Tech

words.U.S. AI‑related stocks fell on Friday, extending a three‑day decline. Oracle dropped over 2% after Thursday’s 11% plunge from revenue that missed forecasts, pulling down peers like Micron and CoreWeave. Despite strong demand for AI infrastructure, Oracle’s $16.06 billion revenue fell short of expectations, raising concerns about its debt‑financed AI‑cloud expansion and the tight GPU ecosystem. Morningstar cut Oracle’s fair‑value target to $286 but still sees the shares as undervalued. Market focus now shifts to next week’s earnings for signs of sustainable AI growth.

The S&P 500 and Dow hit records while the Nasdaq slipped after Oracle’s 11% fall, weighing on AI stocks; Broadcom beat forecasts and expects AI‑chip revenue to double, naming Anthropic as a $10 bn customer. Lululemon announced CEO Calvin McDonald’s exit but posted a strong earnings beat, and Costco posted record e‑commerce growth. Disney is investing $1 bn in OpenAI, granting its characters rights on the Sora platform. The U.S. seized a sanctioned oil tanker bound for Venezuela/Iran, and consumer demand for high‑fiber products is surging, prompting major brands to launch new fiber‑rich items.

words.President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing a nationwide AI regulatory framework, preempting state rules and aiming to boost innovation for U.S. firms. Developed with advisors David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya, the order favors industry giants like OpenAI and Google, creates an AI Litigation Task Force to challenge conflicting state statutes, and ties federal funding to compliance. Supporters claim it prevents a fragmented “patchwork” of regulations and enhances global competitiveness, while critics warn it may ignore regional issues such as bias, consumer protection, and environmental impact.

Broadcom announced a $10 billion order from AI lab Anthropic for custom TPU Ironwood racks, with an additional $11 billion commitment, marking its fourth XPU customer. A fifth undisclosed client placed a $1 billion order. The deal ties into Anthropic’s multi‑year cloud partnership with Google, granting access to up to one million TPUs. Broadcom’s rack‑level AI accelerators aim to rival Nvidia’s GPUs, potentially boosting its custom‑chip revenue and expanding its foothold in the high‑performance AI market.

Oracle raised its fiscal‑year capital spending to $50 billion, driven by AI contracts with Meta, Nvidia and a $300 billion multi‑year deal with OpenAI. It accelerated leasing, now holding $248 billion in long‑term data‑center commitments, including the Stargate joint‑venture facility in Abilene, Texas with OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank. Debt climbed to over $124 billion, prompting questions about financing as revenue missed forecasts and shares fell 11 %. While long‑term leases lock in costs and the Stargate design supports GPUs, ASICs and optical interconnects, Oracle’s success hinges on balancing rapid AI‑infrastructure growth with sustainable capital management.

US equities closed at record levels Thursday, with the S&P 500 and Dow hitting fresh highs after the Fed’s quarter‑point rate cut, while the Nasdaq slipped 0.26% as AI‑linked stocks fell—Oracle down 11% on a revenue miss, dragging Nvidia and Micron, and Broadcom sliding despite earnings beat. Disney will spend $1 billion on OpenAI’s video model, and SpaceX aims for a 2026 IPO. Meanwhile, global fund managers eye India’s $3.3 trillion market, with BlackRock relaunching joint funds.

Broadcom posted a solid fiscal Q4, with revenue up 28% to $18.02 billion and adjusted EPS rising 37% to $1.95, both beating forecasts. AI‑related sales surged, highlighted by Anthropic’s $10 billion and $11 billion Ironwood XPU orders and a $1 billion deal with a new XPU client. Margins expanded, and Q1 guidance topped expectations, prompting a “Hold” rating and a price‑target lift to $425. However, investors worried about AI customers potentially developing in‑house chips, causing a 4.5% after‑hours drop despite the earnings beat.

OpenAI launched in 2015 as a nonprofit backed by Elon Musk and other tech leaders, but a decade later it operates as a massive for‑profit entity valued at about $500 billion, serving 800 million weekly ChatGPT users and planning a $1.4 trillion infrastructure spend. Musk, now heading rival xAI, sued OpenAI over its shift away from the original humanitarian mission. Competitors such as Anthropic, Google’s Gemini and Nvidia fuel a capital‑intensive AI boom. CEO Sam Altman forecasts $20 billion in revenue this year, has declared a “code red” to accelerate ChatGPT‑5.2, and secured a $1 billion content deal with Disney.

Reddit has filed a High Court challenge against Australia’s new ban that blocks anyone under 16 from ten major platforms, arguing the law infringes the implied freedom of political communication and is ineffective. The legislation forces platforms to implement intrusive age‑verification methods, which Reddit says could isolate teens from political discourse and harm its forum‑style service, distinct from typical social networks. The case highlights broader concerns over privacy‑preserving youth protection, potential business impacts from reduced engagement, and could set a precedent for global regulation of online political speech.

.Broadcom beat Q4 expectations, reporting $1.95 EPS and $18.02 bn revenue, and forecast FY‑Q1 revenue of about $19.1 bn, a 28% YoY rise driven by AI demand. AI‑related chip sales doubled to $8.2 bn, boosting net income 97% to $8.51 bn. The company added a fifth custom‑AI customer, with orders totaling $11 bn and a $1 bn commitment for 2026, bringing its AI backlog to $73 bn. Broadcom’s XPU strategy aims to combine GPU throughput with ASIC efficiency, positioning it as a full‑stack AI infrastructure provider amid intense competition from Nvidia and others.