Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Finpresso.
In today's newsletter:
🚀 AMD hits $1 trillion market cap on AI demand
📺 Ellisons win control of media conglomerate
🇨🇳 Alibaba unveils new AI chip to rival Nvidia
🛡️ OpenAI urges Congress to set binding AI rules
🇪🇺 ECB launches Pontes to settle tokenized bonds
Plus: 🌍 9 macro news, 🏢 9 corporate news, and 📑 6 research & reports.
| 🚀 AMD hits $1 trillion market cap on AI demand LINK |
- AMD's shares jumped 10% yesterday to a record $616, pushing the chipmaker past a $1 trillion market value for the first time and making it the fourth US chip company to reach that level.
- The gain extended a five-session run as investors shrugged off earlier fears of an AI slowdown, helped by falling energy prices and the 10-year US Treasury yield slipping below 5%, easing pressure on growth-oriented tech stocks.
- AMD is shifting from selling individual chips to complete systems combining processors and networking gear to challenge Nvidia, and gaining server-processor share from Intel, though it still trails Nvidia, whose data-centre sales hit $194 billion last year.
| 📺 Ellisons win control of media conglomerate LINK |
- David Ellison's Paramount won court clearance for its $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery after settling lawsuits from 12 US states, creating one of the world's largest entertainment companies.
- The states had argued the deal would hand Paramount excessive control over movies and cable TV; the settlement adds editorial protections for CBS and CNN, a pledge to release 30 films a year, and keeps the company in California.
- The merger is now expected to close in October, though skepticism lingers, with California's attorney general, who led the settlement, saying, "I don't think these two companies should merge."
| 🇨🇳 Alibaba unveils new AI chip to rival Nvidia LINK |
- Alibaba shares rose about 3% in Hong Kong yesterday after it introduced the Zhenwu V900, a homegrown AI chip pitched as a rival to Nvidia's processors, at its annual Apsara Conference in Hangzhou.
- The chip, from Alibaba's T-Head division, delivers three times the computing power of its May predecessor and can be linked in clusters of up to 500,000 units, with mass production slated for the first quarter of 2027.
- Alibaba has committed over $53 billion to AI infrastructure over three years and aims to exceed 20 gigawatts of global data center capacity by 2032, signaling heavier capital spending as CEO Eddie Wu cites surging AI demand.
| 🛡️ OpenAI urges Congress to set binding AI rules LINK |
- OpenAI published a proposal yesterday urging the US government to set binding global safety and security standards for the most advanced AI systems, marking a shift from the company's earlier opposition to government-imposed rules.
- The move reverses OpenAI's previous resistance to mandatory AI regulation, with the company now backing enforceable standards rather than the voluntary commitments the industry had favored.
- The proposal targets so-called frontier AI systems, the most capable and resource-intensive models, and asks Washington to shape rules that would apply globally rather than only within the United States.
| 🇪🇺 ECB launches Pontes to settle tokenized bonds LINK |
- The European Central Bank today launched Pontes, a settlement bridge that lets transactions in tokenized assets like bonds be paid for in central bank money, linking blockchain platforms to Europe's traditional banking system.
- Pontes connects private distributed-ledger platforms to the Eurosystem's existing TARGET services, so that in a deal such as a €10 million tokenized bond purchase, the cash and the security transfer simultaneously to cut the risk of one side failing.
- The launch starts with limited functionality, with the ECB planning longer operating hours, multi-currency support, and full implementation in 2028, while a parallel effort called Appia studies standards, collateral, and cross-border rules for the wider tokenized market.
🌍 Macro News
- California tightens AI data-center disclosure rules, potentially driving developers toward cheaper-power states. LINK
- Trump and Xi seek trade truce, but technology disputes threaten progress. LINK
- China's rare-earth magnet shipments to US fell 21% in August. LINK
- ECB's Lane expects energy shock to prolong euro-zone inflation above target. LINK
- Goolsbee says higher unemployment may be needed to tame persistent inflation. LINK
- US diesel prices reached record $6.51, threatening broader economic damage beyond motorists. LINK
- UK borrowing rose to £18.3 billion, exceeding forecasts before October’s Budget. LINK
- US and China propose reporting mechanism for AI incidents threatening national security. LINK
- Fertilizer stocks fell after Trump said US may buy potash from Belarus. LINK
🏢 Corporate News
- Oura’s IPO could raise $2.2 billion, mostly benefiting selling shareholders. LINK
- SoftBank seeks over $11 billion in high-yield debt to fund OpenAI investment. LINK
- US prosecutors investigate whether Binance facilitated Iran-linked trades violating sanctions. LINK
- Amazon blocked Meta’s Muse shopping agent, citing terms-of-use violations. LINK
- Coinbase will offer retail IPO allocations through its app, beginning with Oura. LINK
- Mastercard to sell Pine Labs stake in $100 million block deal. LINK
- Priority Technology plans $1.6 billion take-private deal led by Thomas Priore’s group. LINK
- Tesla registered Vietnam entity ahead of entering Southeast Asia’s largest EV market. LINK
- JPMorgan and Qatar’s wealth fund agreed a $20 billion investment partnership. LINK
📈 Stocks
| ▲ Biggest winners |
| Arm Holdings rose 17% after Meta's Muse AI agent reignited CPU demand bets. LINK |
| Intel rose 12% after Meta's Muse AI assistant topped Apple's App Store. LINK |
| Warner Bros. Discovery rose 11% after Paramount reached settlement with states clearing way for merger. LINK |
| ▼ Biggest losers |
| Novo Nordisk A/S fell 8% after its 2030 growth ambitions were deemed underwhelming. LINK |
| ZTO Express (Cayman) fell 7% after Alibaba sold $500 million of ZTO Express ADRs. LINK |
| HF Sinclair fell 6% after Freedom Broker cut DINO to Sell from Hold. LINK |
📑 Research & Reports
- Bernstein says India’s large caps lack appeal despite rapid economic growth. LINK
- AI is shifting ERP software from record-keeping toward executing work, Bernstein says. LINK
- Morgan Stanley says Tesla and SpaceX increasingly pool AI and manufacturing capabilities. LINK
- Jefferies sees S&P 500 reaching 8,000 in 2026 and 9,000 in 2027. LINK
- Fed projections show rates staying elevated, with rates at 4.1% through 2027. LINK
- Australia’s 40-year outlook names AI among five forces reshaping the economy. LINK