Even with a trade deal, Taiwan will need 'carveouts' or sectoral exemptions: Economist
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
DigitalOcean Holdings (DOCN) Stock Falls 11% Over Past Week Amid Tech Sell-Offs
DigitalOcean Holdings announced the launch of its GradientAI Platform, a major leap in simplifying AI integration for enterprises. Despite this launch, the company's stock dropped 11% over the past week. The broader market decline, provoked by weak job data and tariff-related uncertainties, may have influenced this dip. The tech-heavy Nasdaq's struggle, combined with widespread tech sell-offs, likely added weight to DigitalOcean's stock movement, rather than countering it. While the company's innovative platform aims to drive growth, its recent price movement reflects broader market trends more than the company's specific developments. You should learn about the 2 possible red flags we've spotted with DigitalOcean Holdings. We've found 22 US stocks that are forecast to pay a dividend yield of over 6% next year. See the full list for free. DigitalOcean Holdings' recent announcement of the GradientAI Platform may significantly impact future revenue and earnings by simplifying AI integration for its enterprise clients. This aligns with their ongoing expansion in AI activities, as highlighted in their 160% year-over-year AI ARR growth, and could enhance their revenue stream. However, despite these developments, the company's shares have not shown immediate positive returns. Over the last year, DigitalOcean's total shareholder return was a 10.28% decline, reflecting broader challenges in the tech sector, particularly within the context of US$806.59 million in revenue and US$108.56 million in earnings. This underperformance is also evident when compared to both the US market and the IT industry, which saw returns of 17.5% and 22.8%, respectively, over the same period. The launch of DigitalOcean's AI initiatives indicates potential upside in revenue and earnings forecasts, partially supported by projections of a 13.2% annual revenue growth. Analyst forecasts suggest earnings could rise, fueled by strategic investments in data center expansion and increased ARPU. These forecasts support a price target of US$38.82, representing a significant potential upside from the current share price of US$25.74. However, the ambitious price target requires future performance alignment with analyst expectations, including substantial revenue and earnings improvements. Thus, while the GradientAI launch is promising, its immediate effect on share prices appears muted by larger market dynamics, leaving analysts' projections to reflect more optimistic longer-term potential. Click here to discover the nuances of DigitalOcean Holdings with our detailed analytical financial health report. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include DOCN. This article was originally published by Simply Wall St. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@ Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Veteran fund manager turns heads with new Meta Platforms stock price target
Veteran fund manager turns heads with new Meta Platforms stock price target originally appeared on TheStreet. On any given day, nearly half the world is on Meta Platforms () . The parent of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads and WhatsApp, Meta has dramatically changed the way we live — for better or worse. 💵💰Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter 💰💵 The Menlo Park, Calif., social media giant is moving aggressively with artificial intelligence into areas that some people find just a bit spooky. "Over the last few months, we've begun to see glimpses of our AI systems improving themselves, and the improvement is slow for now but undeniable," Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said during the second-quarter earnings call. "And developing superintelligence, which we define as AI that surpasses human intelligence in every way, we think is now in sight." To build this future, Zuckerberg said the company had set up Meta Superintelligence Labs, "which includes our foundations, product, and fair teams as well as a new lab that is focused on developing the next generation of our models." Meta CEO says AI creating greater efficiency The company seems to be on the right track. Meta Platforms handily beat Wall Street's quarterly forecasts and the stock is up nearly 52% this year. Zuckerberg said the quarter's strong performance stemmed largely from "AI unlocking greater efficiency and gains across our ad system." More AI Stocks: Google plans major AI shift after Meta's surprising $14 billion move Meta delivers eye-popping AI announcement Veteran trader surprises with Palantir price target and comments Chris Versace, TheStreet Pro portfolio's lead manager, liked what he heard from Zuck & Co. and boosted his price target for Meta shares to $850 from $725. "The hike in our target reflects a combination of a few factors, including the company's still expanding reach, advertising gains, and improving monetization efforts," he said. With trade tensions appearing to cool as the Trump administration announces deals and other conversations are extended, Versace said, "the reduced uncertainty tied to an economy that is still expanding should foster more normalized advertising spend." "In that environment, we continue to see Meta benefiting, especially as advertisers continue to shift increasingly toward digital platforms," he said. "They also want to tap the 3.48 billion in daily active people across all of Meta's platforms vs. 3.27 billion at the end of June 2024." While many were in awe of the company's impressive top- and bottom-line beats, Versace said the year-over-year five-percentage-point improvement in its consolidated operating margin caught his eye. "We should see further improvement in the second half of 2025, but higher expenses will be a headwind as Meta invests further in AI capacity and talent," he noted. "However, we see this as another instance of the company investing today to drive its business and profits higher in the coming quarters." Fund manager: Capital spending at ludicrous levels The future ain't gonna come cheap. Meta, Amazon () , Alphabet () and Microsoft () are set to spend as much as a cumulative $364 billion in their respective 2025 fiscal years, up from their prior estimates of around $325 billion. Meta narrowed its 2025 capital-spending outlook to a range of $66 billion to $72 billion, up $30 billion year over year at the midpoint, Versace investment firms also noted Meta's capital expenditures, including Scotiabank, which raised its price target on the company's shares to $685 from $675 and affirmed a sector-perform rating on the shares. Meta posted its largest beat in several years, and the revenue comparison in fiscal Q1 2026 against the year-earlier period looks "much easier," the firm said, according to The Fly. However, the firm said it remains on the sidelines until it sees the company progress on profiting from its higher capital expenditures while also outpacing the hit to earnings. Doug Kass, a longtime hedge-fund manager and TheStreet Pro contributor, picked up on the capex issue in a lengthy comment on X. "META has burned through $30 billion in the last two quarters," he wrote. "Cash is now down to $12 billion" and "the capital and operating expense are now becoming a burden - nearly all of depreciation schedules [are] an absolute joke." Kass called the amount of capital spending "ludicrous ... in part because of the accounting gimmicks that hide its true cost. "At some point this will start getting into the numbers, even with the gimmicks," he said. "And I still do not know where all the space, power, water, and even ancillary equipment will be found for all of this. There is only so much stuff the air conditioning manufacturers can make!" Kass cited Amazon's latest earnings report, noting that "the capital expense is starting to bite and hit the numbers." "Margins at [Amazon Web Services] are finally starting to feel it, and they disappointed," he added. "Growth was nothing to write home about either. That is why the stock is selling off."Veteran fund manager turns heads with new Meta Platforms stock price target first appeared on TheStreet on Aug 3, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Aug 3, 2025, where it first appeared. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
China is betting on a real-world use of AI to challenge U.S. control
SHANGHAI - As the United States and China vie for control over the future of artificial intelligence, Beijing has embarked on an all-out drive to transform the technology from a remote concept to a newfangled reality, with applications on factory floors and in hospitals and government offices. China does not have access to the most advanced chips required to power cutting-edge models due to restrictions from Washington and is still largely playing catch-up with Silicon Valley giants like OpenAI. But experts say Beijing is pursuing an alternative playbook in an attempt to bridge the gap: aggressively pushing for the adoption of AI across the government and private sector. (The Washington Post has a content partnership with OpenAI.) Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. 'In China, there's definitely stronger government support for applications and a clear mandate from the central government to diffuse the technology through society,' said Scott Singer, an expert on China's AI sector at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. By contrast, the U.S. has been more focused on developing the most advanced AI models while 'the application layer has been totally ignored,' he said. China's push was on full display in Shanghai at its World Artificial Intelligence Conference, which ran until Tuesday. Themed 'Global Solidarity in the AI Era,' the expo is one part of Beijing's bid to establish itself as a responsible AI leader for the international community. This pitch was bolstered by the presence of international heavyweights like Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, and Geoffrey Hinton, a renowned AI researcher often called the 'Godfather of AI.' During the event, Beijing announced an international organization for AI regulation and a 13-point action plan aimed at fostering global cooperation to ensure the technology's beneficial and responsible development. 'China attaches great importance to global AI governance,' Li Qiang, China's premier, said at the opening ceremony on Saturday. It 'is willing to share its AI development experience and technological products to help countries around the world - especially those in the Global South,' he said, according to an official readout. Just last week, President Donald Trump announced a competing plan in a bid to boost American AI competitiveness by reducing regulation and promoting global exports of U.S. AI technology. Washington has moved in recent years to restrict China's access to chips necessary for AI development, in part due to concerns about potential military applications of such models and degrading U.S. tech leadership. The Trump administration's approach to chip policy, however, has been mixed. Earlier this month, the White House reversed a previous ban on specific AI chips made by U.S. tech giant Nvidia being exported to China. This shift occurred amid trade negotiations between the world's two largest economies, which have been locked in an escalating tariff and export control war since Trump returned to the Oval Office earlier this year. There was nothing but excitement about AI in the vast expo center in Shanghai's skyscraper-rich Pudong district, where crowds entered gates controlled by facial recognition. Inside, thousands of attendees listened to panels stacked with Chinese government officials, entrepreneurs and international researchers, or watched demonstrations on using AI to create video games, control robotic movements and respond in real time to conversations via smartglasses. Chinese giants like Huawei and Alibaba and newer Chinese tech darlings like Unitree Robotics were there. DeepSeek was not present, but its name was spoken everywhere. The Hangzhou-based upstart has been at the forefront of Beijing's attempt to push the government use of AI since it released a chatbot model in January, prompting a global craze and driving home China's rapid AI advances. DeepSeek has been put to work over the last six months on a wide variety of government tasks. Procurement documents show military hospitals in Shaanxi and Guangxi provinces specifically requesting DeepSeek to build online consultation and health record systems. Local government websites describe state organs using DeepSeek for things like diverting calls from the public and streamlining police work. DeepSeek helps 'quickly discover case clues and predict crime trends,' which 'greatly improves the accuracy and timeliness of crime fighting,' a city government in China's Inner Mongolia region explained in a February social media post. Anti-corruption investigations - long a priority for Chinese leader Xi Jinping - are another frequent DeepSeek application, in which models are deployed to comb through dry spreadsheets to find suspicious irregularities. In April, China's main anti-graft agency even included a book called 'Efficiently Using DeepSeek' on its official book recommendation list. China's new AI action plan underscores this push, declaring that the 'public sector should take the lead in deploying applications' by embedding AI in education, transportation and health care. It also emphasizes a mandate to use AI 'to empower the real economy' and praises open-source models - which are more easily shared - as an egalitarian method of AI development. Alfred Wu, an expert on China's public governance at the National University of Singapore, said Beijing has disseminated a 'top-down' directive to local governments to use AI. This is motivated, Wu said, by a desire to improve China's AI prowess amid a fierce rivalry with Washington by providing models access to vast stores of government data. But not everyone is convinced that China has the winning hand, even as it attempts to push AI application nationwide. For one, China's sluggish economy will impact the AI industry's ability to grow and access funding, said Singer, who was attending the conference. Beijing has struggled to manage persistent deflation and a property crisis, which has taken a toll on the finances of many families across the country. 'So much of China's AI policy is shaped by the state of the economy. The economy has been struggling for a few years now, and applications are one way of catalyzing much-needed growth,' he said. 'The venture capital ecosystem in AI in China has gone dry.' Others point out that local governments trumpeting their usage of DeepSeek is more about signaling than real technology uptake. Shen Yang, a professor at Tsinghua University's school of artificial intelligence, said DeepSeek is not being used at scale in anti-corruption work, for example, because the cases involve sensitive information and deploying new tools in these investigations requires long and complex approval processes. He also pointed out that AI is still a developing technology with lots of kinks. 'AI hallucinations still exist,' he said, using a term for the technology's generation of false or misleading information. 'If it's wrong, who takes responsibility?' These concerns, however, felt far away in the expo's humming hallways. At one booth, Carter Hou, the co-founder of Halliday, a smartglasses company, explained how the lenses project a tiny black screen at the top of a user's field of vision. The screen can provide translation, recordings and summaries of any conversation, and even deploy 'proactive AI,' which anticipates questions based on a user's interactions and provides information preemptively. 'For example, if you ask me a difficult question that is fact related,' Hou said, wearing the trendy black frames, 'all I need to do is look at it and use that information and pretend I'm a very knowledgeable person.' Asked about the event's geopolitical backdrop, Hou said he was eager to steer clear of diplomatic third rails. 'People talk a lot about the differences between the United States and China,' he said. 'But I try to stay out of it as much as possible, because all we want to do is just to build good products for our customers. That's what we think is most important.' Kiki Lei, a Shanghai resident who started an AI video company and attended the conference on Sunday, seemed to agree with this goal. She said that Chinese AI products are easier to use than U.S. products because companies here really 'know how to create new applications' and excel at catering to, and learning from, the large pool of Chinese technology users. Robots, perhaps the most obvious application of AI in the real world, were everywhere at the conference - on model factory floors and in convenience stores retrieving soda cans, shaking disbelieving kids' hands, or just roaming the packed halls. At the booth for ModelBest, another Beijing-based AI start-up, a young student from China's prestigious Tsinghua University, who was interning at the company, demonstrated how a robot could engage with its surroundings - and charm its human interlocutors. Looking directly at the student, the robot described his nondescript clothing. 'The outfit is both stylish and elegant,' the robot continued. 'You have a confident and friendly demeanor, which makes you very attractive.' - - - Pei-Lin Wu in Taiwan contributed to this report. --- Video Embed Code Video: Robots ruled at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, where China displayed its latest tech and AI innovation. Washington Post China correspondent Katrina Northrop reported from the event on July 26.(c) 2025 , The Washington Post Embed code: Related Content Pets are being abandoned, surrendered amid Trump's immigration crackdown The Post exposed this farmer's struggle. Then the USDA called. Kamala Harris will not run for California governor, opening door for 2028 run Solve the daily Crossword
