Latest news with #SectorSpotlight
Business Insider
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Sector Spotlight: Instagram, TikTok coming to a TV screen near you
Welcome to the latest edition of 'Sector Spotlight,' where The Fly looks at a new industry every week and highlights its happenings. Confident Investing Starts Here: TECH SECTOR NEWS: Germany's data protection commissioner, Meike Kamp, has asked Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOGL) to remove Chinese AI startup DeepSeek from their app stores in the country due to concerns about data protection, Reuters reported. The two U.S. companies must now review the request promptly and decide whether to block the app in Germany, she said in a statement on Friday, according to the report. According to EU's competitive chief Teresa Ribera, the European Union's crackdown on Apple, Meta (META), and Google (GOOGL) is not a bargaining chip in negotiations with the U.S. President Donald Trump, Samuel Stolton and Oliver Crook of Bloomberg wrote. In an interview, Ribera rejected suggestions that the enforcement of the Digital Markets Act, DMA, may be sacrificed to dodge punitive EU tariffs pitched by the White House. 'Of course not,' Ribera said on Bloomberg TV. 'We do not challenge the United States on how they implement their rules or how they adopt regulations. We deserve respect in the same way.' Meta's Instagram and TikTok are working on versions of their apps customized to run on TV screens, following YouTube's success in attracting a TV audience, The Information's Kaya Yurieff and Kalley Huang reported. A group of authors have filed a lawsuit against Microsoft in a New York federal court, claiming the company used nearly 200,000 pirated books without permission to train its Megatron AI model, Reuters' Blake Brittain wrote. Kai Bird, Jia Tolentino, Daniel Okrent and several others alleged that Microsoft used pirated digital versions of their books to teach its AI to respond to human prompts. The complaint against Microsoft came a day after a California federal judge ruled that Anthropic made fair use under U.S. copyright law of authors' material to train its AI systems but may still be liable for pirating their books. Earlier in the week, a federal judge has found Anthropic's use of books to train its AI models was legal in some circumstances, but not others, Meg Tanaka of The Wall Street Journal reported. Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California ruled Anthropic's use of copyrighted books for AI model training was legal under U.S. copyright law if it had purchased those books. The ruling does not apply to the more than 7M books the company obtained through 'pirated' means. Anthropic is backed by Amazon (AMZN) and Google. Vasi Philomin, Amazon Web Services' VP overseeing generative AI development, told Reuters in an email that he has left the e-commerce giant for another company, without providing details. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has hired three AI researchers from Microsoft-backed (MSFT) OpenAI to help with his superintelligence efforts, the Wall Street Journal's Meghan Bobrowsky wrote. The social media giant poached Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov and Xiaohua Zhai from OpenAI's Zurich office. The three staff established the Zurich office late last year. OpenAI and Microsoft are in contract negotiations that hinge on when OpenAI's systems will reach artificial general intelligence, The Wall Street Journal's Berber Jin reported. The contract stipulates that OpenAI can limit Microsoft's access to its tech when its systems reach AGI, which Microsoft is fighting. Microsoft hopes to remove the AGI clause or secure exclusive access to OpenAI's IP even after AGI is declared, according to the report. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had a 'super nice' call with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Monday and discussed their future working partnership, Altman said this week in a New York Times podcast. 'Obviously in any deep partnership, there are points of tension and we certainly have those,' Altman said. 'But on the whole, it's been like really wonderfully good for both companies.' Cloud computing currently generates large profits for Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT), and Google (GOOGL), but this now faces a threat with the rise of AI cloud specialists and Nvidia, a new industry power broker, Asa Fitch of The Wall Street Journal wrote. Nvidia launched its own cloud-computing services two years ago and has nurtured upstarts competing with big cloud companies, investing in CoreWeave (CRWV) and Lambda. Amazon plans to invest GBP 40B in the UK over the next three years. Amazon said via LinkedIn: 'This investment builds on Amazon's 27-year history in the UK, where we've grown to employ over 75,000 people across over 100 sites, reaching every region of the country. This historic investment will create thousands of full-time jobs, including 2,000 jobs at the previously announced state-of-the-art fulfillment center in Hull, 2,000 jobs at another in Northampton, and additional positions at new sites in the East Midlands and at delivery stations across the country.' OpenAI has quietly designed a rival to compete with Microsoft Office and Google Workspace, with features that allow people to collaborate on documents and communicate via chat in ChatGPT, The Information's Amir Efrati and Natasha Mascarenhas reported, citing two people who have seen the designs. Launching these features would allow OpenAI to compete more directly against Microsoft, its biggest investor and business partner, the report notes. Starting June 24, a limited number of Waymo autonomous vehicles will gradually become available on the Uber (UBER) app for riders in select areas of Atlanta, Georgia, the company announced in a blog post. The Competition and Markets Authority is proposing to designate Google with 'strategic market status' in general search and search advertising. The CMA will consult on the proposal ahead of a final decision in October. If designated, the CMA would be able to introduce targeted measures to address specific aspects of how Google operates search services in the UK. The CMA has also published a roadmap of potential actions it could prioritize were Google to be designated. Early priorities include: requiring choice screens for users to access different search providers; ensuring fair ranking principles for businesses appearing on Google search; more transparency and control for publishers whose content appears in search results; and portability of consumer search data to support innovation in new products and services. Google search accounts for more than 90% of all general search queries in the UK, the CMA said. CMA CEO Sarah Cardell said: 'These targeted and proportionate actions would give UK businesses and consumers more choice and control over how they interact with Google's search services – as well as unlocking greater opportunities for innovation across the UK tech sector and broader economy.' The CMA welcomes views on its proposed designation decision and accompanying roadmap. A final decision on SMS designation will be made by the deadline of October 13. Apple is in last-minute talks with EU regulators over making changes to its App Store to avoid a series of escalating EU fines due to come into effect this week, The Financial Times' Barbara Moens wrote. People involved in the negotiations say Apple is expected to offer concessions on its 'steering' provisions that stop users accessing offers outside the App Store. Regulators had ordered the company to revise its rules within two months of its initial EUR 500M fine, and people with knowledge of the talks say Apple is expected to announce some concessions that buy the company more time, as the commission would first assess those changes before making a final decision. Discussions have also involved Apple's 'Core Technology Fee,' which requires developers to pay for each annual install after 1M downloads.
Business Insider
14-06-2025
- Automotive
- Business Insider
Sector Spotlight: Automakers get rare earth export license clearance from China
Welcome to the latest edition of 'Sector Spotlight,' where The Fly looks at a new industry every week and highlights its happenings. Confident Investing Starts Here: AUTO SECTOR NEWS: Tesla (TSLA) upgraded its Model S and Model X cars in the U.S. and raised the prices of all configurations of the two models by $5,000, Reuters reported. The NHTSA announced the next step in its new Automated Vehicle Framework. 'To facilitate automated driving systems technology reaching its full potential to transform roadway safety, NHTSA is streamlining its exemption process for commercial deployment of vehicles and adopting a dynamic and flexible approach to evaluating these exemptions. These improvements will allow NHTSA to process ADS and other exemptions more quickly while also allowing NHTSA to prioritize safety through a tailored and progressive operational oversight approach,' the agency said. Tesla has filed a lawsuit against former Optimus engineer Zhongjie Li, who worked at Tesla from 2022 to 2024, accusing him of stealing humanoid robot information and setting up a rival startup, Bloomberg's Dana Hull wrote. 'Less than a week after he left Tesla, Proception was incorporated,' according to the complaint. 'And within just five months, Proception publicly claimed to have 'successfully built' advanced humanoid robotic hands — hands that bear a striking resemblance to the designs Li worked on at Tesla.' President Trump received a phone call from Tesla CEO Elon Musk late on Monday night, which led to a public expression of regret from Musk overnight for his social media posts, Jonathan Swan and Theodore Schleifer of New York Times reported, citing three people briefed on the call. Musk's call came after he spoke privately on Friday with Vice President JD Vance and the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, about a path to a truce between the two men. In a post on X, Tesla CEO Musk responded to question about when the first public robotaxi rides will start, stating: 'Tentatively, June 22. We are being super paranoid about safety, so the date could shift. First Tesla that drives itself from factory end of line all the way to a customer house is June 28.' Nissan (NSANY) supplier Marelli Holdings announced that it has commenced voluntary chapter 11 cases in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in order to comprehensively restructure its long-term debt obligations. Approximately 80% of the company's lenders have signed an agreement to support the restructuring, which will deleverage Marelli's balance sheet and strengthen its liquidity position. Throughout this process and moving forward, Marelli does not expect any operational impact from the chapter 11 process, and the company 'will continue to work closely with its customers, suppliers, and partners to innovate and invest in its portfolio of advanced technologies that will differentiate the vehicles of the future and transform mobility,' it said. General Motors (GM) announced plans to invest about $4B over the next two years in its domestic manufacturing plants to increase U.S. production of both gas and electric vehicles. The new investment will give GM the ability to assemble more than two million vehicles per year in the U.S. This announcement comes on the heels of the company's recently announced plan to invest $888M in the Tonawanda Propulsion plant near Buffalo, New York to support GM's next-generation V-8 engine. Intrado Life & Safety and Toyota Connected North America announced a collaboration to provide Advanced Automatic Collision Notification, telematics data to public safety answering points in an i3-compliant format. The data, delivered via AT&T's nationwide ESInet solution, helps 9-1-1 telecommunicators quickly deploy appropriate emergency response resources based on accident severity. Daimler Truck AG (DTRUY), Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation, Hino Motors, and Toyota (TM) concluded definitive agreements for the integration of Mitsubishi Fuso and Hino. Mitsubishi Fuso and Hino will integrate on an equal footing and cooperate in the areas of commercial vehicle development, procurement, and production. They are aiming to start operations in April 2026. Daimler Truck and Toyota will each aim to own 25% of the listed holding company of the integrated Mitsubishi Fuso and Hino. The holding company plans to own 100% of Mitsubishi Fuso and Hino. The intention is to list the holding company on the Prime Market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Further details on the scope and nature of the collaboration, including the name of the new holding company, are intended to be announced over the coming months, the companies stated. One of Tesla's top AI-executives, VP of engineering Milan Kovac, has left the company, a setback for the Optimus robotics project, Becky Peterson of The Wall Street Journal wrote. Kovac oversaw Tesla's development of Optimus, a humanoid robot central to Musk's vision of transforming Tesla into a robotics and AI company. China has granted temporary export licenses to rare-earth suppliers of the top three U.S. automakers as supply chain disruptions begin to surface from the country's export curbs on those materials, Reuters' Laurie Chen and David Shepardson reported. At least some of the licenses are valid for six months, the two sources say. It is unclear what quantity or items are covered by the approval Suppliers of General Motors (GM), Ford (F), and Stellantis (STLA) received clearance for some rare earth export licenses on Monday, one source said. ANALYST COMMENTARY: Guggenheim said that while Tesla shares continue to be driven by robotaxi and political narratives in the near-term, the company's fundamentals 'continue to deteriorate at an alarming rate.' The 'soft' Q2 delivery trends confirm demand for the refreshed Model Y has not helped Tesla's sales momentum, says Guggenheim, which expects 'sizable' negative revisions in the coming weeks to Q2 delivery estimates. The firm's 360,000 estimate is well below the consensus of 415,000. Flowing through lower delivery forecasts for Q2 pushes the company's auto gross margin forecast to 11.5%, below the 14.0% consensus, and free cash flow forecast into negative territory, the analyst told. Guggenheim believes Tesla's Q2 should have benefited from pent-up demand for the Model Y refresh, suggesting future delivery volumes and/or pricing could deteriorate further. It believes 2025 and 2026 expectations for Tesla 'remain incredibly optimistic and bullish catalysts for the automotive business continue to be disproven.' Piper Sandler kept an Overweight rating with a $400 price target on Tesla, but contends that the stock will likely sustain its upward momentum over the coming weeks. Driverless Teslas have been spotted on the streets of Austin, Texas and CEO Musk has acknowledged the deployment while predicting licensing agreements, with the 'key component' of the firm's bullish thesis has started to play out, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Piper warns however that any high-profile robotaxi accidents would likely be met with 'violent downside'. Argus downgraded Tesla to Hold from Buy with no price target. The stock 'appears to be currently trading on non-fundamental events,' says the analyst, who is concerned that the 'war of words' between President Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, along with expiration of EV credits, could further weaken demand for new Teslas. While the firm believes AI-related projects such as Cybercab and Optimus are positive for the company and its valuation, it believes a near-term Hold rating is 'prudent at this time,' the analyst said.
Business Insider
07-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Sector Spotlight: Boeing enters non-prosecution agreement with DOJ
Welcome to the latest edition of 'Sector Spotlight,' where The Fly looks at a new industry every week and highlights its happenings. Confident Investing Starts Here: INDUSTRIAL SECTOR NEWS: Lime and Uber (UBER) have signed a new multiyear deal to let Uber feature Lime's shared bikes and scooters on its ridehail app, The Verge's Andrew J. Hawkins wrote. The deal was set to expire in 2025. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the company is in the 'study phase' of using stablecoins as a way to transfer money worldwide, Bloomberg's Natalie Lung and Tom Giles reported. Stablecoins seems to have 'a practical benefit other than crypto's historic value,' the CEO said during an interview at the Bloomberg Tech conference San Francisco. Khosrowshahi added that the stablecoin is 'quite promising especially for global companies' since it can help cut costs of moving money around among different countries. Founders Fund has led an enormous funding round in defense technology startup Anduril with a $1B investment as part of a new $2.5B round, TechCrunch's Julie Bort wrote. Existing investors also took part in the funding round for the company, which was founded by Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey, the author said, citing an Anduril spokesperson. The defense tech startup has now doubled its valuation to $30.5B with this Series G increase, the author noted. RTX (RTX) and Northrop Grumman (NOC) announced four successful tests of flight-ready Highly Loaded Grain solid rocket motors for the U.S. Army's Next-Generation Short-Range Interceptor. HLG is a solid propellant technology for rocket motors that provides longer burn time and more energy output than conventional solid rocket motors, which extends the range of Raytheon's NGSRI offering compared to other missiles. Jacobs (J) was selected to deliver design, engineering and environmental services for Boeing's (BA) multi-billion expansion at its St. Louis, Missouri, campus. Designed to nearly double Boeing's regional manufacturing footprint, the 1.1M square-foot expansion will support advanced assembly facilities and the associated post assembly operations center for future generations of advanced aircraft. Site construction is underway and will be completed in multiple phases between 2026 and 2030. Uber, in a regulatory filing, announced that on May 31, appointed Nikesh Arora to the board. 'Nikesh is a globally respected business leader with deep experience across technology, finance, and cybersecurity,' said Ron Sugar, independent chairperson of the board. 'His leadership in scaling innovative businesses and navigating complex international markets will be invaluable as Uber continues to grow and evolve.' Arora has served as the chairman of the board and CEO of Palo Alto Networks (PANW) since June 2018. According to a regulatory filing, Boeing entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice that, subject to court proceedings, resolves matters relating to the Department's determination that the company did not fulfill its obligations under the previously-disclosed deferred prosecution agreement entered into by the company and the Department on January 6, 2021. Pursuant to the NPA, the company is subject to a $487.2M overall criminal monetary penalty, $243.6M of which was paid in 2021 pursuant to the DPA and the remaining $243.6M of which was included in amounts expensed by the company in 2024 pursuant to the proposed plea agreement between the company and the Department filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on July 24, 2024. The NPA also requires the company, among other things, to pay $444.5M in additional compensation to the heirs and/or beneficiaries of those who died in the Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 accidents, to invest $455M in the company's compliance, safety, and quality programs through the end of the term of the NPA, to retain an independent compliance consultant to assess the company's progress regarding remediation and implementation of the compliance measures described in the NPA and the attachments thereto, to continue to implement a compliance program, and to continue to undertake a review of its internal controls, policies and procedures. The Department agreed that it will not further criminally prosecute the company for any conduct described in the NPA provided that the Company performs all of its obligations under the NPA, including those described above. The NPA has a term of two years from the date on which the company retains the independent compliance consultant, unless the NPA is extended or terminated earlier as described therein. China is considering placing an order for hundreds of Airbus (EADSY) aircraft as soon as next month, with deliberations underway with Chinese airlines about the size of the potential order, Bloomberg's Siddharth Vikram Philip and Danny Lee reported. The deal could involve around 300 planes, including both narrowbody and widebody models, according to people familiar with the matter. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (KTOS) and GE Aerospace (GE) announced a formal teaming agreement to advance propulsion technologies for the next generation of unmanned aerial systems and Collaborative Combat Aircraft-type aircraft. Eaton (ETN) and Siemens Energy (SMNEY) have announced a fast-track approach to building data centers with integrated onsite power. They will aim to address market needs by offering grid-independent energy supplies and standardized modular systems to facilitate data center construction and deployment. The collaboration will enable simultaneous construction of data centers and associated on-site power generation with grid connection and the integration of renewables to meet regional regulatory requirements, if required. Siemens Energy's modular and scalable power plant concept's standard configuration generates 500 MW of electricity. Based on its modular approach, the size of the plant can be scaled up and down. In the future, it can also operate in a carbon-neutral manner, provided hydrogen is available and part of the data center's sustainability strategy. Eaton will provide customers with electrical equipment such as medium voltage switchgear, low voltage switchgear, UPS, busways, structural support, racks and containment systems, engineering services and software offerings. Uber announced the departure of Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, senior VP, delivery, and the appointment of Andrew Macdonald as president and COO, effective immediately. Macdonald joined Uber in 2012 and has served in a range of leadership roles at the company. In his new role as president and COO, reporting to Dara Khosrowshahi, he will be responsible for the company's global mobility, delivery, and autonomous businesses, as well as cross-platform functions like membership, customer support, safety, and more. Tata Group's Air India is in discussions with Airbus and Boeing for a new aircraft order including around 200 extra single-aisle planes, Tim Hepher, Aditi Shah and Rajesh Kumar Singh of Reuters wrote, citing industry sources. In an interview with The Financial Times, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said he was working with the Trump administration to ensure the company did not become as 'unintended consequence' of the trade war with China, suggesting countries buy more of its aircraft to reduce their trade deficits with the U.S., Sylvia Pfeifer and Claire Bushey of The Financial Times reported. Ortberg also told the Times the launch of a new aircraft expected to replace its 737 Max was not an immediate priority, adding the 'market is not ready now.' Saudi Arabia is set to place orders for billions of dollars of Airbus jets as the kingdom balances suppliers in its quest to match the aviation growth of Gulf neighbors, industry sources said, according to Reuters. Leasing company AviLease, which placed an order for 30 Boeing 737 MAX jets during a visit to the region this month by U.S. President Donald Trump, could place a comparable order for Airbus A320neo jets at next month's Paris Airshow.
Business Insider
31-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Sector Spotlight: Nvidia results highlight notable week for semiconductors
Welcome to the latest edition of 'Sector Spotlight,' where The Fly looks at a new industry every week and highlights its happenings. Confident Investing Starts Here: EARNINGS RECAP: Nvidia shares rose above $141 per share, up 5%, after reporting first quarter warnings on Wednesday. The company's Q1 beat was followed by inline Q2 guidance. Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia, said: 'Our breakthrough Blackwell NVL72 AI supercomputer – a 'thinking machine' designed for reasoning- is now in full-scale production across system makers and cloud service providers. Global demand for NVIDIA's AI infrastructure is incredibly strong. AI inference token generation has surged tenfold in just one year, and as AI agents become mainstream, the demand for AI computing will accelerate. Countries around the world are recognizing AI as essential infrastructure – just like electricity and the internet – and NVIDIA stands at the center of this profound transformation.' Summit Insights upgraded Nvidia to Buy from Hold after its Q1 results and guidance. The risk of double-ordering on its Hopper generation AI GPU and the risk of China export controls are now priced into the stock, the analyst told investors. Summit also believes that the data center capex spending for the training market will remain robust and benefit Nvidia AI GP and data center networking businesses, the firm added. SECTOR NEWS: A jury determined following a trial in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas that Intel's (INTC) 2012 licensing pact with Finjan covered VLSI's patents because the entities are affiliated under the control of asset management firm Fortress Investment, Bloomberg's Lauren Castle reported. The development sets up a potential escape for Intel from the more than $3B in patent-infringement verdicts against the company in the long-running dispute, the author noted. Nvidia (NVDA) disclosed in its quarterly filing that its CEO Jen-Hsun Huang adopted a trading arrangement to sell 6M of the company's shares between March 20 and December 31, 2025. Nvidia is also facing new accusations from U.S. lawmakers arguing the company is too close to China, criticism which may signal new challenges for the company, Olivia Beavers and Amrith Ramkumar of The Wall Street Journal wrote. Senator Jim Banks and Senator Elizabeth Warren recently wrote in a letter to CEO Jensen Huang that plans for an Nvidia facility in Shanghai risk giving China access to cutting edge technology. In an interview on CNBC's Mad Money, Jensen Huang said Nvidia's market share in China was 95% four years ago, but is now only 50%. He said it's critically important that AI is built out on an American technology stack, not Chinese. 'We want to be the preferred technology stack,' he noted. He plans to keep the dialogue going with the Trump Administration. He sees robotics as the next growth opportunity. 'We are an infrastructure company, not just a chips company,' he added. In a conference call following the company's Q1 results, Nvidia said it will consult the U.S. government if it develops new China chips and is considering options for China chips. The company added it has no new product for China data centers ready now and that limits are quite stringent on China chips. Nvidia contended that export rules will help foreign rivals and that it expects a meaningful decrease in China data center revenue. On Tuesday, Liam Mo and Fanny Potkin of Reuters reported that Nvidia is planning to launch a new AI chipset for China at a much lower price than its recently restricted H20 model and plans to begin mass production as early as June. The graphics processing unit, GPU, will be part of Nvidia's Blackwell-architecture AI processors and is expected to cost between $6,500-$8,000. Nvidia's suppliers, including Foxconn, Inventec, Dell (DELL) and Wistron, have made a series of breakthroughs that have allowed them to accelerate production of its flagship AI data center 'racks' and start shipments of the highly anticipated 'Blackwell' AI servers, according to Financial Times' Eleanor Olcott and Michael Acton, citing several people familiar with the matter. TSMC (TSM) executive Kevin Zhang said the company is still weighing whether it plans to use ASML 's (ASML) high numerical aperture, or NA, machines for its future process nodes, Reuters' Nathan Vifflin wrote. 'A14, the enhancement I talk about, is very substantial without using High-NA. So our technology team continues to find a way to extend the life of current (Low-NA EUV machines) by harvesting the scaling benefit,' Zhang said at a press briefing. 'As long as they continue to find a way, obviously we don't have to use it,' he added. The report noted that Intel has planned to use the high-NA machine in its future manufacturing process. A Swedish business consortium and Nvidia unveiled plans to build new AI infrastructure with Nvidia accelerated computing, networking and software in Sweden to transform and prepare the country's industries for the age of AI. Swedish industry giants AstraZeneca (AZN), Ericsson (ERIC), Saab (SAABF), SEB, in partnership with Wallenberg Investments, will build the system that will be operated by a joint company to offer secure, sovereign compute access to the industry partners. The intention is that the first phase of the deployment will be two Nvidia DGX SuperPODs featuring Nvidia's latest generation Grace Blackwell GB300 systems, making it the largest enterprise AI supercomputer in Sweden once operational. It will be used to run compute-heavy AI workloads to speed up processes such as training of domain specific AI models and large-scale inference, including reasoning AI. Oracle (ORCL) will spend around $40B on Nvidia's high-performance computer chips to power OpenAI's new giant U.S. data center, according to Financial Times. Oracle will purchase around 400,000 of Nvidia's GB200 chips, its latest 'superchip' for training and running AI systems, and lease the computing power to OpenAI, according to FT's Tabby Kinder and George Hammond, citing several people familiar with the matter. ANALYST COMMENTARY: Citi analyst Atif Malik raised the firm's price target on Nvidia to $180 from $150 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The company reported April quarter results in-line and issued a July quarter sales outlook $1B above Citi's expectations, 'clearing the final hurdle of the China H20 ban transition quarter,' the analyst tells investors in a research note. Moreover, Blackwell sales of $24B topped Citi's $20B expectations and management maintained mid 70's gross margins target on improving Blackwell profitability with no major tariff impact, the firm contends. Citi believes that with margins expanding, Nvidia shares should 'break its range bound trend' since mid-last year and will likely make a fresh 52 week high. Needham keeps a Buy rating and $54 price target on Semtech (SMTC) after its 'solid' Q1 results driven by data center related infrastructure shipments and LoRa-enabled solutions. Demand for data center related products remains robust as the company reported a record quarter, while the momentum in Data Center is expected to carry through the second half of FY26, driven by continued strength in FiberEdge and non-NVIDIA CopperEdge and LPO ramps, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Redburn Atlantic analyst Mike Harrison initiated coverage of Broadcom (AVGO) with a Buy rating and $301 price target. The company is arguably the 'pre-eminent' application-specific integrated circuits co-partner with a strong pipeline of future customers, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Further, the firm believes the company's networking products are prevalent through the different types of networking within artificial intelligence data centers, from the compute fabric to the back-end network, as well as the interconnects that permeate throughout. The consensus is not giving Broadcom sufficient credit for the strength of its ASICs pipeline, contended Redburn. Stifel noted that Nvidia recently published a blog post providing details on its new 800V high voltage DC power architecture for next-gen AI data centers and specifically named Infineon (IFNNY), Monolithic Power (MPWR), Navitas Semiconductor (NVTS), Rohm, STMicroelectronics (STM) and Texas Instruments (TXN) as power IC/solutions supplier partners. While three of the semiconductor companies mentioned have issued press releases in conjunction with Nvidia – namely Infineon, Navitas and TI – the firm noted there were few details beyond what was discussed in Nvidia's blog post. However, it expects all of the companies called out by Nvidia to benefit from the accelerating increase in power requirements for AI data centers that are expected to require megawatt-scale racks by 2027.
Business Insider
24-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Sector Spotlight: Trump executive order accelerates support for nuclear energy
Welcome to the latest edition of 'Sector Spotlight,' where The Fly looks at a new industry every week and highlights its happenings. Confident Investing Starts Here: NUCLEAR SECTOR NEWS: President Donald Trump signed orders meant to accelerate the construction of nuclear power plants, including small, newer reactor types. 'We're signing tremendous executive orders today that really will make us the real power in this industry,' Trump said as he signed the directives in the Oval Office, adding that nuclear technology 'has come a long way, both in safety and costs.' Trump was joined by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and energy industry executives including Constellation Energy (CEG) CEO Joseph Dominguez and Jake DeWitte, the co-founder and CEO of Oklo (OKLO). Nano Nuclear Energy (NNE) announced the launch of a major irradiation testing program in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering. The two-year collaboration will investigate the thermal and radiolytic behavior of nitrate molten salts, commonly referred to as 'solar salts', to assess their viability in advanced nuclear energy systems for thermal energy storage and cooling applications. 'We are proud to support this world-class irradiation study at MIT,' said Jay Yu, founder and chairman of Nano Nuclear. 'Understanding how molten salts perform under radiation is essential to unlocking next-generation reactor designs, and this facility gives us the capabilities to do that without the use of any nuclear materials.' XL Batteries and Prometheus Hyperscale announced a multi-year agreement to deploy on-site long-duration energy storage systems at data centers. In the first phase of the partnership, XL Batteries will deliver and commission a 333 kilowatt demonstration-scale standalone organic flow battery at Prometheus' facility in 2027. After that, Prometheus intends to purchase one 12.5 megawatt / 125 megawatt-hour commercial-scale system in 2028 and an additional 12.5 MW / 125 MWh system in 2029. In May of 2024, Prometheus agreed to a deal to buy 100MW of energy from Oklo for its data center planned for farmland in Wyoming. ANALYST COMMENTARY: Wedbush raised the firm's price target on Oklo to $55 from $45 and reiterated an Outperform rating on the shares. The firm says that it is highly expected that President Trump will sign executive orders as soon as Friday aiming at jump-starting the nuclear energy industry by easing the regulatory process on approvals for new reactors and strengthening fuel supply chains. The E.O. is expected to be a significant tailwind for the industry, with Oklo being the one of the main beneficiaries as support from the U.S. Government has gained significant traction since the Trump Administration took over in the past few months. The company was on track to submit its former combined license application to the U.S. NRC by the end of 2025 and deploy its first commercial power plant at Idaho National Laboratory by the end of 2027, with this E.O. potentially accelerating the timeline through increased federal funding and a much more streamlined regulatory process. Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of Nuscale Power (SMR) with a Neutral rating and $24 price target, implying 1% downside from current levels. NuScale is a small modular reactor manufacturing company which will be an 'integral player in the global race to decarbonization,' the analyst told investors in a research note. The firm believes Nuscale Power provides investors with an attractive opportunity to invest in a pure play nuclear small modular reactor manufacturer which has first mover advantage. However, citing its new technology, licensing process, 'unproven' business model, and financial targets that remain uncertain, Goldman is taking a more balanced view on the stock at current valuation levels. Additionally, Goldman Sachs assumed coverage of Cameco (CCJ) with a Buy rating and $65 price target. The firm's view of accelerating nuclear energy growth, driven by existing as well as new reactor builds, in the backdrop of 'a relatively modest supply growth environment' positions it to be more bullish on the upstream portion of the value chain, with upstream uranium producers and fuel suppliers like Cameco poised to benefit from increasing demand as well as pricing tailwinds, the analyst noted. Raymond James lowered the firm's price target on NexGen Energy (NXE) to C$12 from C$12.50 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. Oklo reported Q1 earnings and provided several key operational updates, including that it completed borehole drilling for site characterization work at Idaho National Laboratory for its first Aurora Powerhouse, B. Riley told investors. The firm noted that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman last month stepped down as chairman of Oklo's board, and says this move could accelerate Oklo's ability to work with OpenAI by avoiding a conflict of interest in discussions between the companies. B. Riley sees a potential OpenAI deal as a meaningful positive catalyst for the stock. The firm has a Buy rating and $58 price target on Oklo shares.
