July 18, 2026: Tech Sells Off As AI Trade Weakens

Last week, Dow Jones lost 0.9%, S&P 500 fell 1.55%, Nasdaq composite fell, Nasdaq-100 was down 4.1%. Tech sold off again Friday, Nvidia fell as much as 3%, briefly ceding the top market-cap spot to Apple, Meta dropped 5.3%. SpaceX slid below its US$135 IPO price and now trades ~40% off its peak. Netflix shares fell 8% after revenue growth slowed to 13.4% with Q3 guided to 11.7%. IBM fell 25% on a mainframe shortfall. Anthropic is negotiating multi-billion-dollar credit lines ahead of an IPO that could come as soon as September at a US$1 trillion-plus valuation. SK Hynix’s ADRs jumped nearly 20% after a record US$26.5 billion U.S. listing, which Nasdaq says is drawing more foreign issuers; Goldman’s equity underwriting revenue rose 130% to US$985 million. China’s CXMT is seeking US$8.6 billion in Shanghai at ~300x earnings. DeepSeek is raising again weeks after US$7.4 billion. Shein won approval for a Hong Kong IPO. Uber agreed to buy Delivery Hero for US$14.8 billion; Stripe and Advent made an unsolicited US$53 billion bid for PayPal. TSMC added US$100 billion to its U.S. commitment (US$265 billion total) and lifted 2026 capex to US$60–64 billion. Samsung pulled its Yongin fab forward to 2029. Meta is adding US$40 billion to reach 5GW in Louisiana. New York enacted the first statewide data-center moratorium and builders shop multi-billion-dollar stakes. Buffett confirmed he initiated Berkshire’s Alphabet stake. Moonshot’s 2.8-trillion-parameter Kimi K3 topped Claude Fable 5 on a coding leaderboard. OpenAI is building a screenless smart speaker. Nvidia shipped Cosmos 3 Edge for robotics. In Canada, General Fusion debuted on Nasdaq via SPAC. In news pertaining to Sophic clients, Cybeats and Boardwalktech launched equity raises. Kraken insiders bought stock. Intermap partnered with Saudi’s NSG UP42. 01 Quantum tied up with Crypto4A.

Sophic Client Cybeats Technologies Corp. (CYBT-CSE,CYBCF-OTCQB) announces Non-Brokered Private Placement.

Cybeats announced a non-brokered private placement offering of up to 8,823,530 common shares of the Company at a price of C$0.17 per common share for aggregate proceeds of up to C$1,500,000 (the “Private Placement”). The Private Placement is expected to close in the next 30 days. All securities issued pursuant to the Private Placement, including any finder’s warrants and any common shares issuable upon exercise thereof, will be subject to a hold period of four months and one day from the date of closing in accordance with applicable securities laws and the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange. The Company intends to use the proceeds raised from the Private Placement for sales and marketing and general corporate purposes. In connection with the Private Placement, the Company may pay certain eligible finders a cash commission equal to 6% of the gross proceeds raised from subscribers introduced by such finders. The Company may also issue non-transferable finder’s warrants equal to 6% of the number of common shares sold to subscribers introduced by such finders. Each finder’s warrant will entitle the holder to acquire one common share of the Company at an exercise price of C$0.17 per share for a period of one year from the closing date of the Private Placement. https://tinyurl.com/4v7ehs5b

Sophic Client Boardwalktech, Inc. (BWLK-TSXV, BWLKF-OTCQB) announces Non-Brokered Life Offering.

Boardwalktech announced, subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the “TSXV”), that it intends to complete a non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of up to C$1,500,000 (the “Offering”) pursuant to the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption (the “LIFE”) of National Instrument 45-106 – Prospectus Exemptions (“NI 45-106”). The Offering will consist of up to 30,000,000 units of the Company (each, a “Unit”, and collectively the “Units”) at a price of C$0.05 per Unit (the “Offering Price”). Each Unit will be comprised of one Common Share (each, a “Common Share”, and collectively the “Common Shares”) and one Common Share purchase warrant (each, a “Warrant” and collectively the “Warrants”). Each Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to acquire one Common Share at a price of C$0.06 per Common Share for a period of 24 months from the closing date of the Offering. Subject to compliance with applicable regulatory requirements, and in accordance with NI 45-106, the Offering is being made to purchasers resident in Canada pursuant to the LIFE Part 5A of NI 45-106. The securities issued under the Offering will not be subject to a hold period in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws. https://t.co/5pLYFh6uRW

Sophic Client Kraken Robotics (PNG-TSXV, KRKNF-OTC): Insider Buying from CEO and CFO.

Insiders recently purchased 61,500 shares at prices ranging from $6 to $6.18. https://tinyurl.com/4ejbwpe3

Sophic Client Intermap (IMP-TSX, ITMSF-OTC) partners with NSG UP42 to expand access to elevation intelligence in Saudi Arabia.

Intermap T announced a partnership with NSG UP42, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s first national Earth observation data platform. Global demand for geospatial data and location-based intelligence continues to grow as governments and commercial organizations use advanced mapping, terrain analysis and spatial analytics to support infrastructure development, environmental monitoring, urban planning, energy operations and disaster resilience. Industry research projects the geospatial intelligence market to grow from US$37.13 billion in 2025 to US$62.88 billion by 2030, driven by broader adoption of location-based information and AI-supported spatial analysis across public and private organizations. This growth is increasing demand for reliable elevation data that can support decision-making at national scale. High-resolution Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) and Digital Surface Models (DSMs) provide foundational terrain intelligence for users planning infrastructure, assessing flood risk, evaluating land suitability and managing development across complex environments. Through the NSG UP42 platform, users in Saudi Arabia can access Intermap’s advanced DTM and DSM services, which provide detailed 3D representations of terrain and surface features across large geographic areas. These datasets support terrain analysis, spatial planning, infrastructure development and environmental assessment by delivering reliable elevation intelligence for data-driven decision-making. Intermap’s elevation intelligence supports critical planning and development applications across Saudi Arabia, including: Infrastructure planning and route design, Flood risk mapping and water flow analysis, Urban planning and terrain assessment, Oil and gas route and site planning, Environmental analysis and land assessment. By integrating Intermap’s elevation data into the NSG UP42 marketplace, the platform expands access to advanced Earth observation capabilities through a single, unified interface. The partnership supports NSG UP42’s mission to build a scalable, comprehensive Earth observation marketplace for Saudi Arabia while helping users apply reliable terrain intelligence to infrastructure, environmental and national development initiatives. Learn more about Intermap’s elevation data products available through the NSG UP42 platform here. https://t.co/bMQOkcF2m9

Sophic Client 01 Quantum Inc (ONE-TSXV, OONEF-OTCQB) announces strategic partnership with Crypto4A Technologies Inc. to accelerate PQC adoption.

01 Quantum announced that, effective July 13, 2026, it has entered into a strategic partnership with Crypto4A Technologies Inc. (“Crypto4A”). Together, the companies will collaborate on joint marketing initiatives, customer introductions, and industry engagement to help organizations accelerate their transition to quantum-safe security infrastructure through complimentary software and hardware solutions. Under this partnership, the companies will work together to identify opportunities where their complimentary expertise can help organizations modernize their cryptographic infrastructure. By combining 01 Quantum’s quantum-resilient technologies with Crypto4A’s quantum-safe Hardware Security Modules (QxHSM™) and QxVault™ secrets management platform, the companies will jointly support customer education through webinars, events, white papers, case studies, and other collaborative initiatives. This partnership enhances 01 Quantum’s competitive position, and accelerates its go-to-market strategy. Crypto4A recently achieved general availability for QxVault™ (a hardware-integrated secrets vault built on a quantum-safe HSM), and was recognized in two separate 2026 Gartner® Hype Cycles within the Post-Quantum Cryptography category. 01 Quantum’s hands-on experience in the creation of new and conversion of existing enterprise applications to become quantum-resistant provides a holistic end-to-end post-quantum cryptography (PQC) solution when paired with Crypto4A’s quantum-safe Hardware Security Module (QxHSM™) and QxVault products. Andrew Cheung, CEO of 01 Quantum, stated, “The recent U.S. Executive Order has accelerated the timeline for quantum-safe migration, intersecting with a broader cybersecurity modernization wave that Gartner projects will surpass US$200 billion this decade. This creates an immediate, high-value opportunity as governments and regulated industries demand zero-trust infrastructure, HSM modernization, and long-lived data protection. Our collaboration with Crypto4A ensures we offer a complete, future-proof framework built for this multi-year transition” Preparing for the quantum era isn’t something organizations can tackle in isolation,” said Bruno Couillard, CEO and Co-Founder of Crypto4A. “Success requires an ecosystem of complementary technologies and trusted partners. By working alongside 01 Quantum, we’re helping organizations better understand how software and hardware work together to build a practical, quantum-safe security foundation. Through joint education and market engagement, we can help accelerate adoption across both public and private sectors.” Growing Urgency: U.S. Executive Order Accelerates Quantum-Safe Migration On June 22, 2026, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order directing U.S. federal agencies to accelerate the adoption of quantum-resistant cryptographic systems, citing the strategic risk posed by adversaries harvesting encrypted data today for future decryption once quantum capabilities mature. The order requires agencies to migrate high-value federal systems to PQC standards, establishing strict implementation deadlines for key establishment by 2030 and digital signatures by 2031.This Executive Order has further intensified global attention on quantum-safe readiness, including concerns by the Canadian government, financial institutions, and critical-infrastructure operators, many of whom maintain cross-border systems or U.S. regulatory exposure. https://t.co/xYpXnfilsh

General Fusion “pleased” with public-market debut after redemption-heavy SPAC deal.

On Monday, Richmond, BC-based General Fusion became the first nuclear fusion company to go public. The company debuted on the public markets days after merging with the Nasdaq-listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. III (Spring Valley). Listed as $GFUZ on the Nasdaq, the stock opened Monday at US$12.80 per share; it has continued to hover around that number, but has hit highs of nearly US$15. https://tinyurl.com/32xz3pu8

InsideDesk closes US$12.6 million to grow its dental payment management platform.

Toronto-based dental-focused technology startup InsideDesk has secured US$12.6 million in growth financing to expand its team and invest in AI. InsideDesk sells revenue cycle management (RCM) software to companies that contract with dental practices. It aims to help those dental service organizations (DSOs), which manage the non-clinical, business side of dentistry for groups of practices, collect payment from insurance firms faster with less manual effort. InsideDesk announced the all-primary capital financing on Wednesday. It was led by new Vancouver-based backer Pender Ventures, which focuses on healthtech and business-to-business tech startups, typically coming in at or around the Series A stage. Existing Toronto investors Round13 Capital and Graphite Ventures supported the round, which included both equity funding and “a small portion” of venture debt. The 36-person startup plans to invest in AI, automation, and key hires. https://tinyurl.com/3cwurxsk

Tech stocks drop sharply again.

Tech stocks dropped sharply again on Friday, reflecting continuing negative sentiment about the risks for companies that are relying on AI for growth. Moonshot AI’s release of its latest AI model which outdoes most other leading models also appeared to fuel the selloff. The Nasdaq-100 index was down 1.8% late morning, Eastern time. Among the worst hit was Elon Musk’s SpaceX, whose shares fell 5% to US$124, about $11 below its IPO price. Meta Platforms shares were also badly hit, down 5.3%. Nvidia shares fell as much as 3%, briefly surrendering its no. 1 position in market capitalization to Apple, before recovering slightly. As of late Friday morning, Nvidia was worth about US$4.96 trillion, while Apple was worth US$4.903 trillion. https://tinyurl.com/4x4yjspk

Anthropic in talks to add billions to bank credit line ahead of IPO.

Anthropic is in talks with banks to arrange credit lines worth a few billions of dollars in a move that would increase its access to cash ahead of a planned initial public offering this year, according to people familiar with the matter. The new loans would build on the US$2.5 billion, five-year revolving credit facility Anthropic received last year from banks. Companies often expand that type of capacity ahead of an IPO, with many of the banks also working as underwriters on the offering. SpaceX, for instance, increased its credit facility with several of its IPO bankers about a month before its June public offering. The credit facility is among a flurry of measures Anthropic is taking in the run-up to a public offering. It could take place as soon as this September, though Anthropic hasn’t formally decided on the timing and could choose to delay it, according to people close to the deal. Anthropic could target a valuation of US$1 trillion or more in its IPO, said the people. The maker of Claude will meet public investors in testing-the-water meetings in coming weeks, according to a person familiar with the plans. These meetings typically come before a company unveils its IPO paperwork publicly and allows companies to gauge investors’ interest on the size of the offering and the valuation they can seek in the IPO. Bloomberg earlier reported on the planned meetings. https://tinyurl.com/3xn9z6w8

Nasdaq says SK Hynix bonanza opens path to more foreign listings.

Nasdaq Inc. President Nelson Griggs said SK Hynix Inc.’s blockbuster listing is spurring other international companies to consider the US for either initial public offerings or the sales of American depositary receipts. Fresh off a trip to Europe that included meetings with companies, Griggs said Friday that foreign issuers interested in the US market can be grouped into two buckets: Early-stage companies that have not yet listed anywhere, and established firms with existing local listings that are considering adding ADRs. “We’re having more of those conversations than ADR-type listings, but both have a lot of momentum behind them,” Griggs said in a Bloomberg Television interview, moments after Hynix’s ADRs began trading. The ADRs surged almost 20% in intraday trading above their offering price, after the South Korean chipmaker raised US$26.5 billion in the largest-ever US listing by a foreign company. He declined to comment when asked about a potential US listing by SK Hynix competitor Samsung Electronics Co., saying that Nasdaq doesn’t discuss prospective deals until they become public. Still, a successful offering on SK Hynix’s scale “does open up the eyes of others to say, ‘does this makes sense for us?’” https://tinyurl.com/trp82dej

SpaceX IPO lifts Wall Street ECM revenue to best since 2021.

Wall Street’s biggest investment banks hauled in the most revenue from advising on equity offerings in the second quarter since 2021, fueled by SpaceX’s record-setting IPO and a fundraising blitz for artificial intelligence infrastructure. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. led the results for the biggest US banks, disclosing equity underwriting revenue of US$985 million for the quarter ended June 30, a 130% surge from the same period a year ago. The bank had the lead-left position on SpaceX’s IPO prospectus cover, and led an US$85 billion-plus equity financing for Alphabet Inc. https://tinyurl.com/vt82n9zn

China memory chipmaker CXMT seeks US$8.6 billion in Shanghai IPO.

ChangXin Memory Technologies, China’s leading memory-chip maker, expects to raise at least 57.9 billion yuan (US$8.6 billion) in its Shanghai initial public offering, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday, moving ahead with what is set to be the biggest tech listing in China’s domestic stock market. The offering values CXMT at about 579 billion yuan (US$86 billion), more than 300 times its net profit last year. The company plans to use the proceeds to upgrade its production lines and manufacturing technology, according to the company’s prospectus. The fundraising has been bolstered by a global memory shortage and Beijing’s push for semiconductor self-sufficiency. Apple is hoping to tap CXMT as a potential alternative supplier, after the rising prices in memory chips pushed the iPhone maker to hike prices on some of its devices. Apple has asked the U.S. government for assurances that Washington won’t impose restrictions that would prevent it from buying CXMT chips, the Financial Times reported. The Pentagon has previously designated CXMT a Chinese military company, which bars Defense Department contracts but doesn’t prohibit Apple from using it as a supplier. Two U.S. lawmakers this week urged the Trump administration to reject efforts to facilitate purchases of Chinese memory chips, consider adding CXMT to the Commerce Department’s blacklist and restrict US companies from sourcing components from designated Chinese suppliers. CXMT makes Dynamic Random Access Memory, which allows phones, computers and servers to access data while running programs. It also produces High-Bandwidth Memory, a critical component for AI processors, which Washington restricts from selling to China. The company is winning increasing memory orders from Chinese tech companies including Alibaba, ByteDance and Tencent as the AI boom tightens global supplies, The Information reported. https://tinyurl.com/32hctyvy

DeepSeek plots another funding round, weeks after raising US$7.4 billion.

DeepSeek is planning to raise funding again, weeks after its first fundraising closed, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The Chinese AI lab raised 50 billion yuan (US$7.4 billion) a month ago at a post-money valuation of more than US$50 billion. DeepSeek made a rare public announcement about a hiring spree, planning to at least double the headcount in every department, after the initial fundraising. DeepSeek had long been resistant to venture capital and external funding, but changed its attitude in April after seeing how Anthropic achieved breakthroughs with Mythos, The Information reported. https://tinyurl.com/mppechkf

Shein wins chinese regulatory approval for Hong Kong IPO.

Online fashion retailer Shein received Chinese regulatory approval to list in Hong Kong, capping off the e-commerce platform’s tumultuous two-year quest to float its shares. The China Securities Regulatory Commission said in a statement on Friday that it had approved Shein’s application to sell not more than 341.6 million shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The approval is valid for 12 months. If Shein doesn’t list in 12 months, it must submit an updated application. Before the bid to list in Hong Kong, China-founded Shein first sought to go public in New York in 2024, then London. Both attempts failed amid mounting controversies over the company’s labor practices, allegations of copyright infringement and other thorny issues. https://tinyurl.com/ycxpsbnh

TSMC plans another US$100 billion U.S. investment as AI demand surges.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company said on Thursday it will invest an additional US$100 billion in the U.S., deepening its pledge to manufacture the world’s most advanced chips in Arizona as demand for AI infrastructure surges. The expansion will add at least four chip plants and advanced-packaging facilities, bringing TSMC’s announced U.S. investment to US$265 billion. The new factories will use 2-nanometer or more advanced technology, CEO C.C. Wei said, without giving a timeline for the construction, which he said will depend on market demand. The U.S. expansion is part of TSMC’s broader increase in spending to meet demand from customers including Nvidia and Apple. TSMC raised its 2026 capital expenditure forecast to US$60 billion to US$64 billion from US$52 billion to US$56 billion, while lifting its projected revenue growth in U.S. dollar terms to slightly above 40% from more than 30%. The company reported revenue in the second quarter rose 33.7% to US$40.2 billion from a year ago, while net income jumped 77.4% to about US$22 billion. Wei said customers were pressing TSMC to expand capacity, while inflation had increased the cost of chipmaking equipment. TSMC is pushing back against proposed price increases from ASML, its main supplier of the lithography machines used to make advanced chips. https://tinyurl.com/mu8apehb

Uber to buy Germany’s Delivery Hero for around US$14 billion.

Uber has agreed to buy all of German food-delivery firm Delivery Hero in a deal that values the company at US$14.8 billion. But Uber won’t have to pay all of that as it already owns about 25%, including a big stake bought in May. The acquisition sharply expands Uber’s food-delivery presence globally, as Delivery Hero has operations in Asia, Latin America as well as Asia, although it will sell its operations in some markets where it competes with Uber. Delivery Hero had US$17.2 billion in revenue last year, which is about the same as Uber’s food-delivery revenue for 2025. Uber said the deal would increase the number of markets where it offers both car services and delivery to 58 markets, from 34. The deal reflects a growing interest by U.S. based delivery firms in Europe. Uber’s main rival in food delivery, DoorDash, has made two big acquisitions in Europe, most recently of Deliveroo. https://tinyurl.com/4s7fjamn

Stripe, Advent made joint offer to buy PayPal.

Stripe and private equity firm Advent International made an unsolicited joint offer to buy PayPal at US$60.50 per share, valuing the company at more than US$53 billion, Reuters reported late Tuesday. Stripe and Advent haven’t received a response from PayPal, and there’s no certainty the offer will result in a transaction, Reuters said. The offer price represents a premium of 28% to PayPal’s closing price on Tuesday. PayPal shares jumped 16% to US$54.98 per share as of Monday midday. PayPal shares have fallen 80% in the past five years from its pandemic-era e-commerce high, due to competition and slowing growth. In March, it appointed a new CEO, Enrique Lores, a board member of PayPal and former HP CEO, replacing Alex Chriss. In April, it reorganized its business into three units, covering checkout, consumer financial services Venmo, and payments and crypto. Stripe-PayPal deal, if completed, could create the world’s largest merchant acquirer and give Stripe more direct consumer relationships. https://tinyurl.com/ypj5fsev

Warren Buffett tells CNBC he initiated Berkshire Hathaway’s investment in Alphabet.

Warren Buffett said he — not Berkshire Hathaway’s new CEO, Greg Abel — was the driving force behind the conglomerate’s recent big investment in Alphabet. “I initiated it,” Buffett said in an interview with CNBC’s Becky Quick, offering his first public explanation of how the conglomerate came to make Alphabet one of its largest technology holdings. Berkshire first disclosed a stake in Alphabet during the third quarter of 2025 and has since expanded the holding. Earlier this year, the conglomerate also participated in a US$10 billion private placement by Alphabet to help fund the company’s artificial intelligence infrastructure. Buffett, 95, noted while being a sizable holding, Alphabet wasn’t among his very favorite businesses owned by Berkshire. “I would say that I don’t like it as well as at least four or five other businesses that we own,” he said. Buffett also pointed to the enormous capital commitments required to compete in AI as a key issue facing the tech giant and its rivals. “The real question with Google and all of its competitors now, because they’re all laying out hundreds of billions, and that’s real money,” Buffett said. “That’s the game they’re playing now. They weren’t playing that game with computer software.” https://tinyurl.com/57n67pbr

Investors cut back bets on Asian chipmakers after blistering rally.

Investors are cutting back bets on Asia’s chipmakers, as a US$1.8 trillion rally that propelled them into the ranks of the world’s biggest companies starts to unwind amid anxiety about their dominance of emerging-market indices. Fidelity International and BlackRock are among fund firms harbouring concerns over the sustainability of a bull run in stocks such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp, South Korea’s SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, which are crucial suppliers in the race among US hyperscalers for AI chips and data centres. The trio has together nearly doubled in market value over the past six months and now accounts for about 29 per cent of the broad MSCI Emerging Markets index, more than most individual countries, despite a recent sell-off in SK Hynix and Samsung. The three stocks, which all have a market capitalisation of about US$1 trillion or more, have dominated gains in emerging markets so far in 2026, as shortages push up chip prices. Their weighting in the MSCI EM index, which is tracked by many developing market investors, is now nearly triple that of all its Indian stocks, with SK Hynix’s weighting alone larger than Brazil and South Africa combined. While the MSCI gauge is up about 19 per cent so far this year, it has fallen back from its peak as some investors start to take profits and move back into more traditional developing markets that are less correlated to the AI trade. Korea’s market has fallen by more than a fifth from its June high, even as SK Hynix, which raised US$26.5 billion on its Nasdaq debut last week, joined Samsung in posting record profits for the start of the year. Foreigners have already sold US$100 billion in Korean stocks this year, hitting the won’s value against the dollar, as some investors reach typical thresholds for portfolio concentration limits. Active managers often cannot devote more than 10 per cent of a fund to a single stock, or — for US tax purposes — put more than half of a fund in stocks with individual weights over 5 per cent. https://tinyurl.com/bdzdkty5

Citadel data shows retail inflows hit near record highs despite option fatigue.

Retail investors are continuing to pour money into US equities at one of the fastest paces on record, even as signs of dip-buying fatigue are starting to surface. So far in July, individual investors have not recorded a single net selling day on Citadel Securities’ retail cash equities platform, according to data compiled by Scott Rubner, head of equity derivatives strategy. Average daily net buying is running about 3.2 times the historical monthly average, making July the second strongest for retail inflows since January 2020. And while retail investors remain net buyers of call options, their appetite for bullish bets is starting to moderate. A Citadel gauge of calls versus bearish puts shows the ratio has fallen to its weakest level since late March, suggesting investors are increasingly purchasing downside protection rather than simply chasing upside. The sudden shift away from the buy-the-dip ethos that has characterized much of the current bull market is most evident in technology. Retail investors sold semiconductor and hardware shares during the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index’s most recent declines. Still, selloffs have been followed by sharp rebounds in chip stocks. https://tinyurl.com/2j97356e

SpaceX shares drop below IPO price.

Shares of SpaceX fell below their June initial public offering price of US$135 on Wednesday, and are now trading around 40% below their peak hit last month. Shares of the rocket ship company rose during its first few days of trading but have steadily declined since then. The stock was last trading around US$134. The declines have continued after SpaceX joined the Nasdaq 100 index earlier this month. Several Wall Street firms, including UBS, have given the stock buy ratings and set price targets above its current share price. https://tinyurl.com/4zja4wvw

Netflix reports slowing revenue growth for Second Quarter.

Netflix’s quarterly revenue growth slowed several points to 13.4%, fractionally below what it had projected, and the video streaming giant projected a further slowing to 11.7% growth in the third quarter. Shares of the company fell 8% in after-hours trading, to US$68.40, its lowest point in two years, reflecting investor concerns about the company’s slowing growth. Netflix also narrowed its full year revenue projection to around 13%, compared with 15.8% in 2025. Netflix’s geographic breakdown shows that North America revenue grew just 10% in the quarter, down four points from the previous quarter. Europe, Latin America and Asia are all growing much faster. The company reported 11% higher operating income of US$4.2 billion. https://tinyurl.com/npbtuak8

IBM stock drops 25% as Mainframe business suffers.

IBM stock shed 25% on Tuesday, as the firm reported a shortfall in purchases of its mainframe computers resulting from customers shifting spending towards other hardware affected by AI-driven price increases. IBM said infrastructure revenue tied to sales of its mainframes, or supersized computers used by enterprises such as financial institutions to process credit card transactions, fell 7% from the previous year, more than the low single digit decline the company previously expected. IBM is scheduled to report June quarter earnings on July 22, but it gave a preview of its results on Tuesday, as companies often do when the outcome varies significantly from what they have previously projected. Overall, IBM said it plans to report revenue for the quarter rising 1% from the previous year to US$17.2 billion, while earnings per share fell 2% to US$2.27. The firm said software revenue rose 5% in the June quarter, a deceleration from the segment’s 11% growth during the March quarter. IBM shares hit an all-time high above $330 in June but stood around $217 as of Tuesday’s market close. https://tinyurl.com/ypd8eatb

Samsung races to add chip capacity, moves up plant to 2029.

Samsung Electronics aims to begin operations at its first chipmaking plant in the city of Yongin, south of Seoul, by 2029, bringing the timeline forward by up to two years, according to a Samsung spokesperson. The move comes amid a surging demand for memory chips and the AI infrastructure boom. The facility, part of South Korea’s planned Yongin National Industrial Complex, was previously expected to come online between 2030 and 2031. The earlier start will enable Samsung to respond more quickly to rapidly growing global demand for AI chips. The plan is part of a broader push unveiled last month, under which the chipmaker pledged to invest 2,030 trillion won (US$1.35 trillion) to expand its major semiconductor manufacturing hubs at Pyeongtaek and Yongin. It also plans to invest 400 trillion won (US$265 billion) in two new semiconductor fabs in the southwestern city of Gwangju. The investments anchor South Korea’s “three mega projects” initiative, which also include robotics and AI data centers. https://tinyurl.com/45h554bw

Data-Center builders are racing to offload stakes worth billions.

America’s data-center developers are ready to cash in on the AI boom. Data-center builders and operators across the U.S. are working with bankers to sell majority equity stakes worth tens of billions of dollars in their companies this summer, according to people familiar with the efforts. Bankers are working to sell stakes in firms including Netrality Data Centers, DataBank, Edged, EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure and others with properties located from Phoenix to Atlanta. They are pitching private-equity firms on a hot asset class benefiting from unrelenting demand for computing power. Sales of data-center operators are on the rise as owners of these firms seek exits and investor interest in owning the physical infrastructure behind advanced artificial intelligence grows. A massive backlog of demand for server capacity pushed companies to pursue novel strategies to secure more of it, from renting chips from direct competitors to launching data centers into orbit. Shortages of everything from electricians and plumbers to gas turbines and memory chips have driven the cost of building new data centers ever higher. Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang recently estimated the cost of building a gigawatt of new computing power using his company’s architecture could soon reach US$80 billion to US$100 billion. Some operators have been forced to seek deeper-pocketed backers to fund their next phase of expansion, according to several people working on the deals. Among the largest potential deals in the works is the sale of a majority stake in Dallas-based DataBank, which could reach as much as US$25 billion, according to people with knowledge of the process. DataBank is owned by a consortium led by DigitalBridge that also includes Swiss Life, EDF Invest and Australian pension fund AustralianSuper. EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure, a Denver-based data-center developer and operator of data centers for large cloud providers, asked potential buyers to submit offers last week, according to a person with direct knowledge. EdgeCore is owned by Partners Group, a Swiss private investment firm that has poured billions into the company to support expansions in Virginia, Arizona and other markets. https://tinyurl.com/3wvwfm5y

Meta doubles Louisiana data center capacity.

Meta Platforms said Monday it will invest an additional US$40 billion to more than double the planned computing capacity of its Louisiana data center to five gigawatts from the two gigawatts originally announced in 2024. The data center was already Meta’s largest computing facility. Five gigawatts is a significantly large amount of capacity, and is 100 times more than what a traditional data center typically consumes. The expansion highlights Meta’s push to secure more computing power to fuel its AI ambitions. Meta previously announced that it was investing more than US$10 billion to build its data center in Louisiana. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the company’s infrastructure build out over the coming years to support its AI ambitions. The project has secured external financing from investors including Blue Owl Capital. To power the campus, Entergy Louisiana plans to build seven new natural gas-fired power plants. https://tinyurl.com/2h3purdv

Smartphone shipments fall to lowest Q2 level in 13 years.

Smartphone shipments around the world fell 11% in the second quarter, Counterpoint Research reported on Monday, which it said was the lowest second quarter levels in 13 years. The research firm attributed the sales drop to rising prices for smartphones caused by higher memory chip costs, which in turn is a result of the AI data center boom squeezing supplies of memory. Manufacturers such as Samsung have raised some prices, while iPhone maker Apple has raised prices for some hardware devices except the iPhone. But Apple is expected to hike iPhone prices when it unveils its next generation in the fall. Despite the price increases, Samsung had the leading market share with 24%, Counterpoint estimated, while Apple’s share rose to 20%. https://tinyurl.com/2w27btrw

Moonshot AI’s new Kimi K3 challenges U.S. frontier models.

Chinese startup Moonshot AI’s latest large language model is sending shockwaves through the global AI industry because of its frontier-level coding capabilities on some benchmarks. The new model, Kimi K3, is stirring debates whether the gap between Chinese open-source and U.S. frontier models labs is fast diminishing or even being closed. K3, unveiled on Thursday, is the world’s largest open-source model on the market, with 2.8 trillion parameters. The model now ranks No. 1 on the Frontend Code Arena coding leaderboard, above Anthropic’s most powerful model, Claude Fable 5. K3 is suitable for handling tasks that involve reasoning and knowledge work, as well as complex coding tasks that require continuous engineering for many hours, Moonshot said. Other leaderboards show that K3 approaches the most advanced U.S. models, but doesn’t quite match them. On Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, a comprehensive benchmark for AI models’ capabilities across maths, science, coding and reasoning, K3 ranks No. 3, behind Fable 5 and OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Sol model, but ahead of Claude Opus 4.8, which was released in May. Earlier this year, Anthropic accused Moonshot and other Chinese AI labs of illicitly distilling Claude models to train and improve their own models. But if K3’s performance actually rivals top Anthropic models as some benchmarks suggest, distillation may no longer explain the rapid advancements of Chinese models. Moonshot’s launch of K3 accelerates the momentum of China’s open-source AI models, which are expanding rapidly by offering increasingly strong performance at much lower prices compared to U.S. proprietary models from Anthropic and OpenAI. Among other Chinese competitors, Beijing-based Zhipu AI’s GLM-5.2 model, released last month, has also gained popularity among developers around the world. https://tinyurl.com/42etb6vk

OpenAI’s first device will be movable, screenless speaker built as AI companion.

OpenAI’s much-anticipated push into consumer devices is slated to begin with a mobile, screen-free smart speaker designed to be a new type of home computer for the AI era, according to people familiar with the matter. The product — still under development — is meant to serve as a humanlike AI companion that lives in the home, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the project hasn’t been announced. It will help control smart-home appliances, play media, answer questions, respond to messages and tap into the range of capabilities offered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, they said. The device represents a critical next step for OpenAI, a top developer of AI models that is poised for an initial public offering in the coming months. The move will vault the company into deeper competition with the likes of Apple Inc., Amazon and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, and the push has already met some resistance. Apple sued OpenAI last week, accusing the company of stealing trade secrets. But OpenAI believes that the device veers significantly from anything Apple has on the market today and that it’s unlikely that it violates trade secrets belonging to the iPhone maker, the people said. Shares of audio-device maker Sonos Inc. tumbled more than 10% in late trading before paring the losses. Apple fell less than 1% to a low of US$313.52. OpenAI’s success in hardware will hinge on bringing a novel approach to the market — something it aims to do with the smart speaker. For instance, the device’s technology is meant to become increasingly personalized and proactive as it gains a deeper understanding of its owner over time, according to the people. OpenAI envisions the device anticipating needs, surfacing information proactively and serving as an expert on its user, they said. Though the speaker is designed to stay in the home, it will be easy to move around the house. OpenAI believes the product’s defining feature will be its personality and ability to connect on a humanlike level with users. The speaker incorporates mechanical elements that can move on their own, creating a sense that it is alive and not just an object responding to commands. The machine also will draw on personal information such as emails to better understand its owner. https://tinyurl.com/22zd6tkd

Apple receives China’s approval for AI services powered by Alibaba, Baidu.

Apple has received key approval in China that paves the way for the release of its Apple Intelligence on-device AI service in the country, as the Chinese internet regulator permitted the Apple AI service, along with six other services, under generative AI rules. Apple worked with Chinese internet giants Alibaba Group and Baidu in the development of its AI service for Chinese iPhone users. Other on-device AI models approved by the regulator were from Chinese smartphone makers Huawei, OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi and Nubia, as well as South Korea’s Samsung. An Alibaba spokesperson said Qwen—Alibaba’s AI model—will be integrated into Apple Intelligence across iOS, iPadOS, macOS and visionOS for users in China, giving them access to text and image understanding and generation without switching between tools. A Baidu spokesperson confirmed that the company is also working on Apple Intelligence features for China-based users. In June, Apple introduced the latest Apple Intelligence updates at Worldwide Developers Conference 2026, where it previewed a new generation of Apple Intelligence and a more capable Siri AI with new features. https://tinyurl.com/4w5nvn6j

Microsoft preps Mythos-like AI bug finder.

Microsoft is preparing to release a new AI security product, internally codenamed Project Perception, to capture a piece of companies’ rising cyber defense spending. Set to debut as soon as this month, the product will use a combination of AI models from Anthropic, OpenAI, and Microsoft itself to sniff out software bugs similar to the way Anthropic’s Mythos model does and automatically fix the vulnerabilities, according to someone with direct knowledge of the plans. While Project Perception’s prices haven’t been finalized, Microsoft hopes it can give customers a cost-effective alternative to Anthropic’s Mythos—which is exceptionally expensive—according to the person with knowledge of the plans. Microsoft plans to use a so-called model router that switches between OpenAI, Anthropic, and Microsoft’s models, depending on the type of task, to keep costs lower than if the product could only use one model. In recent months, Anthropic’s development of AI with strong cybersecurity capabilities prompted businesses to seek to protect themselves from hackers that use their own AI to find software exploits. Cybersecurity executives say they’re spending heavily on such tools to reduce the need for human security analysts that traditionally kept tabs on companies’ IT systems to detect and respond to potential hacks. Project Perception is part of an effort by Microsoft’s new security chief, Hayete Gallot, to reinvigorate its security sales and put it on better footing to compete with the likes of Anthropic and OpenAI. Microsoft is the world’s biggest seller of such software, and Gallot, who took over the security org in February, recently overhauled the unit to focus more on AI tools while making cuts to older products. https://tinyurl.com/3jrb9e7z

Nvidia releases new robotics AI model.

Nvidia on Wednesday released a new small, open-source model for “physical” AI that operates in the real world, including for robots. The model, Cosmos 3 Edge, is just 4 billion parameters and can run on a customer’s own computer rather than in a data center. It can act as both a so-called vision language model or a world model, both of which help robots navigate or understand their surroundings. (There’s heated debate in robotics over which type of model is best.) Nvidia also released new versions of its Jetson computer for powering robotics applications, though they are less powerful and have less memory than the prior version. Deepu Talla, Nvidia’s vice president of robotics and edge AI, said that, collectively, 2.5 million developers and 10,000 companies have used Nvidia’s Jetson hardware and Cosmos models. Nvidia’s non-data center revenue streams, which include hardware sales from Jetson, Nvidia’s new PC and gaming card sales made up 8% of its revenue last quarter. https://tinyurl.com/2uwkp6pt

Japan to develop homegrown AI models with Nvidia’s Vera Rubin chips.

Nvidia is working with a recently established Japanese tech consortium to help the country build new computing facilities with its most advanced Rubin chips to develop homegrown AI models. Noetra, a consortium backed by the Japanese government as well as Sony Group, SoftBank, NEC and Honda Motor, plans to build AI computing infrastructure equipped with about 27,500 Rubin graphic processing units and 13,750 Vera central processing units. Neotra said the new facilities will train a reasoning foundational model capable of AI agent and natural language processing, and a multimodal model able to process text, images, video and audio, over the next several years. Nvidia has been forging new partnerships around the world as many countries step up their efforts to build their own domestic AI capabilities to reduce their dependence on the U.S. and China. The movement, known as sovereign AI, has created new business opportunities for chip suppliers like Nvidia. https://tinyurl.com/uw9ywbvm

Trump Administration rolls out AI executive order with ‘Gold Eagle’ program.

On Tuesday, the White House announced the launch of the first program to come out of its early June executive order on AI cybersecurity. The initiative, dubbed Gold Eagle, is a clearinghouse composed of government agencies and companies that allows them to coordinate on cyber vulnerabilities and responses. During a press briefing on Tuesday, a senior White House official lauded the contribution of open-source software providers, though they declined to name the specific companies or organizations that were involved. In response to a reporter’s question about a rumored executive order targeted at curbing Chinese open-source technology, the official stressed the White House’s backing of U.S. firms. “I could not be more clear that we are in full support of the U.S. open source community,” they said. “We will do everything we can to support the strength of that community.” Key sections of the June executive order still need to be hashed out, including a voluntary framework where AI companies can submit their models to the government for review before releasing them to trusted partners and the public. The order stipulates that the framework will be developed within 60 days of its signing on June 2. https://tinyurl.com/ykktxu4m

New York becomes first state to enact data center moratorium.

On Tuesday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order that enacted the first statewide moratorium on data centers in the United States, part of a mounting backlash against the technology at the state and local level. The policy will pause state environmental permits for up to one year for large-scale data centers that consume at least 50 megawatts of energy as New York’s legislature works to advance its own moratorium. “As data center development threatens to hike up utility bills, deplete our natural resources, and create uncertainty for New Yorkers, it’s my responsibility to take action and lead,” Hochul said in a statement. New York is in the top 10 states for operating and planned data centers, according to the Pew Research Center. State lawmakers have worked to enact their own pause, passing a bill last month that would be more far reaching than Hochul’s action, though she has not yet signed it. Data centers have emerged as a hot-button topic for Hochul as she seeks re-election this November, with a recent Siena poll finding that 46% of state voters supported a one-year moratorium. Only 21% of voters opposed the policy. https://tinyurl.com/4u3zjx3w