AnalytixInsight

Last week, Dow Jones fell 0.4%, S&P 500 rose 0.3%, Nasdaq composite fell .2%. Markets had a mixed week, fading mid-week highs. With a few MAG 7 companies reporting Q4, “big tech” remains a story of massive AI capex. Meta forecasted a 73% jump in 2026 capex to US$135 billion. Microsoft’s revenue backlog hit US$625 billion, fueled by a US$281 billion commitment from OpenAI. OpenAI is reportedly eyeing a Q4 IPO to beat Anthropic to market, even as Anthropic scales toward US$18 billion in 2026 revenue. High training (US$12 billion) and inference (US$7 billion) costs have pushed Anthropic’s cash-flow-positive target to 2028. Apple signaled its AI ambitions by acquiring “silent communication” startup Q.ai for ~US$2 billion, following a holiday quarter where iPhone 17 sales drove a 23% revenue jump. SpaceX recorded a US$8 billion profit in 2025 and is reportedly weighing a merger with Tesla or xAI to consolidate assets ahead of a potential US$50 billion IPO. Tesla margins remain under pressure, with net income falling 61% amid a US$2 billion reinvestment into xAI. Fidelity announced its “Fidelity Digital Dollar” (FIDD) to capture the institutional stablecoin market. In Canada, after a four-year new issue drought and high delisting volumes, bankers signal a robust go public pipeline in tech and natural resources. Waabi raised US$1 billion for autonomous trucking and robotaxis. Calian launched a $100 million platform to bolster domestic defence SMBs. Sophic client Legend Power Systems reported Q4 (Sept) Fiscal 2025, which highlighted SmartGATE traction, currently engaged in active sales cycles for 196 buildings in the Commercial Real Estate space. The Company recently closed a Private Placement, raising Gross Proceeds of ~$1.6 million.

Last week, Dow Jones fell 0.5%, S&P 500 was down 0.35%, Nasdaq composite lost 0.1%. Stocks bounced back from lows in a very volatile week. Next week, earnings from Microsoft, Meta, Apple will provide investors insight on where we are in the AI trade. Defense, and AI infrastructure remain the clear winners, for now. Thoma Bravo signaled PE appetite to buy quality software assets amidst the ongoing software valuation reset. The defense sector saw its largest IPO ever with Prague-based Czechoslovak Group (CSG) debuting at a €25 billion valuation. BitGo led the crypto sector’s return to public markets, with its stock opening up 25% on its NYSE debut. OpenAI is reportedly seeking US$50 billion at a valuation nearing US$830 billion, even as OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar notes that revenue—now hitting US$20 billion—is scaling 1:1 with compute consumption. Anthropic reportedly trimmed 2025 gross margin expectations as inference costs came in higher than forecast, underscoring that “AI is a COGS story” as much as a product story. Apple is reportedly developing an AI wearable pin for 2027, and pivoting Siri toward a Google Gemini-backed chatbot. Tesla launched limited unsupervised robotaxi rides in Austin. Blue Origin is targeting the enterprise satellite market with TeraWave, aiming for 6 Tbps speeds by 2027. In Canada, the “sovereign capability” trend is gaining massive traction. General Fusion is set to become the first publicly traded pure-play fusion company via a US$1 billion SPAC deal. Dominion Dynamics secured $21 million to build a Canadian “defence neoprime”. Shopify signaled a shift in commerce, integrating native checkouts into ChatGPT and Gemini, with OpenAI taking a 4% cut of merchant sales. Sophic client, Boardwalktech launched its “Verity” platform, leveraging agentic AI to automate complex financial controls for top-tier banks.

Last week, Dow Jones fell 0.3%, S&P 500 lost 0.4%, and Nasdaq composite declined 0.7%. Chips and small cap stocks did well, while software seems to be out of favor. Risk-on narratives continue to cluster around defence and sovereign capability buildouts, AI infrastructure and specialized compute, and policy-backed industrial capacity in critical materials and semiconductors. Crypto custodian BitGo is eyeing up to US$1.96 billion valuation in its IPO. Chipmaker Cerebras is in talks to raise US$1 billion at a US$22 billion valuation, while also signing a large multi-year compute supply arrangement with OpenAI. OpenAI will acquire healthcare app, Torch in a US$100 million deal. TSMC guided to record 2026 capex as demand outstrips advanced-node capacity, which was positive for the AI Semi trade. AWS has secured a copper supply arrangement with Rio Tinto. Meta said the company has created a new “top-level” effort called Meta Compute to oversee the construction and long term planning for the company’s data center needs. The Pentagon outlined a US$1 billion investment structure to expand rocket motor capacity at L3Harris. Apple will reportedly partner with Google to overhaul Siri. Google will provide “personalized” Gemini integrations. Anthropic unveiled new healthcare features for Claude. OpenAI will start testing ads, and intro a US$8 per month ChatGPT subscription. In Canada, Sophic client Kraken Robotics reported $35 million of SeaPower™ battery sales to three customers, highlighting rising momentum in unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) power systems and Kraken’s ability to scale production. Boardwalktech expanded and extended a joint engagement (with a global IT services partner) supporting a top-five U.S. bank, adding over US$250k of 2026 value. Juno Industries launched with former defence minister Harjit Sajjan as executive chairman and disclosed a $3 million seed round aimed at dual-use autonomous systems. Canada Rocket Company emerged from stealth with a $6.2 million seed round to pursue sovereign launch capability.

Last week, Dow Jones rose 2.3%, S&P 500 was up 1.6%, and Nasdaq composite gained 1.9%. As markets showed broad advances last week, risk appetite in technology and innovation themes remained constructive led by AI infrastructure, quantum, defense-adjacent procurement, and ongoing IPO/funding momentum. News chatter pointed to potential landmark listings for SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic, while Discord filed confidentially for an IPO. Anthropic is reportedly discussing a US$10 billion raise at ~US$350 billion valuation, and xAI announced a US$20 billion raise at a stated US$230 billion valuation. CrowdStrike agreed to acquire identity-security startup SGNL for ~US$740 million. MSCI opted to keep crypto-holding equities in indexes for now (with broader consultation to follow). Samsung flagged rising memory costs amid AI-driven HBM demand. Nvidia unveiled more details on its “Rubin” chip and open-sourced a new autonomous driving model family. Boston Dynamics presented a production-ready Atlas. Microsoft added in-chat checkout to Copilot. JPMorgan is set to take over Apple’s credit card program from Goldman Sachs. Prediction markets expanded further into geopolitics and housing-price contracts. In Canada, Sophic client Cybeats closed a shares-for-debt settlement, $1.2 million of secured debenture obligations were settled via 10.0 million shares issued at a deemed $0.12, subject to a four-month-and-one-day hold. The transaction was treated as a related-party transaction. MDA Space announced an IDIQ contract with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency under the SHIELD program, shares reacted positively to the headline. Vancouver-based Photonic raised $180 million in a first close (now $375 million total raised) as it targets enterprise commercialization of networked quantum computing. D-Wave announced a US$550 million agreement to acquire Quantum Circuits (US$300 million stock, US$250 million cash), aiming to combine gate-model capabilities with D-Wave’s quantum annealing footprint.