February 02, 2025: Making Volatility Great Again

Last week, Dow Jones was up 0.3%, S&P 500 lost 1%, and Nasdaq was down 1.6%. The week was especially volatile, AI plays were down Monday on DeepSeek concerns, and then had a strong week, until US tariff developments sent stocks down again Friday afternoon. Nvidia, Broadcom and Marvell and other U.S. firms that design AI chips each fell more than 17% Monday, Apple, however rose 3% — as some market participants suggested the DeepSeek model bodes well for on-device light LLMs. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the tech giant would invest “very heavily” in AI — even “hundreds of billions of dollars” — over the long term, during Meta’s earnings call on Wednesday. OpenAI is in talks with SoftBank to raise US$40 billion in a new funding at around a US$300 billion post-money valuation. Microsoft is one of the companies in talks to acquire TikTok’s US operations, President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday. A decision on TikTok’s future in the US is expected in 30 days. In Canada, Sophic Client, Legend Power Systems closed the final tranche of its Non-Brokered Private Placement, raising a total of $1.6 million. Sophic Client, Plurilock closed an Over-Subscribed Special Warrant Offering, for gross proceeds of nearly $5 million. Sophic Client American Aires announced record preliminary Q4/2024 performance & provided 2025 guidance. Cash and Inventory Balances were a record $6.5 million. Management expects 2025 sales in the $28 million to $32 million range, and EBITDA in the range of a $2 million loss to a $2 million profit. From January 1 through January 24, order volumes grew 111% y/y. Q4/2024 set yet another quarterly record with $8.8 million in sales, up 135% y/y. Additionally, Sophic Clients, Cybeats, Legend Power and Plurilock, all announced progress in their respective businesses.

Sophic Client Legend Power Systems Inc. (LPS-TSXV, LPSIF-OTC) announces closing of final tranche of Non-Brokered Private Placement.

Legend Power closed the second and final tranche (the “Second Tranche”) of its non-brokered private placement (the “Offering”) of units of the Company (each, a “Unit”) at a price of $0.18 per Unit. Under the Second Tranche, the Company distributed 4,728,443 Units for gross proceeds of $851,120, bringing the total Offering raise to $1,613,090. Each Unit consists of one common share in the capital of the Company (each, a “Common Share”) and one Common Share purchase warrant (each, a “Warrant”). Each Warrant issued under the Second Tranche entitles the holder to acquire one additional Common Share at an exercise price of $0.30 until January 24, 2027. https://t.co/tsIrfjZIgs

Sophic Client Plurilock (PLUR-TSXV, PLCKF-OTCQB) closes Over-Subscribed Special Warrant Offering.

Plurilock announced that, further to its news releases dated January 13, 2025 and January 14, 2025, it has closed a non-brokered private placement of 12,459,125 special warrants (the “Special Warrants”) at the price of $0.40 per Special Warrant for gross proceeds of $4,983,650 (the “Offering”). The Offering was upsized from 12,000,000 Special Warrants to 12,459,125 Special Warrants due to investor demand. Each Special Warrant will automatically convert into one unit of the Company (each a “Unit”), as described below. Each Unit shall consist of one common share of the Company (a “Share”) and one transferable common share purchase warrant (a “Warrant”). Each Warrant shall entitle the holder thereof to acquire one Share at a price of $0.50 per Share for a period of three years following the date of issue. The Warrants are subject to an accelerated expiry if the volume weighted average daily trading price of the Shares on the TSX Venture Exchange (the “TSXV”), or such other market as the Shares may trade from time to time, is or exceeds $0.65 for any five (5) consecutive trading days, in which event the Warrant holder may, at the Company’s election, be given notice by way of a news release that the Warrants will expire 30 days following the date of such notice. The Warrants may be exercised by the Warrant holder during the 30-day period between the notice and the expiration of the Warrants. Each Special Warrant will automatically convert, for no additional consideration, into one Unit on the date that is the earlier of: (i) the date that is three business days following the date on which the Company files a prospectus supplement to a short form base shelf prospectus with the securities commissions qualifying distribution of the Units underlying the Special Warrants (the “Prospectus Supplement”), and (ii) the date that is four months and one day after the closing of the Offering. In connection with the Offering, the Company paid finder’s fees totalling $275,870 and issued 689,675 broker warrants (“Broker Warrants”) to arm’s length parties. Each Broker Warrant will be exercisable for one Share at the price of $0.50 for a period of three years, subject to the same accelerated expiry as the Warrants. Prior to the filing of the Prospectus Supplement and the automatic conversion of the Special Warrants, the securities issued under the Offering will be subject to a four month hold period from the date of closing of the Offering in addition to any other restrictions under applicable law. The net proceeds of the Offering will be used for general working capital purposes. https://t.co/ZDHllFDxPQ

Sophic Client American Aires (WIFI-CSE, AAIRF-OTCQB) announces record preliminary Q4/2024 performance & provides 2025 guidance.

American Aires Inc, provided preliminary unaudited results for the three months ending December 31, 2024 (“Q4/2024”) and twelve months ending December 31, 2024 (“fiscal 2024”). Cash and Inventory Balances at Record $6.5 Million. As of December 31, 2024, inventories were $2.3 million, reflecting the significant investments the Company made into building up inventory levels to facilitate sales growth. As of January 24, 2025, Aire’s cash balance was $4.2 million, reflecting two separate revenue-based lending arrangements the Company had entered into in December 2024 and January 2025 to finance the expected growth in inventory and sales. Management expects 2025 Sales in the $28 million to $32 million range and EBITDA in the range of a $2 million loss to a $2 million profit. The ranges represent Management’s increased focus on advertising and marketing efficiencies compared to 2024. Management is also pleased to disclose that from January 1 through January 24, order volumes grew 111% year-over-year, reflecting continued momentum in early 2025 and an early indication of the Company benefitting from and building on the success of strategic efforts in 2024. Q4/2024 set yet another quarterly record with $8.8 million in sales, marking a 135% increase over the $3.7 million reported in Q4/2023 (on a combined Aires + HUCK basis). Gross Profit margin improved 400 basis points to 63% (from 59% reported a year ago) largely due to certain cost cutting measures undertaken in early 2024, as well as a more strategic and measured approach to discounting. On an annual basis, sales increased 75% year-over-year to $18.2 million (from $10.4 million in 2023), while Gross Profit margin improved 100 basis points to 62% (from 61% a year earlier). https://t.co/5XAxbnPa1e

Sophic Client Cybeats Technologies Corp. (CYBT-CSE,CYBCF-OTCQB) expands healthcare client base and achieves 148% net revenue retention in 2024. Cybeats announced two new strategic commercial contracts in the healthcare sector, supporting the growth of Cybeats in the Software Bill of Material (“SBOM”) management market. The new contracts with two healthcare organizations further demonstrate strong momentum across the strategic objectives of the Company, especially in its medical device manufacturer (“MDM”) vertical. The two healthcare organizations awarded contracts via competitive processes. Cybeats was successful, owing to its solutions’ ease of integration, ability to meet regulatory requirements, demonstrated ROI, innovative features, scalability, support for multiple third-party SBOMs, market trust and leadership, and operational expertise. Cybeats is also providing the following operational updates: 148% net revenue retention in 2024, at a rate well above the industry benchmark of 100-120%; $7+ million in total contract commitments in 2024, up from $3.8 million 2023, with the vast majority of revenue being annually recurring revenue; 90% conversion rate of product trial programs to long-term commercial license; new website and logo, showcasing Cybeats’ its commitment to innovation and leadership in software supply chain security; SBOM Consumer product now supports integration with numerous asset management platforms, empowering users to link SBOMs to specific assets and monitor them continuously for risks, essentially operationalizing SBOMs for improved cybersecurity practices by the market of software product buyers: appointment of Chris Malkhassian as a new independent director to the Board of Directors, effective January 9, 2025. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (“FDA”) solidified its role in regulating medical device cybersecurity with its authority to approve or reject premarket submissions based on compliance with Section 524B of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. https://t.co/ugXSbAw3pi

Major North American transportation agency advances energy leadership with power quality solutions from Sophic Client Legend Power Systems Inc. (LPS-TSXV, LPSIF-OTC) at top 10 airport complex.

Legend Powe announced its engagement with a major North American Transportation Agency to assess and address power quality and energy efficiency challenges at one of the United States 10 largest airports. This initiative was signed in mid-January and is scheduled to begin mid-February with an initial focus on evaluating two key facilities, and the potential deployment of up to eight SmartGATE™ systems. https://t.co/PvIHVHM3V6

Sophic Client Cybeats Technologies Corp. (CYBT-CSE,CYBCF-OTCQB) signs multi-year contract with Rockwell Automation.

Cybeats signed a three-year agreement with Rockwell Automation, Inc. (“Rockwell”) (NYSE: ROK), the world’s largest pure-play industrial automation company. This contract underscores the Company’s growing traction with the industrial control systems (“ICS”) vertical – an industry where software supply chain security is paramount for operational reliability, regulatory compliance, and product security requirements for industrial control systems. “This multi-year agreement is one of the most significant contracts in Cybeats’ history, highlighting the growing demand for robust software supply chain solutions across critical sectors. By collaborating with industry leader Rockwell Automation, Cybeats is further solidifying its position as a trusted provider for addressing complex product security challenges on a global scale,” said Justin Leger, CEO of Cybeats. https://t.co/OdlRweIYDK

Sophic Client Plurilock (PLUR-TSXV, PLCKF-OTCQB) appoints former Deputy National Security Advisor to the British Prime Minister to its Industry Advisory Council.

Plurilock announces the appointment of 20-year U.K. national security expert Elizabeth Sizeland to the Company’s Industry Advisory Council. With more than twenty years of experience in the U.K. government, Mrs. Sizeland specializes in defense and national security strategy and policy, organized crime and counterterrorism, cybersecurity and crisis response, and federal business development. Before her role as the United Kingdom’s Joint Intelligence Organisation attaché in Washington, D.C., she served as Deputy National Security Adviser and Prime Minister’s Adviser on National Resilience and Security in the Cabinet Office, collaborating closely with her U.S. counterparts. She has also held senior positions as a director general at the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters (“GCHQ”), a director in the U.K. Home Office. https://t.co/aBR3kmeDFI

VueReal secures $58.4 million Series C to boost its semiconductor production.

Kitchener-Waterloo’s VueReal, which aims to transform semiconductor fabrication through its proprietary microprinting technology, has closed US$40.5 million ($58.4 million) in Series C funding. This all-primary, all-equity financing closed in December and came entirely from existing investors. Export Development Canada (EDC) led with participation from Cycle Capital, BDC Capital’s Cleantech Practice, and TDK Ventures. It comes nearly three years after VueReal’s US$14.4 million Series B. https://tinyurl.com/3dmtfd38

OneVest closes $29 million Series B led by Salesforce Ventures to fuel US expansion.

Calgary and Toronto-based FinTech startup OneVest has secured nearly $29 million (US$20 million) in Series B funding to scale its presence south of the border. The wealth management software company’s all-equity, all-primary round, which closed earlier this month, was led by Salesforce Ventures. Fellow new United States (US) corporate venture capital investors Allianz Life Ventures and TIAA Ventures supported the financing. Returning backers included Canada’s OMERS Ventures, Deloitte Ventures, and Luge Capital, and American firms Fin Capital and Pivot Investment Partners. OneVest plans to use the new capital to fuel its product development plans and continued US expansion, where it sees “a tremendous opportunity to be a leader.” https://tinyurl.com/pjredayp

Canadian-led Nue raises $28.8 million Series A round led by Inovia.

Canadian-led, San Francisco-based Nue has raised a US$20 million ($28.8 million) Series A round for its revenue lifecycle management platform. The all-equity round was led by Montréal-based venture firm Inovia Capital, who will gain a board seat, with participation from Bluefish Capital, NextWorld Capital, NJP Ventures, Operator Stack Fund, and Toronto-based Information Venture Partners. Nue said in a statement that it has raised US$40 million to date. https://tinyurl.com/bdf5eexb

Nvidia, Broadcom tumble as Chinese DeepSeek AI explodes in popularity.

Shares in Nvidia, Broadcom and Marvell and other U.S. firms that design artificial intelligence server chips each fell more than 17% Monday following the release of AI from a Chinese quant fund, which prompted some observers to speculate that demand for specialized AI chips might drop. Researchers at Meta Platforms and other leading American AI developers said over the weekend the Chinese AI is on par with or better than American technology and may have required less computing power to develop. The Chinese AI, called DeepSeek, also costs significantly less money to run than OpenAI’s most advanced AI model because it runs more efficiently. DeepSeek is open source and free to download, sparking concerns from some investors that it could drive down business demand for models sold by OpenAI, Google, Anthropic and others. Shares of Microsoft, which is OpenAI’s closest business partner, and Google fell 2% and 4%, respectively. Oracle, a cloud provider whose stock rose 13% last week after announcing a US$500 billion AI data center initiative with OpenAI and SoftBank, fell 14%. DeepSeek said Monday that the rise in traffic to its chatbot mobile app, which is similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, was causing outages and that it would limit new user registrations. Nvidia said in a statement that the DeepSeek model is “excellent” but running similar models still requires “significant number of Nvidia [AI chips] and high-performance networking” cables that connect the chips to each other. That could be because models like DeepSeek’s perform better if they can spend more time calculating possible answers to customer queries. https://tinyurl.com/2k7da2my

Apple climbed 3% on DeepSeek news, as other tech stocks fell.

While shock at DeepSeek news saw the stock prices of many tech giants fall, AAPL climbed 3.25% across the course of the day. Experts expressed amazement at the Chinese company’s AI model being on a par with US chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Llama despite being developed for a fraction of the cost and running on far lower-spec hardware. DeepSeek is an AI chatbot developed in China, and which posted benchmarks indicating that its performance was comparable to the world’s best existing models. Experts quickly verified the claims, expressing shock that China was able to achieve this at a fraction of the development cost of US models, and running locally on very modestly-specced PCs. Many said that the scale of this achievement cannot be over-stated. The app quickly climbed to the #1 slot in Apple’s App Store. The biggest shock was how China was able to develop such a powerful AI model while US export controls limited the number of Nvidia GPUs it was able to purchase. https://tinyurl.com/ycxvb8pj

Zuck shrugs off DeepSeek, vows to spend hundreds of billions on AI.

U.S. markets panicked on Monday over speculation that DeepSeek’s AI models would crush demand for GPUs, with Nvidia’s stock dropping almost 20%. But Meta isn’t backing off, with its CEO Mark Zuckerberg pledging that the tech giant would invest “very heavily” in AI — even “hundreds of billions of dollars” — over the long term, he said during Meta’s first-quarter earnings call on Wednesday. Zuckerberg already announced last week that Meta would spend more than US$60 billion in 2025 alone on capital expenditures, primarily on data centers. In response to an analyst’s question about DeepSeek’s impact on Meta’s AI spending, Zuckerberg said spending heavily on AI infrastructure will continue to be a “strategic advantage” for Meta. Meta considers DeepSeek a new competitor and is learning from it, but it’s “way too early” to tell if demand for chips will stop increasing as they remain crucial for inference purposes, Zuckerberg said, noting that Meta has billions of users.“At this point, I would bet that the ability to build out that kind of infrastructure is going to be a major advantage for both the quality of the service and being able to serve the scale that we want to,” Zuckerberg said. Meta’s goal with its next model, Llama 4, is to make it the world’s most competitive, even compared to closed models (like ChatGPT), Zuckerberg said. He added that he expects it to have agentic capabilities — something both OpenAI and Anthropic have moved into — along with multimodal ones. “Our goal with Llama 3 was to make open source competitive with closed models,” he said. “And our goal for Llama 4 is to lead.” https://tinyurl.com/msdkte32

OpenAI in talks with SoftBank for funding at US$300 billion valuation.

OpenAI is in talks to raise US$40 billion in new funding at around a US$300 billion valuation including the new capital, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Before the new money, the US$260 billion valuation would represent a 73% increase from the company’s valuation from a funding round that closed in October. SoftBank, which a few weeks ago bought US$1.5 billion in OpenAI shares from existing investors, has submitted a term sheet to lead the new round, according to the same person and another person close to the discussions. This means that the Japanese conglomerate is expected to invest around US$15 billion to US$25 billion, with the remaining amount coming from other investors. The deal talks are still early and could change. SoftBank committed to putting US$19 billion into Stargate, a data center joint venture it is leading with OpenAI, while the new round would be a direct investment in OpenAI, according to one of the people. SoftBank has earmarked US$40 billion in total to invest in OpenAI and Stargate. It isn’t clear why SoftBank agreed to buy new shares at a far higher valuation than OpenAI’s price just a few months ago. One reason might be the momentum of OpenAI’s ChatGPT subscription business, including a US$200-a-month tier that’s already generating revenue at an annual pace of more than US$300 million despite launching just seven weeks ago. OpenAI has raised US$20 billion in outside capital, including more than US$13 billion in funding commitments from Microsoft. To fund its investments in Stargate and OpenAI, SoftBank has separately started discussions to borrow as much as US$18.5 billion, using the value of its publicly listed assets as collateral. The Wall Street Journal first reported some details of the new fundraising. https://tinyurl.com/frff4fv3

OpenAI revenue surged from US$200-a-month ChatGPT subscriptions.

Revenue from OpenAI’s most expensive subscription tier of ChatGPT has surpassed revenue the company generates from customers of the artificial intelligence chatbot who are part of business team subscriptions, OpenAI leaders recently told some shareholders. The precise figure couldn’t be learned, but the leaders’ comments imply that ChatGPT Pro subscriptions—which cost US$200 per month and launched seven weeks ago—are currently generating at least US$25 million in revenue per month, or at least US$300 million on an annual basis. That’s a conservative estimate because ChatGPT Enterprise subscriptions were generating that much revenue as of September. The Enterprise business, which launched in August 2023, likely generates more revenue now. The early momentum with Pro, which is powered by OpenAI’s most advanced technology, could help the company reach its projected US$12 billion in total revenue in 2025. OpenAI had projected ChatGPT would generate US$3 billion in revenue in 2024 and $8 billion in 2025. An OpenAI spokesperson declined to comment. https://tinyurl.com/ttnv892k

Trump says Microsoft in talks to acquire TikTok.

Microsoft is one of the companies in talks to acquire TikTok’s US operations, President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday, adding that he wants a “bidding war” between US firms to acquire the app. After a law requiring the Chinese-owned to sell its US operations to an American company or shut down in the US went into effect earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order granting a 75-day extension for a potential sale. Trump has previously said that he would support Elon Musk purchasing the app, but Musk has not commented on the prospect. The deal talks echo 2020, when Trump pressed TikTok to sell to a US company in the final year of his first term. At the time, Oracle and Microsoft made bids for TikTok that were rebuffed. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella later said the deal talks were “the strangest thing I’ve ever worked on.” A Microsoft spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. https://tinyurl.com/yc76sjtv

Apple shares rise 3% as boost in services revenue overshadows iPhone miss.

Apple’s overall revenue rose 4% in its first fiscal quarter, but it missed on Wall Street’s iPhone sales expectations and saw sales in China decline 11.1%, the company reported Thursday. But shares rose about 3% in extended trading after the company gave a forecast for the March quarter that suggested revenue growth. Apple said it expected growth in the March quarter of “low to mid single digits” on an annual basis. The company also said it expected “low double digits” growth for its Services division. Apple said it expected the strong dollar to drag on Apple’s overall sales about 2.5%, and after accounting for currency, the overall growth rate would be similar to the December quarter’s 6%. https://tinyurl.com/5cvz64fn

Microsoft reports slowing revenue growth but says AI sales are climbing fast.

Microsoft said Wednesday its revenue grew 12% in the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to the same period a year earlier—four points slower than its third quarter growth—as growth in its Azure cloud server rentals also slowed for the second consecutive quarter. Still, the company said revenue from artificial intelligence products, including selling access to software from OpenAI and other AI providers to Microsoft cloud customers, has grown steadily; such revenue is on track to exceed US$13 billion in annualized sales in the current quarter, up from less than US$10 billion three months ago. Microsoft shares fell 3% in after-hours trading after falling 2% earlier this week during a broader tech stock selloff. Azure revenue rose 31% in the fourth quarter, compared to 33% growth in the prior quarter. Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood previously warned of the possibility of such a slowdown, which she said would be due to constraints Microsoft has faced in adding more servers rather than from a lack of customer demand. Such constraints have irked OpenAI, which previously exclusively relied on Microsoft servers to develop its AI but is increasingly working with Oracle. Microsoft expects Azure to grow between 31% to 32% in the current quarter, Hood said Wednesday, which would be either flat or 1% growth—a more muted forecast than the “acceleration” in 2025 that Hood told investors to expect in October. Microsoft has said that in the 12 months ending June of this year, it will spend US$80 billion on capital expenditures, in large part to build more data centers for Azure servers, up from US$53 billion the year prior. That’s more than 25% of its projected revenue for the 12 months ending in June. Revenue in the business unit that includes Microsoft’s Office 365 software grew 14% to US$29.4 billion, a slightly faster rate of growth than the quarter prior. But Microsoft didn’t break out how much of that growth came from its AI-infused 365 Copilot software. https://tinyurl.com/4zb5256z

Meta’s revenue rises 21% in the fourth quarter.

Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, on Wednesday reported 21% higher fourth-quarter revenue of US$48 billion, slightly faster growth than the previous quarter. But the company projected a sharp slowdown in revenue growth for the first quarter, to between 8% and 15%. At the same time, Meta projected that operating expenses would rise as much as 25% to between US$114 billion and US$119 billion in 2025, compared with US$95 billion in 2024. That’s in addition to a projected increase in capital expenditures of as much as 67%, to between US$60 billion and US$65 billion, from US$39 billion in 2024. Meta said its operating expenses would rise as the company builds more data centers for artificial intelligence and hires more “technical talent” in infrastructure, AI, monetization, augmented and virtual reality and regulation and compliance. Meta did not say it expected operating losses for Reality Labs, its AR and VR unit, to increase, as it had in previous quarters. Last year, the unit posted an operating loss of nearly US$18 billion, up from a loss of US$16 billion in 2023. Separately, Meta has agreed to pay US$25 million to settle a lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump in 2021 after the company suspended his Facebook and Instagram accounts following attacks on the U.S. Capitol that year, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. https://tinyurl.com/2p8yvcuv

ASML shares jump as surge in orders defies fears of DeepSeek hitting AI chip demand.

Dutch semiconductor giant ASML on Wednesday reported a big jump in fourth-quarter net bookings, suggesting strong demand for its advanced chipmaking tools even as DeepSeek’s low-cost model raises concerns over AI spending. ASML shares surged as much as 11% during morning deals, but later pared gains later in the day to close 5.6% higher. ASML said that net bookings, a key indicator of order demand, came in at 7.09 billion euros. That was up 169% from the 2.63 billion euros ASML reported in the third quarter, and exceeded the 3.99 billion euros expected by analysts polled by Visible Alpha, according to Reuters. The semiconductor equipment maker also said that its 2025 full-year sales outlook remains unchanged from its previous guidance of between 30 billion and 35 billion euros of total revenue. ASML had an order backlog of approximately 36 billion euros at the end of 2024, CFO Roger Dassen said in a transcript of a video interview. ASML suffered losses during a global tech sell-off earlier in the week after the rollout of Chinese startup DeepSeek’s R1 reasoning model, which claims to undercut OpenAI on both cost and performance. The move triggered questions over eyewatering spending from the likes of leading AI players OpenAI and Microsoft on Nvidia graphics processing units, which are needed to train and run the most advanced AI models. https://tinyurl.com/39zhy8k7

Tesla fourth-quarter results miss estimates as automotive revenue drops 8%.

Tesla reported earnings and revenue for the fourth quarter that missed analysts’ estimates. The stock initially fell in after-hours trading before rebounding. Tesla’s earnings report follows a steep rally in the company’s stock price tied to the election of President Donald Trump. Tesla CEO Elon Musk was the biggest backer of Trump’s campaign efforts and is now leading the president’s new government efficiency advisory board. The company’s stock price has rallied sharply since Trump’s victory in November as investors bet that Musk’s influence would lead to both favorable policies and less oversight of his companies. Musk has been telling investors in recent quarters to focus less on the core business as it exists today and more on a future of autonomy and robotics. In October, Tesla drummed up excitement among fans by showing off an early prototype version of a Cybercab at its “We, Robot” event. However, Tesla still does not produce robotaxis. Instead, the company sells a premium version of its partially automated driving system called FSD, short for Full Self-Driving (Supervised). Meanwhile, Google’s Waymo has a growing commercial robotaxi offering in some U.S. markets, and China’s WeRide and Pony.ai are testing and commercially operating driverless ride-hailing services. While Tesla did not give specific guidance for this year, the company said, “we expect the vehicle business to return to growth in 2025.” It also reiterated plans to “unlock an unsupervised FSD option” eventually and said it expects to “begin launching” its driverless ride-hailing business “later this year in parts of the U.S.” Musk said in the opening remarks of Tesla’s earnings call that the company would be “launching unsupervised Full Self-Driving as a paid service” in Austin in June. https://tinyurl.com/ypd2c4dn

Intel revenue fell 7% but cost cuts trimmed losses.

Intel on Thursday said revenue fell 7% to $14.3 billion in the fourth quarter, but the result meant the chip maker’s performance was in line with the best-case scenario the company had projected three months earlier. Its US$126 million net loss in the quarter was also many times lower than what the company had earlier projected, a result that Interim Co-CEO David Zinsner attributed to major cost-cutting efforts. For its current quarter, Intel expects sales of US$11.7 billion to US$12.7 billion, which would represent a decline between 11% and 18%. Still, the results soothed investors in the beleaguered firm, boosting its stock 4% in after-hours trading. Intel shares are down more than 50% in the past year as its results worsened and losses mounted in its chip foundry unit, prompting its board of directors to push out CEO Pat Gelsinger and consider merger or sale possibilities. Zinsner told analysts Intel is making “progress” in its search for a new CEO but hasn’t made its decision. The company has had “good engagement” with President Trump and other members of his administration, he said. “I feel really good about their outlook on bringing semiconductor manufacturing back to the U.S.,” he said, without elaborating. The comments suggested Intel might continue to receive funding under the CHIPS and Science Act. Intel has received nearly $8 billion in direct funding so far, but President Trump has previously said he might repeal the law and instead use tariffs to get foreign chip makers to move their operations to the U.S. https://tinyurl.com/3cmnc97n

Nvidia short bets rake in over US$6 billion in profits after DeepSeek panic.

Short sellers of artificial intelligence-related stocks raked in bumper profits after the smashing debut of low-cost AI models from China’s DeepSeek spooked Wall Street, with bets against Nvidia yielding record profits totaling more than US$6 billion. Traders betting against AI-darling Nvidia earned profits of about US$6.6 billion – the biggest single-day move ever on the stock – according to data analytics firm Ortex. Nvidia saw US$593 billion wiped off, opens new tab its market value on Monday, in the biggest single-session loss ever for any company, after Chinese startup DeepSeek launched AI models that it said are at par or better than industry-leading models in the United States, at a fraction of the cost. Short sellers of chipmaker Broadcom also earned more than US$2 billion in profits. Other AI-related stocks, such as server-maker Super Micro, data-center operator Equinix and energy provider Vistra, also witnessed heavy losses on Monday, giving investors betting against these firms combined profits of more than US$900 million, according to Ortex. https://tinyurl.com/yc8n6krp

Meta considers testing Chinese AI models in its generative AI tools for advertisers.

Meta Platforms is considering testing DeepSeek, the Chinese artificial intelligence models that have upended the AI industry and stock market, in its generative AI tools for advertisers, according to a Meta employee. Meta’s move to consider DeepSeek for its products is surprising because the company has invested heavily in its own AI models, dubbed Llama. But it reflects Meta’s fears about falling behind in AI, which has prompted the company to assign four groups of researchers to dissect DeepSeek and apply lessons to Llama. Both DeepSeek and Llama are open-source, meaning their code is free to use and visible to others. Leaders including Clara Shih, vice president of business AI, have said Meta is considering testing DeepSeek because of the models’ high performance, the Meta employee said. “We regularly work to understand all available models,” a spokesperson for Meta said in a statement. The text- and image-generation tools offered to advertisers on Meta’s social media apps are now powered by a version of Llama. Some advertisers have complained to Meta about the accuracy of these tools and said that they had to rewrite or edit AI-generated copy, the Meta employee said. https://tinyurl.com/yduryhxc

OpenAI believes DeepSeek was developed using OpenAI models.

OpenAI has found evidence that the Chinese firm behind DeepSeek, a powerful new open-source artificial intelligence, developed the AI using information generated by OpenAI’s models, according to OpenAI employees. Firms such as OpenAI forbid such practices, known as AI model distillation, but they are rampant in the industry. With distillation, a developer asks existing AI models lots of questions and uses the answers to develop new models that mimic their performance. This shortcut results in models that roughly approximate state-of-the-art models but don’t cost a lot to produce. OpenAI said last year it would not sell access to its models directly to customers based in China, while Microsoft has continued to resell OpenAI models through its Azure cloud service to Chinese customers. A Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment on whether DeepSeek was using OpenAI models through Azure. https://tinyurl.com/374kcf9u

Apple works with SpaceX to support Starlink on iPhones.

Apple plans to make iPhones compatible with SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service, which works in remote areas that don’t have reliable terrestrial networks, Bloomberg reported. Apple has been working with SpaceX and T-Mobile to add support for Starlink to its latest iPhone software upate, according to the report. The latest version of Apple’s iPhone software, which was released Monday, supports Starlink’s technology. T-Mobile has been testing Starlink’s satellite-to-mobile service on Android phones, and the beta service is now available for iPhones with the latest software. https://tinyurl.com/4ym68pwz

Boom’s XB-1 becomes first civil aircraft to go supersonic.

Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 demonstrator plane just went supersonic in the skies over California’s Mojave Desert, making it the first civil aircraft to break the sound barrier. The American startup’s plane notched the historic achievement in its 12th test flight. It cleared Mach 1 and stayed supersonic for around four minutes, reaching Mach 1.1. Test pilot Tristan Brandenburg broke the sound barrier two more times before receiving the call to bring the XB-1 back to the Mojave Air & Space Port. The supersonic flight comes eight years after Boom first revealed the XB-1. It’s a small, roughly one-third scale version of the 64-passenger airliner Boom eventually wants to build, which it calls Overture. Boom CEO Blake Scholl wrote in a post on X over the weekend that “[m]uch work remains to scale up to Overture.” That includes firing up the Overture’s engine for the first time, which Boom hopes to do later this year. If and when the company can build it, Overture already has customers in waiting: American and Japan Airlines have all placed orders for the proposed supersonic aircraft. https://tinyurl.com/3rv7s3u4

Trump says he will likely make decision on TikTok in 30 days.

President Donald Trump said Saturday that he is in talks with many people about buying TikTok and will likely make a decision on the video app’s future in 30 days, Reuters reported. Trump made those remarks while talking to reporters on Air Force One during a flight to Florida, according to Reuters. Earlier in the day, National Public Radio reported that the Trump administration is discussing a deal for TikTok that involves Oracle and other investors. But Trump told the reporters on Air Force One that he wasn’t working with Oracle on a deal, according to Reuters. Trump’s comments come as TikTok’s fate in the U.S. remains uncertain. The president on Monday signed an executive order to delay the enforcement of the federal law that forces a sale or ban of TikTok, saying he would make a deal to allow the app to continue operating in the U.S. But any deal for TikTok would require approval from the Chinese government, which has a say in what the app’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, can accept. https://tinyurl.com/4t4dw8v9

Trump vows to impose tariffs on foreign-made chips.

President Donald Trump said Monday that he plans to impose import tariffs on specific sectors including semiconductors and pharmaceuticals “in the very near future.” Trump, who was speaking at a congressional Republican retreat in Miami, said he wants to bring the production of essential goods such as chips back to the U.S. “They left us and they went to Taiwan … and we want them to come back,” Trump said, referring to chip manufacturers. Such tariffs, if implemented, could have a significant impact on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s largest chip manufacturer. While the Biden administration previously launched a program to ramp up U.S. domestic chip production by offering subsidies and tax credits, Trump called the program “ridiculous” and proposed tariffs as a way to boost U.S. chip production. https://tinyurl.com/3azzkuev

X seals payments deal with Visa in push toward Musk’s ‘everything app’ goal, source says.

Payments giant Visa and Elon Musk’s X are partnering to offer direct payment solutions to customers of the social media app, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. The deal comes as the billionaire continues his efforts to transform the X platform into an “everything app”, aiming to offer a wide range of services, including messaging, social networking and payments. Visa will be the first partner of the X Money account, under which customers can instantly fund their X wallet and connect their debit cards for peer-to-peer payments, the source said. Customers will also get the option to instantly transfer funds to their bank account from X Money. The digital payments ecosystem in the U.S. has grown rapidly since 2020, driven by the pandemic, which pushed people online and increased the demand for convenient peer-to-peer payments, typically via smartphones. Traditional card networks Visa and rival Mastercard have ramped up investments in the digital payments space and are now competing with tech firms such as PayPal, Block’s Cash App, Apple Pay, and Google Pay for a slice of the lucrative market. Musk, who in April 2022 clinched a US$44 billion deal to buy Twitter and later rebranded it as X, has signaled plans to model it as a “super app”, similar to China’s WeChat. The concept, often described as the Swiss army knife of mobile apps, is popular in Asia, and tech companies across the world have tried to replicate it. “2025 X will connect you in ways never thought possible. X TV, X Money, Grok and more,” X CEO Linda Yaccarino wrote in a post last month. https://tinyurl.com/bdtxumde