Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Finpresso.
In today's newsletter:
💸 Apple price hikes erase $150B in market value
📈 US inflation tops 4% as shoppers shrug it off
🚫 Binance to cut off EU clients July 1
🏦 OpenAI delays IPO holding out for $1T
🇰🇷 Samsung readies record $648B AI bet
Plus: 🌍 5 macro news, 🏢 5 corporate news, 💰 5 deal flow, and 📑 5 research & reports.
📰 Top News
| 💸 Apple price hikes erase $150B in market value LINK |
- Apple shed $150 billion in market value after announcing price increases across its Mac and iPad lineups, driven by a memory shortage tied to the AI data-center buildout that the company called an "unavoidable" cost.
- The MacBook Air rose to $1,299 from $1,099, the MacBook Pro to $1,999 from $1,699, the Mac Studio to $2,499 from $1,999, and the iPad Air to $749 from $599, with iPhone prices held for now but possibly rising later this year.
- The mechanism is surging component costs—smartphone DRAM up 50% and NAND Flash over 90% quarter-over-quarter in Q1 2026, with memory prices up more than fourfold since Q4 2025—while supplier Micron posted a 4x year-over-year revenue jump.
| 📈 US inflation tops 4% as shoppers shrug it off LINK |
- US inflation hit a three-year high in May, with the Fed's preferred PCE index rising 4.1% from a year earlier — the largest annual increase since April 2023 — even as consumer spending held up.
- The jump was driven by costlier gas plus pricier semiconductors and computer equipment tied to the AI buildout, prompting some economists to expect the Fed could raise rates this year rather than cut, after January's projected two cuts.
- Those rate-hike expectations upended US markets this week, hammering fast-growing sectors like tech, while gas averaged nearly $4.50 a gallon in May before falling to $3.92 Thursday — still more than 20% above last year.
| 🚫 Binance to cut off EU clients July 1 LINK |
- Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volume, told EU customers it will suspend some services from July 1 because it will not have a Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) license in place by then.
- The exchange emailed users in France, Italy, Poland and Spain that it can no longer accept new registrations and would restrict services ahead of a June 30 deadline, while saying their assets "remain safe and secure" and accessible.
- Binance withdrew its license application in Greece and intends to approach France instead, the Financial Times reported, as firms need a MiCA license from one of the 27 EU member states by July 1 or must wind down EU activities.
| 🏦 OpenAI delays IPO holding out for $1T LINK |
- OpenAI is reportedly weighing pushing its US IPO to 2027 rather than listing now at a lower price, with CEO Sam Altman holding out for a $1 trillion valuation in today's volatile markets, according to a New York Times report.
- SoftBank, one of OpenAI's largest backers expecting to hold roughly $65 billion of the company by October, saw its shares fall as much as 13% on the news, its sharpest intraday drop in more than three months.
- At a $1 trillion valuation OpenAI would list alongside Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple and Alphabet, but the delay pushes a transparent, verifiable price for the stake further away, since OpenAI does not need the capital a public listing typically raises.
| 🇰🇷 Samsung readies record $648B AI bet LINK |
- Samsung Group will unveil a 1,000 trillion won ($648 billion) ten-year investment plan on Monday — roughly one-third of South Korea's annual GDP — spanning AI infrastructure, batteries, displays, and chip manufacturing, per Maeil Business Newspaper.
- The plan earmarks an estimated 300 trillion won ($194 billion) for semiconductor facilities in southwestern South Korea, with operations now targeted for 2034–2035 versus the original 2044 timeline, as AI-driven memory demand strains metropolitan land, power, and water capacity.
- SK Hynix, which joins the announcement, has overtaken Samsung Electronics as South Korea's most valuable public company at roughly $1.35 trillion on its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) lead supplying Nvidia; the combined commitment lifts the prior $471 billion roadmap to $648 billion.
🌍 Macro News
- The U.S. and Qatar warn EU methane rules risk a gas supply crunch. LINK
- Oil fell nearly 2% Friday as traders focused on supply over geopolitics. LINK
- BIS warns stablecoins carry structural flaws threatening financial stability at scale. LINK
- AWS and Azure may face tighter EU oversight as Digital Markets Act gatekeepers. LINK
- The yen traded near a 40-year low against the dollar at 161.82. LINK
🏢 Corporate News
- Volkswagen plans to cut 100,000 jobs and close four German plants. LINK
- Airwallex raised $320 million at an $11 billion valuation, up 38% in six months. LINK
- The U.S. effectively barred Polestar from selling new cars under connected vehicle rules. LINK
- OpenAI will limit GPT 5.6 to close partners after Trump administration safety concerns. LINK
- JPMorgan named two co-presidents as longtime CEO succession candidate Marianne Lake retires. LINK
📈 Stocks
💰 Deal Flow
- ON Semiconductor shares fell 14% after announcing a $7 billion all-stock Synaptics deal. LINK
- General Intuition raised $320 million at $2.3 billion to train AI agents on gameplay data. LINK
- Framework Ventures raised $400 million for its fourth fund, expanding beyond crypto into frontier tech. LINK
- SBI Holdings agreed to acquire Japanese crypto exchange Bitbank for $288.6 million. LINK
- Merck KGaA agreed to buy Bio-Techne for $11.3 billion, expanding its life sciences portfolio. LINK
📑 Research & Reports
- U.S. grid constraints could push over 40GW of datacenter capacity off-grid by 2028. LINK
- Goldman Sachs raised its AI job displacement estimate to 15 million U.S. workers. LINK
- North American CFOs are pessimistic about the economy but optimistic about their own firms. LINK
- Goldman Sachs sees a 3.2 million barrel oil surplus in 2027 but holds Brent at $75. LINK
- Morgan Stanley says U.S. housing affordability will not return to pre-2022 levels. LINK