Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Finpresso.
In today's newsletter:
🇨🇳 DeepSeek revenue doubles to $1B run rate
⚡ Bloomberg reveals Oracle invoked force majeure on data center
☁️ Akamai signs $11.6B Anthropic cloud deal
🪙 Fed proposes reserve rules for stablecoin issuers
🤝 Trump and Xi meet but AI rift persists
Plus: 🌍 9 macro news, 🏢 10 corporate news, and 📑 6 research & reports.
| 🇨🇳 DeepSeek revenue doubles to $1B run rate LINK |
- DeepSeek's annual revenue is now running at $1 billion, more than double the rate of a few months ago, CEO Liang Wenfeng told investors as the Chinese AI firm prepares to list in Shanghai.
- The doubling followed price increases of 2.3 to 4.5 times on DeepSeek's models last month, which Liang said left demand unaffected, with the company's rates still among the lowest of major AI providers.
- DeepSeek is finalizing a second funding round aiming to raise 50 billion yuan (about $7.5 billion) at a valuation of 500 billion yuan (about $75 billion), ahead of its planned Shanghai Stock Exchange debut.
| ⚡ Bloomberg reveals Oracle invoked force majeure on data center LINK |
- Oracle shares fell 5% yesterday after Bloomberg reported the company issued a "force majeure" notice on its New Mexico data center, a legal move to shield itself from higher costs and delay payments if the site misses its 2028 opening.
- The notice went to the developer, a unit of Blue Owl Capital, whose shares also fell yesterday; both companies insist financial commitments are unchanged, with Oracle saying the campus, called Project Jupiter, stays on schedule.
- The project, part of the Stargate AI infrastructure buildout with President Trump, has faced local opposition and environmental hurdles, while Oracle's $18 billion in debt tied to the site is already trading at stressed levels, according to the Financial Times.
| ☁️ Akamai signs $11.6B Anthropic cloud deal LINK |
- Akamai has signed a cloud infrastructure deal with AI developer Anthropic worth up to $11.6 billion over seven years, with Anthropic able to add $9 billion more in spending to bring the total to $20 billion.
- The arrangement centers on distributed computing for AI inference, running trained models rather than training them, and includes a warrant letting Anthropic buy 7.7 million Akamai shares at $111.33 each, a stake worth up to 5% of the company.
- Akamai will commit $5.5 billion in capital spending to support the deal and add $1.7 billion to this year's capex to lock in supply-chain components like memory, though it left its 2026 revenue guidance of $4.44 billion to $4.53 billion unchanged.
| 🪙 Fed proposes reserve rules for stablecoin issuers LINK |
- The Federal Reserve on Thursday proposed rules requiring stablecoin issuers to fully back their tokens with short-term Treasury bills or similarly liquid assets, plus standardized capital requirements, advancing the federal stablecoin law Trump signed last year.
- The proposal also sets up an application process for Fed-supervised banks seeking to issue stablecoins, part of implementing the GENIUS Act, which mandates full dollar backing and annual audits and takes effect in January 2027.
- Fed Governor Michael Barr, a past critic of the law, backed the proposal but warned a "significant or systemic" threshold for anti-money-laundering enforcement could limit the board's ability to ensure institutions maintain compliant programs.
| 🤝 Trump and Xi meet but AI rift persists LINK |
- Presidents Trump and Xi met at the White House today, but prospects for US-China cooperation on artificial intelligence remained thin, with the two powers still competing for supremacy in the technology.
- The talks close with a state dinner attended by top AI executives, including OpenAI's Sam Altman and Elon Musk, underscoring how much the industry's leadership is tied to the outcome of Washington-Beijing relations.
- Xi told Trump that AI must stay "under human control" as industry figures warn the technology is advancing too quickly, while Trump dismissed calls for tighter rules, calling safety fears a "hoax".
🌍 Macro News
- US futures slid as Treasury yields hit 20-year highs and rate bets rose. LINK
- CFTC allows regulated firms to invest customer funds in tokenized approved assets. LINK
- ESMA will scrutinize firms’ AI and tokenized products starting in 2027. LINK
- FedNow will soon process cross-border payments, expanding beyond domestic transactions. LINK
- Trump expressed concern over the weak yen, nudging the currency higher. LINK
- US seeks to join Musk’s challenge against the EU fine on X. LINK
- BoE’s Lombardelli says a rate hike is increasingly likely if energy prices persist. LINK
- Oil eased as traders weighed a US-Iran truce against Houthi attacks. LINK
- EBA seeks to bring crypto lending, including DeFi, under EU MiCA rules. LINK
🏢 Corporate News
- Gen Digital is discussing buying GoDaddy, broadening beyond cybersecurity. LINK
- Databricks acquired Row Zero to add spreadsheets to its AI assistant. LINK
- Alphabet plans an October launch of a satellite carrying Google’s AI chips. LINK
- Alphabet’s Anthropic stake could double on paper if the reported IPO valuation materializes. LINK
- Qualcomm shares rose after extending its Apple patent licensing deal through 2027. LINK
- Bitget confirmed $351.6 million in unauthorized transfers and halted withdrawals. LINK
- BlackBerry raised its outlook after record QNX sales lifted shares premarket. LINK
- New York sued Polymarket, alleging its sports contracts constitute illegal gambling. LINK
- Ondo launched tokenized portfolios based on BlackRock strategies for eligible non-US investors. LINK
- Costco sales outpaced Walmart as affluent shoppers proved resilient to inflation. LINK
📈 Stocks
| ▲ Biggest winners |
| Nebius Group rose 7% after BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Nebius to Outperform. LINK |
| Twist Bioscience rose 16% after Leerink Partners raised its price target to $160 and called Twist Bioscience the single most important beneficiary of Anthropic's expanding biology research. LINK |
| 10x Genomics rose 11% after UBS raised its price target to $68 from $20. LINK |
| ▼ Biggest losers |
| First Solar fell 10% after Baird cut its price target amid booking concerns and U.S. solar policy uncertainty. LINK |
| Arm Holdings fell 8% after SoftBank's Vision Fund sold $1.4 billion stake. LINK |
| Akamai Technologies fell 7% after Anthropic deal warrant could dilute shareholders 5%. LINK |
📑 Research & Reports
- Musk framed projected AI infrastructure spending as a step toward star-harvesting civilization. LINK
- EU regulators warn quantum computers could break blockchain cryptography before commercial deployment. LINK
- Bitcoin above estimated mining costs may reduce miners’ incentive to sell holdings. LINK
- Wallets holding tokenized stocks surged 43-fold to 4.3 million over the year. LINK
- FRED data puts the August 2026 US recession probability at just 0.08%. LINK
- AI infrastructure and model-design spending is projected to exceed $769 billion in 2026. LINK