November 30, 2025: Good End To A Rough Month

Markets staged a rebound last week, Dow Jones rose 3.2%, S&P 500 gained 3.7%, Nasdaq composite was up 4.9%. Late Thursday/early Friday, CME’s major outage halted trade on its currency platform and in futures spanning foreign exchange, commodities, Treasuries and stocks, freezing a handful of benchmarks as brokers pulled products. The Nvidia and Google pair trade came into focus, as Meta is weighing multi-billion dollar TPU commitments. U.S. policymakers are considering loosening export curbs on Nvidia’s advanced H200 chips to China. Trump’s “Genesis Mission” executive order aims to turbocharge AI-driven research. Amazon committed up to US$50 billion to AI-enabled U.S. government cloud data centers. Black Friday spending is tracking to record highs with AI-aided shopping, according to an early read by Adobe. OpenAI launched a Shopping Research mode. Klarna announced a 2026 USD stablecoin. Robinhood is deepening its move into prediction markets via a new derivatives exchange with Susquehanna. In Asia, Alibaba reported 34% cloud growth, pushed consumer-facing AI (Qwen app, AI glasses), and Pony.ai laid out aggressive robotaxi scaling plans. In news relating to Sophic clients, Legend Power launched a LIFE deal at $0.12 with full warrants at $0.20. Cybeats delivered 47% YoY Q3 revenue growth to ~$0.75 million. Kraken Robotics reported Q3 revenue up 60% to $31.3 million, gross margin expanding to 59%, and adjusted EBITDA nearly doubling. A $115 million equity raise leaves Kraken with $126.6 million in cash to fund expanded manufacturing and marine assets into 2026. Ionik grew Q3 revenue 18% to US$48.9 million with 56% EBITDA growth and strong FCF conversion, while steadily reducing senior debt. Boardwalktech reported 86%+ gross margins, cost cuts, and a path toward EBITDA breakeven as ARR rebuilds. Plurilock improving gross margin and reduced EBITDA losses, and is leaning into higher-margin cyber services and defense/government pipeline to target breakeven in 2026.

Sophic Client Legend Power Systems Inc. (LPS-TSXV, LPSIF-OTC) announces Non-Brokered Private Placement pursuant to the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption.

Legend Power Systems Inc., is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement of a minimum of 11,111,111 units and up to a maximum of 14,186,000 units of the Company (each, a “Unit”) at a price of CAD$0.12 per Unit for aggregate gross proceeds of a minimum of CAD$1,333,333 and up to a maximum of CAD$1,702,320 (the “Offering”). The Offering is being completed pursuant to the amendments to National Instrument 45-106 – Prospectus Exemptions set forth in Part 5A thereof (the “LIFE Exemption”) to purchasers resident in Canada, except Québec, and such other jurisdictions outside of Canada in compliance with applicable securities laws of those jurisdictions. Each Unit will consist 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 will entitle the holder thereof to acquire one additional Common Share at an exercise price of CAD$0.20 per Common Share for a period of 24 months from the date of issuance subject to an accelerated expiry provision, whereby in the event the daily volume weighted average trading price of the Company’s Common Shares on the TSX Venture Exchange, or such other stock exchange where the majority of the trading volume occurs (the “Exchange”), exceeds $0.25 for a period of 10 consecutive trading days, at the Company’s election, the period within which the Warrants are exercisable, will be reduced and the holders of the Warrants will be entitled to exercise their Warrants for a period of 30 days commencing on the day the Company provides notice, any outstanding Warrants not exercised during the 30 day period will expire (the “Accelerated Expiry Provision”). The Units issued in the Offering will not be subject to any statutory hold period under applicable Canadian securities laws, subject to limitations prescribed by the LIFE Exemption. In connection with the Offering, the Company may pay fees in accordance with the policies of the Exchange, being a cash commission of up to 5.0% on total proceeds received from subscribers introduced to the Company by the eligible finder and the issuance of non-transferable Common Share purchase warrants (each, a “Finder’s Warrant”) equal to up to 3.0% of total Units issued to subscribers introduced to the Company by eligible finders. Each Finder’s Warrant will entitle the holder to acquire one Common Share at an exercise price of CAD$0.20 per Common Share for a period of 24 months from the date of issuance, subject to the Accelerated Expiry Provision. Securities issued to eligible finders will be subject to a statutory hold period expiring 4 months and 1 day after issuance in accordance with the policies of the Exchange and applicable Canadian securities laws. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Offering primarily for operating expenses, material purchases and general working capital purposes, as more specifically detailed in the Offering Document. https://tinyurl.com/ky9d5jvh

Sophic Client Cybeats Technologies Corp. (CYBT-CSE,CYBCF-OTCQB) announces third quarter Fiscal 2025 financial results.

Financial Highlights for the three months ended September 30, 2025 (“Q3 2025”) with comparatives for the three months ended September 30, 2024 (“Q3 2024”): Revenue in Q3 2025 was $751,695 versus $510,404 in Q3 2024, an increase of 47% year-over-year. Net loss in Q3 2025 was $(646,833), versus a loss of $(1,617,814) in Q3 2024, an improvement of $970,982 or 60%. Cash at September 30, 2025 was $1,563,445, an increase of $1,528,346 from $35,099 at the year ended December 31, 2024 (“F2024”). Subsequent to the quarter ending, the Company announced a private placement for gross proceeds of $1,440,000. Operational Highlights in the Quarter: Closed $3.2 million Financing: Completed LIFE offering of 32.4 million units, providing growth capital to accelerate commercial scale-up, R&D, and working capital. Strengthened Balance Sheet: Settled $1.5 million of indebtedness and converted $1.4 million of debentures into equity, reducing debt and positioning Cybeats for commercial growth and scale-up. Subsequent Events: $1.4 million Private Placement with U.S. Microcap Fund: Cybeats closed a $1.4 million non-brokered private placement with IFCM MicroCap Fund LP, managed by Intelligent Fanatics Capital Management. Proceeds will support sales, marketing, and general corporate initiatives as the Company accelerates commercial growth. Secured Multi-Year Contract Extension with Schneider Electric: Multi-year renewal with Schneider Electric, a global leader in energy management and automation, extending the use of SBOM Studio and SBOM Consumer solutions. Renewal highlights the value of Cybeats’ platform in reducing vulnerability management efforts by over 50%, enhancing compliance, and ensuring the operational reliability that companies and stakeholders depend on. Renewal also reflects Cybeats’ organic growth within existing enterprise accounts and the accelerating demand for or software supply chain security solutions driven by emerging global regulations. Business Outlook: Cybeats reiterates its growth strategy focused on expanding adoption of SBOM management across critical infrastructure, industrial, and regulated markets. SBOM Studio continues to gain traction with global leaders such as Emerson Electric, Rockwell Automation, and Schneider Electric, each of which has expanded SBOM management deployments annually. Strengthening regulatory momentum, including the EU Cyber Resilience Act, NIS2, and emerging U.S. federal requirements, is increasingly positioning SBOM management as an essential compliance function, accelerating market demand. Launched commercially in early 2025, SBOM Consumer extends Cybeats’ reach beyond software producers to software-consuming organizations by providing enterprise-wide, asset-level visibility across third-party applications, connected devices, and embedded components. The April 2025 release, which added integration with enterprise asset management systems, enables operational technology and information technology teams to directly map SBOMs to digital or physical assets, monitor risks in real time, and support operational decision-making, addressing a persistent visibility gap across global infrastructure. Together, SBOM Studio and SBOM Consumer broaden Cybeats’ addressable market into highly regulated verticals including telecom, automotive, healthcare, energy, finance, and national security. Cybeats is driving growth through both organic expansion within existing accounts and the addition of new enterprise and government customers. Entering Q4, the Company is advancing new partnerships that are expected to expand sales reach and accelerate customer acquisition. Cybeats also has the strongest pipeline in its history, with opportunities spanning planned pilots, active POCs, and late-stage commercial negotiations. Based on current visibility, management believes the Company can increase its revenue run rate to approximately $5 million by the end of Q2 2026. https://t.co/kL5EHCEwgE

Sophic Client Kraken Robotics (PNG-TSXV, KRKNF-OTC) reports record Q3 2025 financial results.

Q3 2025 Financial Highlights: Consolidated revenue in Q3 2025 increased 60% to $31.3 million, compared to $19.6 million in the prior year. The growth was driven by record shipments of subsea batteries and synthetic aperture sonar to defense industry customers, solid organic growth in sub bottom imaging services, and the acquisition of 3D at Depth Inc. (3D at Depth) which provides subsea LiDAR services predominantly to offshore energy customers. Product revenue in the quarter increased 46% to $18.3 million, compared to $12.5 million in the prior year. During the quarter both SeaPower™ subsea battery and synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) businesses recorded a record level of shipments. Service revenue in the quarter increased 85% to $13.0 million compared to the prior year due to growth in sub-bottom imaging services business as well as from the acquisition of 3D at Depth and its subsea LiDAR services. Gross profit in the quarter increased 81% to $18.6 million, compared to $10.3 million in the prior year due to the overall growth in the business and the acquisition of 3D at Depth. Gross profit margin was 59% compared to 52% in the prior year and improved over the prior year due to revenue mix, with a higher percentage of revenue coming from higher margin products and services in the current year compared to the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter grew 92% year-over-year to $8.0 million, compared to Adjusted EBITDA of $4.1 million in the comparable quarter, implying an adjusted EBITDA margin of 25.5% compared to 21.2% in the comparable year. Capital expenditures/intangible assets purchased were $6.3 million in the quarter, compared to $0.7 million in the comparable quarter. The increase is related to our new battery facility in Canada as well as growth in internal marine assets to drive service revenue growth. On July 7, 2025, Kraken closed a bought deal, short form prospectus offering 43.2 million common shares at $2.66 per common share for gross proceeds of $115.0 million. Total assets were $330.7 million on September 30, 2025, compared to $101.2 million on September 30, 2024. Cash at the end of the quarter totaled $126.6 million, compared to $14.9 million in the prior year, while working capital totaled $193.9 million, compared to $43.2 million in the prior year. Net income was $3.3 million compared to a net income of $1.6 million in the comparable quarter. Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA guidance for 2025 remains unchanged from the guidance provided after Q2 results on August 21, 2025. In 2025, management expects revenue between $120 million and $135 million and Adjusted EBITDA between $26 million and $34 million. The guidance midpoints represent 40% revenue growth and 45% Adjusted EBITDA growth. Capital expenditures/intangible asset guidance range is increased to $20.0 million to $21.0 million from $13.0 million to $17.0 million. The capex guidance is increasing with additional investment in current and new subsea power manufacturing facilities as well as internal marine assets to drive service revenue growth. CEO Comments: Record Q3 financial results highlight continued momentum for Kraken Robotics across maritime defense and offshore energy markets. Record sales of subsea batteries and synthetic aperture sonar are from the growing adoption of uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs) by navies around the world, as they modernize existing fleets and add non-expensive force multipliers for naval defense and maritime security. We have completed several important customer demonstrations this year and request for proposal (RFP) activity for defense programs is accelerating. Globally, governments are modifying defense procurement to make it more agile and make greater use of commercial off the shelf (COTS) solutions. These trends are additive to the multi-year investment cycle we are seeing across our defense customer base. With additional capacity coming online in 2026 and a strengthened balance sheet we are well positioned to meet customer requirements. In offshore energy, our offshore services business offers a variety of highly specialized resources to image subsea infrastructure with high precision. With an exceptional team of scientists, engineers, and offshore operators, our dual use technologies can be deployed to customers however they want to acquire actionable intelligence – by purchasing and operating equipment, renting equipment, or having Kraken provide a service to them. https://tinyurl.com/5yntxtwd

Sophic Client Ionik (INIK-TSXV, INIKF-OTCQX) reports Q3 2025 results.

Financial Highlights for Third Quarter of 2025: Revenue of US$48.9 million, an increase of 18% compared to US$41.4 million in the same period of the prior year (“Q3 2024”). The change versus the prior year was mainly attributable to the acquisitions of Nimble5, LLC in September 2024 and Rise4 Inc. in November 2024 (the “2024 Acquisitions”). Gross profit increased 26% to US$20.8 million (42% gross profit margin), compared to US$16.4 million (40% gross profit margin) in Q3 2024. The increase was predominantly attributable to growth driven by the 2024 acquisitions. Adjusted EBITDA of US$9.2 million increased 56% over Q3 2024 and a decrease of 3% over Q2 2025, with year-over-year growth derived mainly from the 2024 Acquisitions. Adjusted Free Cash Flow of US$9.1 million (98% Adjusted Free Cash Flow conversion rate), compared to US$5.4 million (92% Adjusted Free Cash Flow conversion rate) for Q3 2024. Adjusted Free Cash Flow reported in Q3 2024 was affected by income taxes paid totalling US$1.9 million. Net loss after tax from continuing operations of US$1.0 million versus a net loss of US$2.6 million for Q3 2024. Cash as at September 30, 2025 was US$6.0 million, compared to US$5.1 million at June 30, 2025 and US$15.3 million at September 30, 2024. As at September 30, 2025, the Company had not drawn on its revolving facility of US$10.0 million. Management believes that its current capital position is sufficient to execute its current business and operational strategies. Total undiscounted debt decreased by US$5.2 million as at September 30, 2025. The total undiscounted balance was US$112.4 million, including US$74.5 million of senior lender debt, US$29.6 million of convertible debt, and US$5.3 million in a vendor take-back loan and US$3.0 million in working capital note compared to US$117.5 million in total debt as at June 30, 2025 and US$126.5 million in total debt as at December 31, 2024. The decrease compared to the undiscounted debt balance at June 30, 2025 resulted primarily from principal payments of US$5.2 million on the senior debt term facility in the quarter. Senior debt net of cash was US$68.5 million at September 30, 2025, compared to US$74.6 million at June 30, 2025 and US$73.4 million at December 31, 2024. Ted Hastings, Ionik’s CEO commented, “We delivered another financially strong quarter with EBITDA over $9 million, reducing our senior debt by $5.2 million and increasing our cash balance at the end of the current quarter as compared to prior quarter. We also achieved meaningful progress in streamlining our operations and platform across Marketing Optimization and Media Activation as detailed in our updated website (www.ionikgroup.com). We have entered our typically seasonally strongest quarter and are positioned well to finish a successful year.” https://t.co/YvJSyU8jx9

Sophic Client Boardwalktech, Inc. (BWLK-TSXV, BWLKF-OTCQB) reports second quarter Fiscal 2026 financial results.

Financial Highlights: Revenue for Q2-FY26 was US$1 million, a 4% increase from US$0.9 million reported for the three-months ending June 30, 2025 (“Q1-FY26”) and a 25% decrease versus US$1.3 million for the three-months ending September 30, 2024 (“Q2-FY25”), mainly due to two previously announced customer non-renewals. Annual recurring revenue (“ARR”), a non-IFRS metric, at September 30, 2025 was US$3.8 million. Gross margin for Q2-FY26 was 86.7%, compared to 83.5% in Q1-FY26 and 88.7% in Q2-FY25. Adjusted EBITDA (see Non-IFRS Financial Measures) for Q2-FY26 was a loss of US$(0.4) million, which was a 44% improvement versus the US$(0.6) million loss in Q1-FY26 and flat versus Q2-FY25. Non-IFRS net loss for Q2-FY26 (see Non-IFRS Financial Measures) totaled US$(0.4) million, US$(0.01) per basic and diluted share, versus a US$(0.7) million non-IFRS loss in Q1-FY26, US$(0.01) per basic and diluted share, and versus a US$(0.5) million non-IFRS loss in Q2-FY25, US$(0.01) per basic and diluted share. Net loss for Q2-FY26 was US$(0.5) million, or US$(0.01) per basic and diluted share, versus a US$(0.9) million loss in Q1-FY26, or US$(0.01) per basic and diluted share, and a US$(0.7) million loss in Q2-FY25, or US$(0.01) per basic and diluted share. This represented a 44% sequential improvement over Q1-FY26 due to an increase in revenues and a decrease in costs. Cash as of September 30, 2025 was US$0.04 million, plus US$0.6 million of trade and other receivables, with cash usage from Operations decreasing by US$1.6 million year-over-year in the most recent quarter, before the Company’s most recent cost reduction actions, undertaken in August 2025. Outstanding debt as of September 30, 2025 was US$2.6 million drawn against line of credit from Celtic Bank. Due to requirements under IFRS, this debt was reclassified under current liabilities even though the final debt maturity remains in March of 2027. “Although Fiscal 2026 has been challenging thus far from a revenue growth perspective, we’re starting to see customers lever their Velocity and Digital Ledger successes with expanding deployments and the addition of more users,” said Andrew T. Duncan, Chief Executive Officer of Boardwalktech. “We anticipate improved revenue performance in the second half of the year, contingent on the successful completion of several late-stage license agreements currently in progress. Several upgrade projects with existing customers have been completed or are underway, which will add professional services revenues and increase ARR. We also see meaningful opportunity for further ARR growth as customers utilize Boardwalktech’s AI-enhanced capabilities and as we advance our product development efforts. When combined with our recent cost-reduction initiatives, this anticipated growth positions the Company to soon reach EBITDA break-even.” https://tinyurl.com/428rp3j2

Sophic Client Plurilock (PLUR-TSXV, PLCKF-OTCQB) reports third quarter Fiscal 2025 financial results.

Q3 2025 Financial Highlights: Total revenue for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025 was $15,393,747 and $50,498,220 as compared to $14,263,076 and $40,941,846 for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024. Revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2025 increased as professional services offset lower resell revenue. Revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2025, increased from professional services growth and resell momentum in the year thus far. This has been restated and re-presented to reflect the discontinued operations from the technology division. Hardware and systems sales revenue for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025, totaled $1,515,738 and $5,568,675 compared to $3,135,449 and $6,665,000, respectively, in the comparative period ended September 30, 2024. Software, license, and maintenance sales revenue for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025, was $11,186,538 and $34,213,093 compared to $10,113,994 and $30,209,250 in the comparative period. Professional services revenue was $2,691,471 and $10,698,452 for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025, compared to $1,013,633 and $4,067,596 in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024. This has been restated and re-presented to reflect the discontinued operations from the technology division. Gross margin for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025, was 8.8% and 10.7% compared to 6.9% and 11.4% for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024. This has been restated and re-presented to reflect the discontinued operations from the technology division. Adjusted EBITDA for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025 was $(1,608,327) and $(3,824,405) compared to $(1,815,868) and $(2,536,452) during the same period in the prior year. This has been restated and re-presented to reflect the discontinued operations from the technology division. Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash on September 30, 2025 was $1,519,767 compared to $1,419,463 on December 31, 2024. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025, the Company used $169,878 and used $5,190,637 of cash from operating activities compared to $4,738,318 and $6,914,015 used of cash during the same periods in the prior year. Of which $203,927 and $66,953 was used in discontinued operating activities for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025 and $24,296 and $40,062 was provided by from discontinued operating activities during the same period in the prior year. The non-cash impact of the sale of CloudCodes was $1,388,000 in the quarter. Outlook: Plurilock enters Q4 with rising deal activity across commercial, public sector, and defense markets. Management expects continued expansion in the higher-margin Critical Services segment, supported by both new customer wins and increased engagement from existing accounts. The restructuring undertaken earlier this year has materially reduced operating expenses, while the Company’s strengthened balance sheet provides flexibility to support execution and selective growth investments. As the revenue mix continues shifting toward recurring and services-led work, Plurilock anticipates ongoing margin improvement and operating leverage. With the addition of the federal capture program and the defense practice, both of which are now fully operational, the Company is pursuing opportunities that were previously out of reach. These efforts have contributed to accelerated pipeline growth, improved qualification rigor, and greater visibility into multi-year government and defense modernization programs. Supported by a growing pipeline, a improved cost structure, and increasing demand for advanced cyber- defense capabilities, the Company currently anticipates that it may achieve breakeven during 2026. https://t.co/YcUn4Z5i50

Ottawa startup Augmentt lands $18 million to help safeguard cloud software for SMBs.

Ottawa software startup Augmentt has closed $18 million in Series A funding to help managed service providers (MSPs) protect their clients’ cybersecurity across online applications, the company announced earlier this week. https://tinyurl.com/2khnejrn

Faire co-founder: company has the metrics to go public, but isn’t rushing to IPO.

Faire co-founder and chief architect Marcelo Cortes argues that his business, a privately held online wholesale marketplace based out of Kitchener-Waterloo and San Francisco, has the numbers of “a very good public company,” but he won’t say when it might make the leap. Cortes said market conditions would need to be aligned for Faire to consider an actual IPO. Faire, which helps local retailers with physical stores find products from independent brands, has just given Canadian brands access to its first wholesale advertising product, Promoted Listings—one of the company’s fastest-growing offerings. Since Faire launched Promoted Listings just over a year ago in the United States, more than 10,000 brands have used the product and it has grown to account for five percent of the firm’s total sales. Cortes indicated that the company is back on solid ground after a “rollercoaster” six-year period that saw the firm secure over US$1 billion USD ($1.4 billion) in funding during a short span amid rapid pandemic growth. Last week, Faire kicked off a process for some of its employees to sell shares in the company for cash as part of a tender offer at a $5.2 billion valuation, which marks a far cry from the $12.4 billion it was once valued at in 2021 during the peak of the COVID-19 tech boom. This secondary deal is being led by new American backer WCM Investment Management, with participation from existing UK investor Baillie Gifford and new Kitchener-Waterloo-based backer True North Fund. Faire revealed last week that it is generating more than $500 million in revenue on an annualized basis, serves hundreds of thousands of brands and retailers, and expects to hit nearly $3 billion in gross merchandise value during 2025. Cortes says Faire has clocked accelerated growth over the past eight quarters, including more than 40 percent year-over-year growth in Q3, something it hopes to maintain going forward. He said Faire is also nearing profitability as it targets a cash flow breakeven in Q4. https://tinyurl.com/mpraet9e

FX, commodities and stock futures hit by longest CME outage in years.

An outage at the world’s biggest exchange operator, CME Group, halted trade on its currency platform and in futures spanning foreign exchange, commodities, Treasuries and stocks, freezing a handful of benchmarks as brokers pulled products. The problem was due to a cooling issue at CyrusOne data centres. CME is the biggest exchange operator by market value and says it offers the widest range of benchmark products, spanning rates, equities, metals, energy, cryptocurrencies and agriculture. It first posted about outages at 0240 GMT on its website. Futures prices for West Texas Intermediate crude , 10-year U.S. Treasuries , the S&P 500 , Nasdaq 100 , Nikkei , palm oil and gold were among those not updated by 1100 GMT on Friday, according to LSEG Data. Prices were also not updated on the EBS foreign exchange platform, which traded an average of almost US$60 billion daily in October, in major pairs such as euro/dollar and dollar/yen. While spot forex traders were more easily able to find other venues to execute deals, the outages left brokers flying blind and many reluctant to trade contracts with no live prices. https://tinyurl.com/3899ay4j

Nvidia-Google AI chip rivalry escalates on report of Meta talks.

Meta Platforms Inc. is in talks to spend billions on Google’s AI chips, the Information reported, adding to a monthslong share rally as the search giant has made the case it can rival Nvidia Corp. as a leader in artificial intelligence technology. A deal would signal growing momentum for Google’s chips and long-term potential to challenge Nvidia’s market dominance, after the company earlier agreed to supply up to 1 million chips to Anthropic PBC. Meta is in discussions to use the Google chips — known as tensor processing units, or TPUs — in data centers in 2027, The Information reported, citing an unidentified person familiar with the talks. Meta also may rent chips from Google’s cloud division next year, the news outlet said. An agreement would help establish TPUs as an alternative to Nvidia’s chips, the gold standard for big tech firms and startups from Meta to OpenAI that need computing power to develop and run artificial intelligence platforms. Nvidia’s stock is already facing headwinds as investors fear a broader AI bubble. Michael Burry, immortalized in The Big Short for his bets against the housing market during the 2008 financial crisis, has scrutinized the chipmaker over circular AI deals, hardware depreciation and revenue recognition. https://tinyurl.com/ysfr853s

Nvidia says its GPUs are a ‘generation ahead’ of Google’s AI chips.

Nvidia on Tuesday said its tech remains a generation ahead of the industry, in response to Wall Street’s concerns that the company’s dominance of AI infrastructure could be threatened by Google’s AI chips. “We’re delighted by Google’s success — they’ve made great advances in AI and we continue to supply to Google,” Nvidia said in a post on X. “NVIDIA is a generation ahead of the industry — it’s the only platform that runs every AI model and does it everywhere computing is done.” The post came after Nvidia saw its shares fall 3% on Tuesday after a report that Meta, one of its key customers, could strike a deal with Google to use its tensor processing units for its data centers. In its post, Nvidia said its chips are more flexible and powerful compared with so-called ASIC chips — such as Google’s TPUs — which are designed for a single company or function. “NVIDIA offers greater performance, versatility, and fungibility than ASICs,” Nvidia said in its post. Nvidia has more than 90% of the market for artificial intelligence chips with its graphics processors, analysts say, but Google’s in-house chips have gotten increased attention in recent weeks as a viable alternative to the Blackwell chips, which are expensive but powerful. Unlike Nvidia, Google doesn’t sell its TPU chips to other companies, but it uses them for internal tasks and allows companies to rent them through Google Cloud. https://tinyurl.com/65nhxusn

U.S. weighs allowing Nvidia to sell the advanced H200 chips to China.

The Trump administration is considering approving sales of Nvidia’s H200 artificial intelligence chips to China, according to two people familiar with the discussions. The H200 is roughly twice as powerful as the China-tailored H20 and is designed specifically for training large AI models, for which no Chinese alternatives can perform. Reuters first reported potential resumption of the H200 sale to China. The decision would loosen U.S. export restrictions imposed in 2022 that bar sales of advanced AI chips to Chinese companies. Still, the U.S. government has not made a final decision and may maintain current restrictions, the two people added. An Nvidia spokesperson said: “The regulatory landscape does not allow us to offer a competitive datacenter GPU in China, leaving that massive market to our rapidly growing foreign competitors.” The potential policy shift follows President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea last month. https://tinyurl.com/2c4j4epz

Trump launches ‘Genesis Mission’ to speed AI-driven research.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday establishing the “Genesis Mission,” a national initiative to harness AI for scientific breakthroughs, comparing its scope to the Manhattan Project that produced the atomic bomb during World War II. The plan is part of the Trump administration’s aggressive, low-regulation strategy to boost big tech’s race to stay ahead of China on artificial intelligence and cement US dominance in the fast-expanding field. The White House is also seeking ways to legally stop US states from implementing their own AI regulations and has threatened to rescind federal aid to states that do so. The order on Monday tasked the Department of Energy with building an integrated AI platform that will combine the nation’s supercomputers, federal scientific datasets and research facilities to accelerate discovery in fields ranging from nuclear fusion to semiconductor manufacturing. Priority domains include advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, critical materials, nuclear energy, quantum computing and semiconductors — all areas where the United States faces growing competition from China. The order calls for partnerships with private companies, universities and national laboratories, while mandating strict cybersecurity measures to protect sensitive research. https://tinyurl.com/bdh9ejc3

Amazon makes US$50 billion bet to land government cloud AI deals.

Amazon said it plans to spend up to US$50 billion to build new AI data centers for its U.S. government cloud customers that will include almost 1.3 gigawatts of new computing capacity. The data center projects, which are slated to begin next year, show how Amazon Web Services is doubling down on its longstanding relationships with federal agencies. After more than a decade of helping government customers move their computing from private data centers to the cloud, AWS is now aiming to play that same role for them in AI. The US$50 billion figure is also the largest investment any major cloud provider has announced specifically for government cloud AI, raising the possibility that Microsoft and Google will make similar announcements of their own in the coming months. The federal government was one of the first battlegrounds where AWS showed it could win in head-to-head competition with enterprise software incumbents. One of AWS’ biggest wins came in 2013 when it beat out IBM for a ten-year, $600 million deal to provide cloud services for the Central Intelligence Agency. https://tinyurl.com/342yp5b6

Alibaba’s cloud revenue grows 34% on AI demand.

Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group said Tuesday that revenue from its cloud computing business grew 34% in the quarter through September, thanks to increasing adoption of artificial intelligence in the country. Alibaba’s latest results indicate how Alibaba Cloud, China’s largest cloud service provider, continues to benefit from the growing usage of AI models and applications. Alibaba Cloud provides customers with access to computing infrastructure as well as foundation models and other AI-related services. Alibaba’s revenue from its Cloud Intelligence Group rose to 39.8 billion yuan (US$5.6 billion) in the quarter, from 29.6 billion yuan a year earlier. The company’s e-commerce business in China, its largest source of revenue, grew 16%. Alibaba’s overall revenue in the quarter rose 5% to 247.8 billion yuan. The smaller rate of growth in overall revenue is due to Alibaba’s sale of brick-and-mortar businesses Sun Art and Intime, which are no longer included in its revenue. https://tinyurl.com/ck69vtff

Robinhood stock jumps on plan to launch new prediction market.

Robinhood shares jumped 11% Wednesday after the brokerage said late Tuesday that it is launching a new exchange with trading firm Susquehanna International Group to support its prediction market product. To do so, Robinhood is acquiring MIAXdx, which has the licenses to clear and execute derivatives trades. Robinhood currently partners with Kalshi, a U.S. prediction market backed by Sequoia and a16z, to offer bets on outcomes such as sports and elections. Robinhood contributes to more than half of Kalshi’s trading volume, according to Bernstein analysts. Kalshi offers bets to users directly on its website and through partnerships to users of other apps. Robinhood’s move will allow it to retain more control over its prediction market product, which has become its fastest-growing product line by revenue. Asked if Robinhood will drop Kalshi as a partner, a Robinhood spokesperson said it plans to continue with multiple partners, “supporting access to a diversity of market venues for our customers.” https://tinyurl.com/599aemjy

Alibaba’s main AI app debuts strongly in effort to rival ChatGPT.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Qwen app drew more than 10 million downloads in the week after its relaunch, boding well for a longer-term effort to build a rival to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The Chinese e-commerce leader’s shares climbed more than 5% Monday in Hong Kong after Alibaba disclosed the number in a WeChat blog post. https://tinyurl.com/4y4uf6h4

Alibaba releases AI glasses in rare consumer gadget foray.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. began sales of its first smart glasses powered by its Qwen AI models, marking a rare foray into consumer hardware. The new Quark S1 glasses include built-in translucent displays that superimpose contextual information on the user’s view of surroundings. Equipped with cameras, bone conduction microphones and swappable batteries rated to last 24 hours, this new product aims to offer the Chinese market something along the lines of Meta Platforms Inc.’s Ray-Ban smart glasses. It marks an extension of Alibaba’s ambitious reorganization into an AI-first business. https://tinyurl.com/bdecj8yb

China’s Pony AI plans to triple global robotaxi fleet by the end of 2026.

Chinese autonomous vehicle technology company Pony.ai said Tuesday it plans to triple the size of its robotaxi fleet by the end of next year as its pace of growth — and aspirations — accelerates. The company, which has about 961 robotaxis in the fleet today, announced the goal during its third-quarter earnings. Pony.ai is targeting a 1,000-robotaxi vehicle fleet by the end of this year. Its goal is to “surpass” 3,000 vehicles by the end of 2026, the company said in its third-quarter earnings report. Pony.ai, which is publicly traded on the Nasdaq Exchange and Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, has spent the year ramping up its commercial operations. https://tinyurl.com/yucnp5cj

Amazon takes aim at Starlink with satellite beta promising Gigabit speeds.

To beat Starlink, Amazon is promising it can offer gigabit satellite internet speeds, a goal that SpaceX has also long been chasing. Amazon touted the gigabit promise on Monday as it opened a “preview program” to beta test its upcoming Starlink competitor, Amazon Leo. It’s the first time Amazon’s Starlink challenger will serve real people. However, the preview is only open to select enterprise customers, including JetBlue and Hunt Energy Network. Early test users will receive access to the Leo Ultra, Amazon’s most powerful satellite dish. “The full-duplex phased array antenna provides download speeds of up to 1Gbps and upload speeds up to 400Mbps, making it the fastest commercial phased array antenna in production,” Amazon says. https://tinyurl.com/2ktub46n

U.S. Black Friday spending sets records as consumer spending holds strong.

U.S. shoppers are expected to spend between US$11.7 billion and US$11.9 billion on Black Friday purchases, according to Adobe Analytics, which tracks traffic and sales for U.S. retail websites. That figure is expected to be the highest yet for Black Friday spending and a more than 9% increase from a year earlier. This year is also the first that generative AI will play a significant role in e-commerce research and purchases following the release of several agentic commerce browsing and shopping features by OpenAI, Perplexity and other AI firms. AI traffic to U.S. e-commerce sites is expected to increase by 600% from last year, and 48% of shoppers surveyed by Adobe said they plan to use AI for online shopping this season. Adobe said that Cyber Monday is expected to be the biggest online shopping day of the year, with US$14.2 billion in sales, a 6.3% increase from the year before. E-commerce software maker Shopify said that it had recorded nearly 34 million unique shoppers as of Friday evening, and that merchants using its software were recording nearly US$2.8 million in sales per minute. https://tinyurl.com/mvea4e33

OpenAI launches new shopping research feature.

OpenAI launched a new “shopping research” feature Monday, as part of its broader strategy of making ChatGPT into a destination for online shopping. The feature, which is available for free to users who’ve signed up for a free or paid account, is powered by a new GPT-5 mini model that the company says is its best-performing model thus far for accurate product information. People can select shopping research mode before they submit their initial query. As Shopping Research is browsing for potential recommendations, it collects user feedback on its preliminary recommendations and asks for more specific details about what shoppers are looking for along the way to help steer the model’s answers. OpenAI says that for simpler shopping questions like checking price or confirming details, a regular ChatGPT response is quicker and most useful. But more in-depth comparisons or tradeoffs between different products are better suited for Shopping Research, which spends a few minutes browsing before presenting users with a “buyer’s guide” listing pros and cons of top recommendations. The feature isn’t yet connected to ChatGPT’s other e-commerce features like in-chat checkout, and OpenAI isn’t collecting any revenue from the feature. Shopping Research draws recommendations from product reviews and other sites it thinks are trustworthy, and cites its sources in responses to help explain why it made a particular choice, though executives cautioned the feature can still make mistakes. https://tinyurl.com/28cy5r4t

Crypto crash weighs on US IPOs as candidates push out timing.

Returns from new US listings have waned considerably this quarter and the crypto crash has made recent IPOs in the sector among the biggest casualties, creating a higher bar for companies such as Grayscale Investments Inc. and BitGo Holdings Inc. to go public in the near future. Shares of US IPOs raising more than US$50 million, excluding vehicles such as closed-end funds and blank checks, have fallen an average of 5.3% this quarter, compared to the S&P 500 Index which is up 0.9%. Of those, the five crypto companies that have gone public this year are down an average of 31% in the quarter. The performance raises the question of what kind of reception Grayscale, the crypto ETF provider which publicly filed for an IPO on Nov. 13, and BitGo, the crypto infrastructure company which filed publicly on Sept. 19 would receive in this environment — or newly listed companies in any sector, for that matter. The crash in crypto prices that began in early October has stripped more than US$1 trillion from the value of digital assets, but even before then, reception for crypto IPOs had been mixed. Shares in the Winklevoss twins’ crypto exchange Gemini Space Station Inc. fell 14% from the US$28 IPO price struck in September through the end of the third quarter. EToro Group Ltd. stock fared even worse, falling more than a fifth from the trading platform’s debut in May to Sept. 30. Those that were performing solidly prior to the crash weren’t spared from it. Shares of the Tom Farley-led institutional crypto exchange Bullish, which debuted in August, have pulled back 38% since the start of October. Even the crypto-loving retail investors that stormed the early June IPO of stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group Inc. have seen its share price roughly halve over the same period. https://tinyurl.com/yzwzpr2p

Klarna to launch Stablecoin in 2026.

Klarna, the Swedish buy-now-pay-later provider, said it will launch a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, KlarnaUSD, in 2026, as a way to reduce costs for consumers and merchants. Klarna, which went public in September and has 114 million customers, will use Stripe-owned Bridge to issue the stablecoin, which will run on the Tempo blockchain co-developed by Stripe and Paradigm. With the stablecoin, Klarna can enter new markets, broaden offerings and lower operating costs, Zach Abrams, co-founder and CEO of Bridge, said in a tweet. The race for fintech and crypto firms to launch stablecoins intensified after the U.S.’s passage of stablecoin law in July. Most of the new stablecoins are launched through partnerships with white-label issuers such as Bridge and Anchorage Digital, which share revenue generated from the stablecoins with their partners. Klarna’s partnership is another win for Bridge, which is already issuing stablecoins for crypto exchange Hyperliquid and crypto wallets Phantom and MetaMask. Klarna, Bridge and Stripe all counted Sequoia as their venture backer. Anchorage, a crypto custodian and another popular issuer, won deals to issue Western Union’s stablecoin and Tether’s new U.S.-focused stablecoin. https://tinyurl.com/kmb2ufdj

Robinhood, Susquehanna to launch exchange to expand prediction markets offerings.

Robinhood said it is launching a futures and derivatives exchange with market maker Susquehanna International Group to expand its array of prediction contracts tied to sports, elections and other events. In a related move, the new exchange is acquiring MIAXdx, a business that clears and executes derivatives trades. Robinhood, the retail brokerage popularized by the meme-stock craze of 2021, has rolled out a series of new offerings in recent years designed to meet the needs of Wall Street’s most-active individual investors. Among them: a partnership with Kalshi to offer customers access to the prediction markets, where users buy and sell contracts tied to yes-and-no questions on a variety of events. The offering quickly emerged as Robinhood’s fastest-growing product line by revenue, with more than 1 million customers trading 9 billion contracts over the past year. https://tinyurl.com/8ef23cmc