Technology

Nvidia Stock Falls. Why Stargate Will Soothe Blackwell AI Chip Fears

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Nvidia stock reversed course Thursday after rallying earlier this week on the back of President Trump’s announcements on artificial intelligence. Investors had been worried about a slow rollout of the company’s Blackwell chip but a flagship $500 billion AI plan is soothing those fears. Nvidia shares were down 2% to $144.20 in premarket trading. It rose 4.4% Wednesday, amid broad gains for AI stocks, fueled by the announcement of the Stargate Project — an AI infrastructure investment partnership between the White House, Oracle, OpenAI, and SoftBank. Thursday’s premarket drop may well be investors taking profits after a good two-day run. Nvidia is mentioned as a partner in Stargate but not one of the key players and analysts are predicting it could greatly boost the chip maker over the coming years. The Stargate initiative pledged up to $500 billion in investments in AI infrastructure such as data centers over the next […]

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Oracle and Other AI Stocks Fall. Why Trump’s $500 Billion Funding Project Isn’t a Silver Bullet.

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Oracle and Super Micro Computer Inc. were among the artificial intelligence-related stocks giving up some of their recent gains Thursday as excitement about Donald Trump’s Stargate Project faded. The losses could just be investors taking profit after news of the $500 billion funding drive sparked a broad rally on Wednesday — but it might also reflect that at this point, the market might have more questions than answers. Information-technology company Oracle’s stock slid 1.2% in premarket trading, having jumped 6.8% the previous session. Futures tracking the benchmark S&P 500 were down 0.2%. Shares in Vertiv, which develops cooling infrastructure for AI data centers, also fell 1.2% ahead of the opening bell, while server makers Super Micro and Dell Technologies were down 1.8% and 0.5% respectively. Elsewhere, SK Hynix shares closed 2.7% lower Thursday after the South Korean memory-chip supplier posted a record profit but warned of faltering demand this year.

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Meta Platforms’ WhatsApp Wins Reprieve in India as Tribunal Suspends Fine, Data Sharing Ban

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Meta Platforms’ (META) WhatsApp messaging service won a reprieve in India on Thursday when the country’s National Company Law Appellate Tribunal suspended a fine and data sharing ban that was imposed on the platform by the Competition Commission of India. The antitrust regulator, in November, imposed a fine of 2.13 billion Indian rupees ($25 million) on Meta and banned WhatsApp from sharing data within the Meta group, concluding that WhatsApp “abused its dominance” and unfairly compelled users to agree to certain privacy policy changes. According to the regulator, the policy changes enabled comprehensive data collection and sharing within the Meta group. Meta has challenged the ruling, and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has suspended the fine and data sharing ban while it considers the social media company’s appeal, with the next hearing scheduled for March 17.

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Palantir could be the next Oracle or Salesforce over coming years, says Wedbush

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Wedbush shared positive views about Palantir Technologies’ (NASDAQ:PLTR) future while raising the price target on the shares of the company to $90 from $75 and maintaining its Outperform rating. Analyst Dan Ives said their recent checks and growing confidence in the company’s AI strategy is key to the bull thesis for 2025 on Palantir — which provides software platforms for the intelligence community. “We believe Palantir has a path to become the next Oracle (ORCL) or Salesforce (CRM) over the coming years,” said Ives in a post on X, formerly Twitter. Ives and his team added that while Palantir’s valuation is expensive today, they see the company as a core winner in the trillions of AI spend over the next few years. The analysts noted that Palantir remains one of their top names to own in 2025 as its game-changing AIP — the company’s artificial intelligence platform — strategy is quickly becoming a

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Apple to Engage With UK Regulator Amid Antitrust Probe Into Mobile Ecosystems

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Apple (APC.F) said it intends to continue engaging with the UK Competition and Markets Authority as the regulator launched a strategic market status investigation into the company’s mobile ecosystems amid competition concerns. In an e-mail response sent to MT Newswires on Thursday, the iPhone maker said it supports the British iOS developer community by providing tools, technologies, and services, as well as app development training and upgrade support services, among others. It noted that it does not charge commissions for 85% of the applications in its store. The watchdog, in an earlier same-day release, said it was investigating Apple and Alphabet (ABEA.F, ABEC.F) unit Google’s mobile operating systems, app stores, and browsers to evaluate the extent of competition between the companies; to assess if they are using their market position to favor their own products; and to study potential exploitative behavior.

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Apple Expected to Face iPhone Weakness, FX Headwinds in March Quarter, Morgan Stanley Says

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Apple’s (AAPL) fiscal Q1 earnings results are poised to be in-line with consensus but revenue for the March quarter will be affected by muted iPhone demand and foreign exchange headwinds, Morgan Stanley said in a note Thursday. The firm said it will closely watch iPhone demand, especially in China, and any changes in pricing strategies or potential discounts to drive sales. Morgan Stanley said it is cautious about near-term stock movements but expects upcoming catalysts like the iPhone SE 4 launch, iOS 18.4 release, and potential cloud or AI partnerships in China to drive growth. Despite a low spend per user in 2024, there is a large base of eligible iPhone upgraders and Apple holds potential for long-term monetization through accelerated replacement cycles, targeted services monetization, and new product launches, the firm added. Morgan Stanley has an overweight rating on Apple’s stock with a price target of $273.

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Meta Stock Had a Great 2024. These Analysts Are Still Upbeat.

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Meta Platforms had a stellar 2024 and BofA Securities sees further upside. Analysts Justin Post and Nitin Bansal reiterated a Buy rating on the social media stock and increased their target for the price to $710 from $660 on Thursday. Meta stock edged 1% up to $629.94 in morning trading. Last year, Meta shares gained 65% — it outpaced Alphabet, which added 35% — thanks to strong cost discipline and optimism about the company’s capabilities in artificial intelligence. “With a stable macro backdrop, a growing AI contribution to ad revenues, ramping messaging revenues, and continued cost discipline (recent headcount cuts), we remain positive on the stock in 2025,” the analysts wrote. For longer-term investors, the perceived return on investment on AI is going to prove critical for the stock, BofA argued. Shorter-term investors are likely to focus on any gains in advertising revenue that AI brings this year, as well

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IBM to Have ‘Strong’ 2025 After Moving Past Early Challenges, BofA Securities Says

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IBM (IBM) will likely provide a bullish update at its Investor Day event in early February, overcoming foreign-currency headwinds and other challenges early in 2025, paving way for a strong year, analysts at BofA Securities said Thursday. The analysts said while IBM’s Q4 results, due out Jan. 29, may narrowly lag consensus estimates, its performance should improve during 2025, supported by 7% year-over-year growth for its software segment and a rebound for its consulting and infrastructure divisions during H2 2025. IBM’s consulting business likely was hampered by a pullback in discretionary spending late in 2024, according to BofA analysts, who are forecasting a 2% decline in Q4 revenue from the segment and a 1% drop during Q1 2025. They expect a turn-around by mid-year, bolstered by a backlog of conversions for generative artificial intelligence, potential M&A and a recovery in discretionary spending. Infrastructure revenue similarly will see an H2 rebound,

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Network Stocks Are a Winner From Stargate AI News

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Chip makers like Nvidia are far from the only beneficiaries of President Trump’s effort to make the U.S. a leader in artificial intelligence. The Stargate artificial-intelligence project that Trump announced on Tuesday will ultimately require hundreds of thousands of Nvidia processors across its 20 data centers. To work together, those chips will need to be networked. That is why news of the $500 billion project lifted data network stocks like Broadcom, Marvell Technology, and Arista Networks by some 7% Wednesday. Nvidia stock rose 4%. The major share of hardware spending for an AI data center goes for the high-value processors from Nvidia and its rivals. But the number of network devices required rise exponentially with the processor count, so giant data centers like those of Stargate may be spending as much as 20% of their semiconductor dollars on network chips. As Barron’s reported in December, Nvidia dominates the sale of

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Apple Poised for Largely In-Line First-Quarter Revenue, Morgan Stanley Says

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Apple’s (AAPL) fiscal first-quarter revenue is expected to be largely in line with market estimates, though second-quarter results could take a hit from “muted” iPhone demand, Morgan Stanley said in a note e-mailed Thursday. The technology giant is scheduled to report first-quarter results Jan. 30. Morgan Stanley trimmed its earnings outlook to $2.31 a share from $2.32 while raising its revenue estimate to $123.97 billion from $123.73 billion. Wall Street is looking for $2.35 and $124.46 billion, respectively, according to the brokerage. IPhone shipments for the quarter are projected at 76.5 million units, up from the firm’s prior outlook of 76 million. Morgan Stanley said its latest checks indicate stable iPhone builds. It lowered its iPhone revenue forecast to $69.08 billion from $69.36 billion versus the Street’s $70.82 billion view. Services growth is now pegged at 13.5%, up from a 12.9% gain projected previously amid upside from App Store “outperformance,”

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Meta Stock Is a Top AI Pick, Analyst Says. Why TikTok Drama Is Another Tailwind.

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Meta stock has had a good start to the year — up more than 5% — and momentum is looking strong. It could get even better — the social media company is an artificial intelligence top pick, according to Jefferies analysts who say investors shouldn’t be put off by high AI spending. Big Tech companies such as Meta, Microsoft and Google-parent Alphabet have been under pressure recently as investors have become concerned about hefty investments in AI — and when returns on those investments may start showing up on their balance sheets. While ramped-up spending has spooked investors, that is no reason to worry about Meta, Jefferies analysts led by Brent Thill said in a research note published Wednesday. Meta’s next capex guidance may even come in above Wall Street’s, already high, estimates given that the company has indicated it will give quantitative full-year guidance in the fourth-quarter report, scheduled

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Nvidia Is World’s Most Valuable Company Again. How Stargate and Trump Helped the Stock.

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Nvidia stock rose early Wednesday after President Donald Trump sent another signal to markets that artificial intelligence would be a priority under his new administration. The absence of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at the inauguration Monday stuck out as Big Tech CEOs thronged to the event. The heads of some of the biggest companies in the world all attended: Meta Platforms’ Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos, Tesla’s Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook, and Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai. Yet Trump’s first days in office saw big gains for Nvidia, propelling its market value past that of iPhone maker Apple to $3.45 trillion. Nvidia shares were up 3% to $145.02 in premarket trading Wednesday. Shares rose 2.3% Tuesday and are up 4.9% so far in 2025. The stock move doesn’t appear to be linked to any significant policies directly linked to Nvidia, but more about overall sentiment toward AI companies. Late Tuesday, the

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