Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Finpresso.
In today's newsletter:
🇨🇳 China forces Meta to unwind $2B Manus deal
🤖 Anthropic signs $9.1B compute deal with Riot
💰 Meta launches $1B data center fund
🖥️ Super Micro guides for up to $72B in sales
☁️ CoreWeave revenue doubles backlog hits $104B
Plus: 🌍 12 macro news, 🏢 8 corporate news, 💰 9 deal flow, and 📑 5 research & reports.
| 🇨🇳 China forces Meta to unwind $2B Manus deal LINK |
- Chinese regulators have forced Meta to unwind its $2 billion purchase of AI-agent startup Manus, which said it will "soon resume operating as an independent company" after Beijing ordered the deal reversed in April.
- Meta announced the acquisition last December of Manus, founded in China in 2022 before moving to Singapore, but the deal drew scrutiny in Beijing and Washington over foreign-investment rules amid the US-China race for AI talent, hardware and data.
- The reversal strips Meta of technology it had planned to embed in consumer and enterprise products as it builds an AI subscription business against Google, Anthropic and OpenAI; users must now back up data created on or after December 29, 2025.
| 🤖 Anthropic signs $9.1B compute deal with Riot LINK |
- Anthropic has signed a $9.1 billion, 20-year deal with bitcoin miner Riot Platforms to lease AI data center capacity at Riot's Rockdale, Texas, campus, with extension options that could lift the total to $16.1 billion.
- The lease covers 191 megawatts of computing capacity through June 2048, built in stages to 96 megawatts by December 2027 and full capacity by June 2028, funded initially by a $573 million interim credit facility from Morgan Stanley.
- Riot's shares jumped more than 25% in after-hours trading after closing down 5.46%; the deal, alongside an earlier AMD agreement, gives Riot 241 megawatts of signed capacity and roughly $9.8 billion in contracted revenue in six months.
| 💰 Meta launches $1B data center fund LINK |
- Meta is setting up a $1 billion fund to invest in communities that host its data centers, part of a push by US tech firms to counter growing bipartisan opposition to the sprawling AI facilities.
- CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the fund in a 6,500-word essay on Monday, while OpenAI issued an open letter to Texas' governor on Friday promising to be a partner in "responsible AI infrastructure development."
- The outreach follows a fast-rising local backlash: New York banned data-center construction outright, and local bans nationwide climbed from 300 in late June to over 500 in July, signaling political risk for the industry's expansion.
| 🖥️ Super Micro guides for up to $72B in sales LINK |
- Super Micro Computer reports fiscal Q4 results after Tuesday's close, with Wall Street expecting revenue of $11.2 billion, a 91% jump from a year earlier, and adjusted earnings of $1.33 per share, up from $0.41.
- Shares rose 1.1% to $31.46 on volume 26% above normal, buoyed by more than $60 billion in fresh AI-server bookings and a raised gross-margin forecast of 15%-17%, well above earlier guidance of roughly 8%.
- Despite the demand story, the stock is down 30% over the past year versus gains of 230% for Dell and 160% for HPE, as investors weigh negative operating cash flow of -$7.56 billion and swelling inventories.
| ☁️ CoreWeave revenue doubles backlog hits $104B LINK |
- CoreWeave's second-quarter revenue more than doubled to $2.58 billion, beating estimates, while its backlog of unbilled deals jumped 246% year-over-year to $104.2 billion, sending shares up more than 14% in after-hours trading Tuesday.
- Demand for the AI data center provider's services left near-term capacity "effectively sold out," CEO Michael Intrator said, with prices for access to Nvidia's Blackwell and Vera Rubin chips "setting new highs" and older chips also renting higher.
- Despite the surge, CoreWeave lost $626 million in the quarter, driven by $640 million in net interest costs, as some investors worry the $46.7 billion of chips and equipment on its balance sheet could quickly lose value.
🌍 Macro News
- FinCEN permanently exempts companies from Corporate Transparency Act ownership-disclosure rules. LINK
- Russia's central bank approves Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT for retail trading. LINK
- BRICS nations explore linking central bank digital currencies and payment systems. LINK
- Cleveland Fed's Hammack still favors rate hikes despite weak jobs data. LINK
- Russia imports gasoline from India for the first time ever. LINK
- Nearly 300 French newspapers file complaint against Google's AI search summaries. LINK
- CFTC uses emergency powers to keep Kalshi operating in New York. LINK
- Oil nears $90 a barrel as Trump adds new demands on Iran. LINK
- Trump administration argues tariff refunds should only go to plaintiffs, not all companies. LINK
- French power prices jump 21.8% as heatwave curbs nuclear output. LINK
- SEC schedules meeting to propose new crypto capital-raising rule, Reg Crypto. LINK
- Norway's wealth fund posts record $184 billion half-year profit. LINK
🏢 Corporate News
- OpenAI operating chief Brad Lightcap departs to start new venture. LINK
- Uber sells its entire stake in delivery robot company Serve Robotics. LINK
- Google names Koray Kavukcuoglu to lead DeepMind, replacing Demis Hassabis. LINK
- Appeals court allows thousands of youth-addiction lawsuits against social media firms. LINK
- Ryanair partners with Google Cloud to deploy Gemini AI tools. LINK
- Trump Media posts $238 million quarterly loss on crypto holdings. LINK
- Adit Ventures settles SEC fraud case as founder disputes allegations. LINK
- OpenAI splits Daybreak cybersecurity program into two access tiers. LINK
📈 Stocks
💰 Deal Flow
- River AI raises $1.1 billion funding round led by General Catalyst, AMP. LINK
- Fermi shares jump 16% after landing first data-center tenant deal. LINK
- Accel closes $800 million fund for European and Israeli startups. LINK
- David Sacks' Craft Ventures seeks $1 billion for new fund. LINK
- RBC and BMO sell payments processor Moneris to Francisco Partners. LINK
- Joby Aviation buys defense startup Resonant Sciences for about $500 million. LINK
- IBM and Together AI ink $240 million deal for AI inference cluster. LINK
- eToro to acquire brokerage TradeZero in deal worth up to $231 million. LINK
- Ari Emanuel's Mari to buy West End theatre owner ATG Entertainment. LINK
📑 Research & Reports
- Bank of America finds no evidence AI is eliminating US jobs broadly. LINK
- JPMorgan raises 2026 S&P 500 target to 8,000 from 7,800. LINK
- US companies raised record $252 billion in stock during Q2 2026. LINK
- Swiss Re warns Europe faces chronic heat risk from fast warming. LINK
- New York Fed says rising credit card delinquencies overstate household stress. LINK