The Nasdaq-100 underwent its largest scheduled membership shift in recent memory on Monday, adding five companies tied to artificial intelligence infrastructure and space technology while removing five established constituents, in the first rebalance conducted under the exchange's newly adopted rank-based quarterly review process. The changes took effect prior to the opening bell.
Astera Labs, CoreWeave, Nebius Group, Rocket Lab, and Teradyne joined the index, while Charter Communications, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Insmed, Verisk Analytics, and Zscaler were removed. Nasdaq first announced the changes on June 11, with the effective date tied to the exchange's update methodology, which folded several previously ad hoc adjustment mechanisms into a single scheduled quarterly event for the first time.
The additions underscore how heavily the AI buildout has reshaped index composition. CoreWeave, the cloud infrastructure provider that rents GPU capacity to AI developers, and Nebius Group, which has surged roughly 165% this year on similar data center infrastructure demand, both represent direct plays on hyperscaler capital expenditure. Astera Labs supplies high-speed connectivity chips used in AI server racks, while Rocket Lab's inclusion reflects the broader 'new space economy' theme that has drawn fresh investor capital into commercial launch and satellite companies. Teradyne, a semiconductor test equipment maker, rounds out the AI-adjacent additions.
The removals reflect a mix of company-specific weakness and relative underperformance against the broader index. Zscaler's exit comes as cybersecurity software valuations have lagged the AI infrastructure trade, while Cognizant's removal lands the same week that fellow IT consulting giant Accenture suffered its worst single-day stock decline on record following a guidance cut, highlighting sector-wide pressure on traditional consulting and managed-services business models.
Because index funds tracking the Nasdaq-100, including Invesco's roughly $493 billion QQQ and the lower-cost QQQM, are required to mirror the benchmark, the changes triggered mechanical buying in the five additions and selling in the five removals as portfolio managers rebalanced their holdings to match the new composition. Trading volumes in the affected names were elevated through the session as a result of this forced flow, separate from any fundamental news about the individual companies.
The S&P 500 also completed its own quarterly rebalance the same day, adding two companies and removing two in a process governed by S&P Dow Jones Indices' committee rather than a fixed rules-based formula. Because both the Nasdaq-100 and S&P 500 rebalances are tied to the third Friday of March, June, September, and December, with changes effective the next trading day, June 22 marked the first trading session after last Friday's scheduled review date for both indexes simultaneously. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which changes membership only as needed via committee decision rather than on a fixed calendar, was unaffected.
Strategists noted that the shift to a rank-based quarterly review, rather than relying primarily on the December annual reconstitution, means index composition can now change meaningfully more than once a year, a structural change that index investors and fund managers will need to track going forward. The next scheduled review under the new framework falls in September 2026.