration platform Miro in an all-cash deal with an enterprise value of about $1.36 billion, as part of the Italian technology company's strategy to purchase digital businesses and optimize them for long-term ownership. Bending Spoons shares jumped 7.7%.

Apple (AAPL) is apparently prioritizing volume gains over margins with its lower-than-expected pricing on the new iPhones, including its first-ever foldable smartphone, Morgan Stanley said in a note. The company set a starting price of $1,999 for the foldable iPhone Duo on Wednesday. Apple's new CEO John Ternus led the launch event that included the iPhone 18 and Watch Series 12. Apple shares rose 3.2%.