By Mark LaPedus In a major milestone, AMD said that its next-generation data center processor line is now ramping into production on TSMC’s new 2nm process technology. AMD’s new EPYC data center CPU, codenamed Venice, is ramping up in TSMC’s fabs in Taiwan. In the future, there is a plan to ramp production at TSMC’s fabs in Arizona. Venice is the first high-performance computing (HPC) product in t...
By Mark LaPedus In a major milestone, AMD said that its next-generation data center processor line is now ramping into production on TSMC’s new 2nm process technology. AMD’s new EPYC data center CPU, codenamed Venice, is ramping up in TSMC’s fabs in Taiwan. In the future, there is a plan to ramp production at TSMC’s fabs in Arizona. Venice is the first high-performance computing (HPC) product in the industry to achieve production ramp on TSMC’s 2nm technology. The ramp of Venice comes as AMD continues to build momentum in the server processor market, reflecting growing customer demand for processors to power cloud, enterprise and AI deployments. AMD also plans to ramp up another data center processor on TSMC’s 2nm process. That processor is codenamed Verano. Late last year, TSMC released its 2nm process. This technology represents TSMC’s initial process with gate-all-around (GAA) transistor technology. Apple, AMD and others are expected to ship chips based on TSMC’s 2nm process. “Ramping ‘Venice’ on TSMC 2nm process technology marks an important step forward in accelerating the next generation of AI infrastructure,” said Lisa Su, chair and CEO of AMD. “As AI and agentic workloads scale rapidly, customers need platforms that can move from innovation to production faster. Our deep partnership with TSMC is helping AMD bring leadership compute technologies to market with the speed and scale required to meet this moment.” Packaging deals In addition, AMD also announced more than $10 billion in investments across Taiwan’s packaging and manufacturing ecosystem. Here is where AMD’s investments are going: *Elevated Fanout Bridge (EFB) ecosystem development. AMD is collaborating with Taiwan-based ASE and SPIL, as well as other industry partners, to develop and qualify next-generation 2.5D bridge interconnect technology. EFB is a bridge die. It allows die that are next to each other to be connected in a package, according to Cadence in a blog. EFB architecture increases interc...
Obtaining approval to sell its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software in Europe is one of the key catalysts for Tesla (TSLA +0.19%) stock in 2026. Not only are FSD (Supervised) and other software services becoming an important revenue generator for the company, but the demonstration of FSD (Supervised) is a key precursor of the potential approval of robotaxis using unsupervised FSD in the future....
Obtaining approval to sell its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software in Europe is one of the key catalysts for Tesla (TSLA +0.19%) stock in 2026. Not only are FSD (Supervised) and other software services becoming an important revenue generator for the company, but the demonstration of FSD (Supervised) is a key precursor of the potential approval of robotaxis using unsupervised FSD in the future. And the good news is that Tesla doesn't need European Union-wide approval to do it. Tesla obtains approval in Europe Keep in mind: The E.U. does not encompass the whole of Europe. Many countries, such as the U.K. and Switzerland, are not in the E.U. There are two pathways for Tesla to obtain approvals in the E.U. (1) an E.U.-wide approval through its Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles (TCMV) and (2) on a country-by-country basis using Article 39 of E.U. Regulation 2018/858. E.U. approvals work differently from those in the U.S., and from one perspective, this may make it easier for Tesla to obtain approvals. Expand NASDAQ : TSLA Tesla Today's Change ( 0.19 %) $ 0.78 Current Price $ 418.04 Key Data Points Market Cap $1.6T Day's Range $ 412.91 - $ 426.90 52wk Range $ 273.21 - $ 498.83 Volume 2.1M Avg Vol 62.1M Gross Margin 19.07 % Tesla's European FSD approval process Earlier this year, the Netherlands, via its Vehicle Authority (RDW), became the first E.U. country to approve Tesla's FSD (Supervised) after more than 18 months of testing on its tracks and public roads. The approval applies only to the Netherlands. As noted by the RDW, an E.U.-wide approval process involves submitting an application that would be reviewed by the TCMV and then voted on by member states. The voting process requires at least 15 of the 27 E.U. member states to vote in favor, and those voting in favor must represent 65% of the E.U.'s population. The RDW in early May presented to the full E.U. seeking to expand FSD (Supervised) approval to all of the E.U.'s 27 countries. Reuters has reported the ...
(RTTNews) - Indian shares opened higher on Friday, tracking firm cues from global markets amid renewed optimism about U.S.-Iran talks. The benchmark BSE Sensex was up 448 points, or 0.6 percent, at 75,630 in early trade, while the broader NSE Nifty index edged up by 118 points, or half a percent, to 23,770. Among the top gainers, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Trent, UltraTech Cement, Axis Ba...
(RTTNews) - Indian shares opened higher on Friday, tracking firm cues from global markets amid renewed optimism about U.S.-Iran talks. The benchmark BSE Sensex was up 448 points, or 0.6 percent, at 75,630 in early trade, while the broader NSE Nifty index edged up by 118 points, or half a percent, to 23,770. Among the top gainers, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Trent, UltraTech Cement, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Asian Paints were up 1-2 percent. Eicher Motors gained 1 percent after it agreed to invest up to Rs. 750 crore to acquire a 50 percent equity stake in Volvo Financial Services. Varun Beverages climbed 2.2 percent after extending its exclusive bottling and trademark licensing agreement with PepsiCo till April 2049. Central Bank of India slumped more than 5 percent after the government decided to offload up to 36.21 crore shares in the bank via an Offer for Sale. The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
Key Points Berkshire's new CEO dumped a lot of stocks while adding positions in Delta and Macy's. CEO Greg Abel's biggest move, though, was significantly increasing Berkshire's stake in Alphabet. 10 stocks we like better than Berkshire Hathaway › The quarterly filing of Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE: BRKA) (NYSE: BRKB) Form 13F, revealing what moves the conglomerate made within its stock portfolio, i...
Key Points Berkshire's new CEO dumped a lot of stocks while adding positions in Delta and Macy's. CEO Greg Abel's biggest move, though, was significantly increasing Berkshire's stake in Alphabet. 10 stocks we like better than Berkshire Hathaway › The quarterly filing of Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE: BRKA) (NYSE: BRKB) Form 13F, revealing what moves the conglomerate made within its stock portfolio, is always a highly anticipated event for investors. Former CEO Warren Buffett is a legendary investor, so people no doubt wanted to see what moves Greg Abel made in his first quarter as chief executive. If I were an owner of Berkshire stock, though, I would be highly disappointed with Abel's actions. First, it appears Abel just dumped all of former Berkshire fund manager Todd Combs' picks, including some highly attractive businesses like Amazon, Visa, and Mastercard. Combs was one of two portfolio managers, along with Ted Weschler, that Buffett had hired to work with him, and he later took on the additional role of CEO of GEICO, one of Berkshire's most important insurance subsidiaries. After getting passed over to head Berkshire, he left in early December to lead JPMorgan Chase's $10 billion Strategic Investment Group. Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue » During the quarter, Berkshire fully exited 15 positions and almost all of its Constellation Brands stake. Along with newly added stocks, Berkshire went from owning 39 stocks at the end of last year to just 26 at the end of Q1. Is Berkshire repeating past mistakes? However, more concerning were the stocks Abel did add, as he bought shares in companies in two industries that Buffett has admitted were mistakes for him to get involved in. Abel's largest new position was in Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL), where he took a $2.6 billion stake, purchasing ...
We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Substance for Putin, ‘face’ for Trump as China, Russia deepen strategic alliance Days after US President Donald Trump’s visit framed a...
We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Substance for Putin, ‘face’ for Trump as China, Russia deepen strategic alliance Days after US President Donald Trump’s visit framed around managing risks, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin reached a...
Alphabet’s Cloud’s Double-Digit Run + AI Explosion = GOOG $500 Target Earlier anxieties that Alphabet would lose its search dominance to emerging AI startups have largely dissipated. Written by: Olumide Adesina • • 2 min read • Quick overview Alphabet's search dominance concerns have eased following positive Wall Street reactions to Google I/O 2026 and Gemini's adoption. Major partnerships, like A...
Alphabet’s Cloud’s Double-Digit Run + AI Explosion = GOOG $500 Target Earlier anxieties that Alphabet would lose its search dominance to emerging AI startups have largely dissipated. Written by: Olumide Adesina • • 2 min read • Quick overview Alphabet's search dominance concerns have eased following positive Wall Street reactions to Google I/O 2026 and Gemini's adoption. Major partnerships, like Apple's integration of Gemini with Siri, enhance Google's consumer AI distribution strategy. Google Cloud experienced a remarkable 63% year-over-year revenue growth, driven by strong enterprise demand and the acquisition of Wiz. Alphabet maintains a strong financial position with a low Debt-to-Equity ratio and significant cash reserves, attracting increased price targets from major institutional banks. Earlier anxieties that Alphabet would lose its search dominance to emerging AI startups have largely dissipated. Wall Street responded favorably to the Google I/O 2026 announcements and the strong adoption of Gemini. Major partnerships, including Apple opening up options for users to integrate Gemini natively alongside Siri, provide a massive distribution pipeline for Google’s consumer AI strategy. Google’s hardware strategy is paying off cleanly. Alphabet remains uniquely positioned as the only major hyperscaler training and deploying frontier AI models entirely on its own custom silicon. The rollout of its 8th-generation custom Tensor Processor Units (TPU 8t and 8i) features liquid-cooling tech that mitigates the massive cost overhead associated with hardware bottlenecks, separating Google from competitors connecting entirely on third-party chips. Google Cloud is operating at an incredibly high velocity. Q1 2026 results showcased a 63% year-over-year surge in Cloud revenue, reaching $20 billion for the quarter. Growth has been driven by strong enterprise demand for AI-adjacent infrastructure and data tools, as well as the recent acquisition of the cloud security platform Wiz...
Affirm Holdings Inc. recently expanded its collaboration with Google LLC, rolling out its installment payment options into Google Search, AI Mode, the Gemini app, and Google Pay checkout, while also extending its Royal Caribbean partnership to holidaymakers in the U.K. and Canada on top of the existing U.S. offering. These moves deepen Affirm’s presence across both major travel and technology ecos...
Affirm Holdings Inc. recently expanded its collaboration with Google LLC, rolling out its installment payment options into Google Search, AI Mode, the Gemini app, and Google Pay checkout, while also extending its Royal Caribbean partnership to holidaymakers in the U.K. and Canada on top of the existing U.S. offering. These moves deepen Affirm’s presence across both major travel and technology ecosystems, potentially increasing how often consumers encounter its transparent, fee-free installment loans during everyday and higher-ticket purchases. Now we’ll examine how Affirm’s deeper integration into Google Pay’s search and AI-powered shopping experiences may influence its broader investment narrative. The future of work is here. Discover the 34 top robotics and automation stocks leading the charge in AI-driven automation and industrial transformation. Affirm Holdings Investment Narrative Recap To own Affirm, you need to believe its installment network can keep scaling across big platforms and travel partners while managing credit and funding risks. The Google and Royal Caribbean expansions broadly support the near term catalyst of growing transaction volume across more touchpoints, but they do not directly resolve key concerns around profitability on 0 percent APR products or exposure to a few major enterprise partners. The deeper integration into Google Search, AI Mode, Gemini and Google Pay looks most relevant here, because it extends Affirm’s wallet and checkout presence beyond merchant sites into discovery and AI assisted shopping. That aligns with the existing catalyst that wider point of sale and wallet integrations could unlock new usage occasions, but it also sits against risks that competition from large tech payments players could still compress margins over time. Yet even with these encouraging partnerships, investors should also be aware of the risk that... Read the full narrative on Affirm Holdings (it's free!) Affirm Holdings' narrative projects $7.3 bil...
Lenovo Group press release ( LNVGY ) jumped as much as 13% following a blockbuster Q4 fiscal earnings report that underscored a powerful, AI-driven turnaround in global hardware demand. Revenue reached $21.59 billion, up 27.1% year-on-year, beating estimates by a substantial $2.22 billion. Adjusted net income doubled year-on-year to $559 million. GAAP EPS came in at $0.04. AI-related revenue stood...
Lenovo Group press release ( LNVGY ) jumped as much as 13% following a blockbuster Q4 fiscal earnings report that underscored a powerful, AI-driven turnaround in global hardware demand. Revenue reached $21.59 billion, up 27.1% year-on-year, beating estimates by a substantial $2.22 billion. Adjusted net income doubled year-on-year to $559 million. GAAP EPS came in at $0.04. AI-related revenue stood out as the primary growth engine, surging 84% year-on-year to account for 38% of total Group revenue during the quarter. Revenue for IDG grew 24% from last year to US$14.6 billion, with PC and Smart devices revenue rising 26%, marking the highest growth in five years. Lenovo's global PC market share reached 24.4%, the highest in the fourth quarter, and the gap with the second player has widened significantly. Premium PC shipments increased 29%, while Motorola smartphones saw record shipments and double-digit revenue growth in the fourth quarter. Following the strong performance, Lenovo’s Board of Directors declared a final dividend of 33.70 HK cents per share for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026. More on Lenovo Group ADR Lenovo Group Limited 2026 Q4 - Results - Earnings Call Presentation Lenovo: Long-Term Gain Tech firms' margins under pressure from rising memory costs PC, smartphone market to see a 'challenging' 2026 amid memory shortage, rising prices Seeking Alpha’s Quant Rating on Lenovo Group ADR
We Are/DigitalVision via Getty Images By Christopher Gannatti, CFA The Case for Low Volatility in U.S. Equity Portfolios For many investors, there is a particular kind of exhaustion that sets in after a market drawdown. It is not just the portfolio loss itself; it is also the compounding anxiety of watching a recovery that feels too slow, the second-guessing of every allocation decision, and the n...
We Are/DigitalVision via Getty Images By Christopher Gannatti, CFA The Case for Low Volatility in U.S. Equity Portfolios For many investors, there is a particular kind of exhaustion that sets in after a market drawdown. It is not just the portfolio loss itself; it is also the compounding anxiety of watching a recovery that feels too slow, the second-guessing of every allocation decision, and the nagging question of whether a smoother path was ever available. For many U.S. equity investors, the answer to that last question is increasingly: usually yes, and here is how to find it. The search for lower-volatility equity exposure is not new, and minimum-variance strategies have existed since the early 1990s, but investor demand has sharpened considerably as markets have grown more prone to abrupt dislocations. 1 The 2020 pandemic shock, the 2022 rate-driven selloff, and the volatility spikes of early 2025 have all reinforced a simple, uncomfortable arithmetic: Large losses require disproportionately large gains just to break even. Putting numbers to it, a hypothetical portfolio that drops 30%—for instance, from $100 to $70—needs a 43% recovery to get back to where it started. That asymmetry is the engine behind the enduring appeal of volatility management. Today, the largest U.S. minimum-volatility-focused strategy is the iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF ( USMV ), with nearly $23 billion in assets and a history stretching back to 2011. 2 It seeks to achieve its volatility-reduction objective through sophisticated equity optimization undertaken by the MSCI USA Minimum Volatility Index , which holds a constrained subset of large- and mid-cap U.S. stocks that, in combination, aims to produce the lowest achievable portfolio variance. The WisdomTree Equity Premium Income Fund ( WTPI ), by contrast, does not own equities at all. It writes short-dated put options on the S&P 500 Index , collects premium income, and holds U.S. Treasury bills as collateral. Both strategies mec...
Willington, County Durham: On a fine May morning, there’s no better time to look at the stunning array of ways that bees and flowers have co-evolved to interact “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a wild flower in possession of a fortune in nectar and pollen, must be in want of a pollinator,” Jane Austen might have written , had she been a botanist. All along this former railway line, on...
Willington, County Durham: On a fine May morning, there’s no better time to look at the stunning array of ways that bees and flowers have co-evolved to interact “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a wild flower in possession of a fortune in nectar and pollen, must be in want of a pollinator,” Jane Austen might have written , had she been a botanist. All along this former railway line, on a sunny May morning, there are thousands of newly opened flowers laden with such inducements, vying for the attention of foraging bumblebees. And none delivers its pollen with such deception and violence as broom ( Cytisus scoparius ). A large bumblebee arrives, settles briefly, finds no nectar and departs, leaving a deranged tangle of stamens protruding from the petals. What happened? Poking my finger into an intact flower, to mimic the visitor, there’s an explosion of pollen as 10 stamens and a coiled stigma, confined in the boat-shaped keel petal, break free. Simultaneously, they deliver and collect pollen, with a gut-punch to the insect’s furry abdomen. Bumblebees don’t seem to mind; the trap has been tripped in almost every flower on this bush. Continue reading...
Hi, this is Andrea in Prague. Welcome to our weekly newsletter on what’s shaping economics and investments from the Baltic Sea to the Balkans. You can subscribe here . Coveted Ukraine’s drone production has been one of the standout industries to emerge from the war with Russia. The country has said it could make as many as 4 million a year, and it’s been adept in deploying them. The success has dr...
Hi, this is Andrea in Prague. Welcome to our weekly newsletter on what’s shaping economics and investments from the Baltic Sea to the Balkans. You can subscribe here . Coveted Ukraine’s drone production has been one of the standout industries to emerge from the war with Russia. The country has said it could make as many as 4 million a year, and it’s been adept in deploying them. The success has drawn interest from the US. The Department of Defense asked to test a range of Ukrainian military products, including drones and electronic warfare systems, with a view to buying them , as my colleagues Volodymyr Verbianyi, Alberto Nardelli and Courtney McBride reported this week. The potential sticking point, though, is that Washington also wants to get the transfer of technology and access to intellectual property rights. Closing the deal depends on approval at the highest political level. Whatever happens, it shows how militaries are looking to tap into Ukraine’s expertise. It’s been able to strike deep into Russian territory, slowing and at times reversing battlefield gains by Moscow’s bigger army. Drones dispatched by Kyiv also managed to inflict significant damage on oil facilities that help finance the Kremlin’s war machine. Ukraine’s neighbors, meanwhile, are getting increasingly desperate to improve their defenses against enemy drones. They caused havoc inside NATO territory this week when the Lithuanian president and top officials were rushed to shelters after an air alert, my colleague Milda Seputyte reported. Estonia said a NATO warplane shot down a drone over the country for the first time. The reality of drone-imposed danger is becoming more apparent in Poland, too. Indeed, cities and towns are preparing for a dangerous future , my colleague Maxim Edwards wrote. The budget for shelters and bunkers will rise 50% this year to 3.6 billion zloty ($986 million), and that’s just from the civil defense department. Around the Region Serbia: President Aleksandar Vucic is...
TAIPEI -- AMD CEO Lisa Su is predicting the market for central processing units (CPUs) will grow massively over the next five years, saying no one in the industry had expected such a surge in demand amid the global rush to build out AI infrastructure.
TAIPEI -- AMD CEO Lisa Su is predicting the market for central processing units (CPUs) will grow massively over the next five years, saying no one in the industry had expected such a surge in demand amid the global rush to build out AI infrastructure.
Bet_Noire/iStock via Getty Images By Warren Patterson , Head of Commodities Strategy and Ewa Manthey , Commodities Strategist Energy - Oil focus remains on US-Iran negotiations Markets are still searching for signs of progress in a potential deal between the US and Iran. While there are signs of optimism, uncertainty reigns. This is not the first time a deal seemed close, only for negotiations to ...
Bet_Noire/iStock via Getty Images By Warren Patterson , Head of Commodities Strategy and Ewa Manthey , Commodities Strategist Energy - Oil focus remains on US-Iran negotiations Markets are still searching for signs of progress in a potential deal between the US and Iran. While there are signs of optimism, uncertainty reigns. This is not the first time a deal seemed close, only for negotiations to break down. So, there’s a large segment of the market that will be more sceptical about the positive signals we are seeing. While Iran said that the gap between demands has narrowed, there’s still the issue of its uranium enrichment - as well as the uranium stockpile it is sitting on. The US wants this stockpile transferred out of the country. The other issue is the management of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran is pushing for a formal toll system through the strait, a move that will face considerable pushback. Its implementation would set a risky precedent for the free flow of vessels through key chokepoints globally. Uncertainty over a potential deal is reflected in oil prices, with the market being whipsawed by headlines. However, ICE Brent still managed to settle 2.3% lower yesterday and below $103/bbl, its lowest close since early May. The latest refined product inventory data from Insights Global for the ARA region shows that total refined product stocks increased by just 3kt week-on-week to 4.46mt. Gasoline inventories fell by 131kt WoW to 1.04mt; they continue to hover below the 5-year average. The decline in gasoline stocks was offset by increases in other products. Gasoil stocks increased by 55kt, while jet fuel inventories increased by 26kt WoW despite the ongoing disruptions to Middle Eastern refined product flows. However, jet fuel stocks at 590kt remain well below the 5-year average of 844kt for this time of year. The strength in the jet regrade has led refineries around the globe to increase jet fuel yields. This will help ease some of the tightness in the jet fuel...