Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Finpresso.
In today's newsletter:
🚢 Iran fires missiles at ships in Strait of Hormuz
🍎 Apple extends Broadcom chip deal through 2031
📈 Samsung's profit jumps 19x on AI chips but shares fall
⚡ Bitcoin miner TeraWulf signs $19B Anthropic lease
Plus: 🌍 5 macro news, 🏢 5 corporate news, 💰 6 deal flow, and 📑 6 research & reports.
📰 Top News
| 🚢 Iran fires missiles at ships in Strait of Hormuz LINK |
- Iran fired at least two missiles at commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday evening, US officials told Axios, causing significant vessel damage but no casualties along a route that handles about 20% of the world's oil traffic.
- Brent crude for September delivery traded 1.5% higher at $73.09 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate for August rose 1.5% to $69.56, rebounding after closing the prior session at its lowest since February 27.
- The reported strikes underscore the fragility of the interim US-Iran peace deal as both sides negotiate a permanent end to their war, with British maritime service UKMTO also reporting a tanker hit by a projectile and set ablaze near Limah, Oman.
| 🍎 Apple extends Broadcom chip deal through 2031 LINK |
- Apple has extended its chip-supply partnership with Broadcom through 2031, locking in one of the chipmaker's biggest revenue streams and signing new multi-year deals for custom silicon spanning several generations of Apple devices.
- Broadcom shares jumped nearly 4% in premarket trading, as the renewal removes uncertainty over sales through the decade's end given that Apple already makes up about 20% of Broadcom's annual revenue.
- The deal covers custom radio-frequency, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips, extending a 2023 agreement, and comes as booming AI demand lifts orders for Broadcom's specialized processors, which it also supplies to Apple rivals Alphabet and Meta.
| 📈 Samsung's profit jumps 19x on AI chips but shares fall LINK |
- Samsung forecast a third straight record quarterly operating profit of 89.4 trillion won ($58.7 billion) — nearly 19 times higher than a year earlier — on booming AI memory-chip demand, yet its shares still fell almost 10%.
- The drop in the index heavyweight dragged South Korea's Kospi down over 8% and sent rival SK Hynix tumbling more than 11%, as investors accustomed to blowout AI results wanted confident guidance and durable pricing, not just strong sales.
- Analysts including Saxo's Charu Chanana warned that today's chip shortage could become tomorrow's oversupply if production ramps too fast, echoing Nvidia's recent experience where even strong earnings failed to impress a market that had already priced in perfection.
| ⚡ Bitcoin miner TeraWulf signs $19B Anthropic lease LINK |
- Bitcoin miner TeraWulf has signed a 20-year lease with AI firm Anthropic that it says could generate roughly $19 billion in revenue, deepening the company's shift from mining toward renting out computing power for artificial intelligence.
- Shares in TeraWulf jumped nearly 14% to $24.05, and the deal lifted rival miners betting on AI, with IREN up more than 13%, Hut 8 up 12%, Cipher Digital up 11%, and AI-focused Keel Infrastructure up 10%.
- Anthropic will occupy a purpose-built site in Hawesville, Kentucky, expected to reach about 401 megawatts of capacity by early 2028; separately, TeraWulf is selling its 50.1% stake in a Texas project, worth roughly $450 million, back to partner Fluidstack.
🌍 Macro News
- Global supply chain pressure eased in June, New York Fed data show. LINK
- Fed's PCE inflation gauge will get methodology updates lowering readings by 0.2 point. LINK
- Bank of Italy's Panetta warns euro-zone growth and inflation risks remain fragile. LINK
- Russia's Urals crude averaged just $41.66 a barrel in early July. LINK
- US services activity expanded further in June, PMI and ISM data show. LINK
🏢 Corporate News
- Toyota to spend $3.6 billion shifting Tacoma production to Texas from Mexico. LINK
- Klarna applies for a US bank charter to expand beyond partner banks. LINK
- Four US states seek $1.4 trillion from Meta over child addiction claims. LINK
- Thrive Holdings raises $2 billion to buy and revamp traditional businesses with AI. LINK
- CaixaBank and Visa complete Europe's first AI agent-initiated purchase. LINK
📈 Stocks
💰 Deal Flow
- Solstice Advanced Materials to buy Element Solutions in $14.5 billion deal. LINK
- Google joins $468 million funding round for fusion startup Proxima Fusion. LINK
- Ondas shares rise after $875.8 million acquisition of drone maker DZYNE. LINK
- Thales to buy French drone maker Exail Technologies for €3.9 billion. LINK
- Sky agrees to buy ITV's broadcast and streaming operations for £1.6 billion. LINK
- Adnoc Distribution to buy Shell's South African fuel retail network. LINK
📑 Research & Reports
- Nvidia now guarantees minimum GPU rental revenue for smaller cloud providers. LINK
- Bank of England warns AI spending boom threatens financial stability. LINK
- Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs urge clients to buy Magnificent Seven stocks. LINK
- McKinsey says US nuclear ambitions clash with high construction costs. LINK
- Treasury draft warns an AI market downturn could hit broader economy. LINK
- Apollo's Slok warns AI productivity gains remain unproven outside tech sector. LINK