Artificial intelligence

DeepSeek rise blurs ASML’s AI-driven recovery

29 Jan 2025

Booming orders from customers like TSMC sent the $290 bln maker of semiconductor machines’ shares up 8%. But a Chinese model using fewer, less advanced chips is a threat, and may increase the risk of a US export purge. A return to last year’s heady valuation looks harder.

AI and fiber bust parallel is partly hallucinated

28 Jan 2025

Some 25 years ago, investors realized that new technologies destroyed the case for wild telecom spending, crushing hopes of profit. Now, DeepSeek’s challenge to ever-rising AI cost assumptions has cut $600 bln from Nvidia alone. Yet damage will likely be more contained this time.

DeepSeek offers no new answers to China’s AI bind

28 Jan 2025

The startup's low-cost model showcases the innovation prowess of the country. Yet it also spotlights how US curbs on high-end chips hold back the People's Republic in the tech race. For Beijing, the smartest way forward is to keep pouring money into its semiconductor industry.

China advance creates more AI winners than losers

27 Jan 2025

The DeepSeek model’s quality and low cost has spurred a selloff in chips and energy stocks. Chinese competition may indeed hit ‘picks and shovels’ players like $3.5 trln Nvidia. But it’s not yet certain, and making AI less the domain of Big Tech may enhance its broader benefits.

Davos presents elites with economic Rorschach Test

27 Jan 2025

Delegates in the Swiss ski resort hailed Donald Trump’s deregulatory plans and got starry-eyed about AI. Others worried about inflation, debt, and fossil fuels, while Europeans bemoaned their back yard. Assessing the “mood in Davos” reveals more about the observer than the world.

Trump-friendly investment pledges bear an asterisk

24 Jan 2025

Despite no public funds for the project, OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank unveiled a $500 bln data center plan at the White House. Effusive promises that a friendly administration has unlocked private-sector fervor are a familiar sight. History warns that they can end up wanting.

How China can keep pace in the global AI race

24 Jan 2025

The US is trying to curb Beijing’s progress on artificial intelligence. Yet national champions like Huawei, as well as the military, have racked up some wins. Given the potential $6 trln economic prize up for grabs, the People’s Republic has every reason to find more workarounds.

Stargate opens a portal to the AI feeding frenzy

22 Jan 2025

OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle’s new venture promises to plow $500 bln into artificial intelligence infrastructure. Details are hazy, one project had already begun and much more cash is needed. But President Trump’s blessing lets eager investors and asset managers feast on hype.

TSMC teases an alternative reality for AI

17 Jan 2025

The $870 bln chipmaker logged a record quarterly profit and kept its rosy forecasts. Trouble is, most of the assumptions underpinning them may be obsolete once Donald Trump becomes president in a few days. With more trade and tech wars looming, TSMC investors may be too sanguine.

Constellation mega-deal delicately orbits AI sun

10 Jan 2025

The biggest US nuclear power producer agreed to buy gas-fueled rival Calpine for $27 bln to help feed insatiable high-tech demand. Optimistic projections have wrong-footed electricity providers before. In this case, though, the price is cheap and hedged by paying in stock.

Altered states will rule in 2025

9 Jan 2025

From President-elect Donald Trump’s whims to volatile capital markets, uncertainty is rising worldwide. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists share predictions for how robotic cars, obesity drug-fueled M&A or a smartphone backlash will take root amid the upheaval.

Getty deal is picture-perfect M&A for 2025

7 Jan 2025

The stock image company is merging with rival Shutterstock. With aging tech firms in need of cleaning up, AI threats rising and trustbusters perhaps muzzled, the scene is set for dealmaking. Add savings worth $865 mln to the buyer and this is an ideal snapshot of how it may look.

AI will become a Madison Avenue sensation in 2025

2 Jan 2025

Google and Facebook leveraged hefty brand-building budgets. Netflix and Amazon are also now running more commercials. Machine-learning business models will be similarly built. The cutthroat battle for a $900 bln bonanza, per Breakingviews calculations, is about to kick off.

Smart glasses give tech giants dangerous FOMO

30 Dec 2024

Sales of Meta’s $300 Ray-Bans that let wearers snap pictures and talk to a virtual assistant have topped 1 mln shipments. Advances in AI, chips and software mean rivals from Amazon to Baidu will roll out high-tech specs too. But all will struggle to catch sight of profit.

Trump and Tesla will turbocharge self-driving race

23 Dec 2024

The incoming president could speed up the development of autonomous driving tech in the US. Elon Musk’s marque is poised to reap the rewards in what could be a $400 bln global market. Stragglers, like China’s BYD, will have to play catchup with a flurry of deals and partnerships.

Microsoft’s AI setback: an imaginary letter

20 Dec 2024

After rushing headlong into machine-learning chips, data centers and startups, the software titan is set to suffer from the frenzy it helped foment. Breakingviews speculates how boss Satya Nadella might break the bad news to investors about a drop in valuations and spending.

Adland’s main post-M&A tussle is for second place

19 Dec 2024

Omnicom and IPG are creating the world’s largest agency, but Publicis’ superior growth profile should keep it in pole position. UK group WPP risks winding up in third place. Yet that hinges on whether advertising’s big merger fast-tracks AI investment, or impedes it.

OpenAI IPO would create the next hot meme stock

16 Dec 2024

Sam Altman’s $157 bln ChatGPT creator looks increasingly like a money pit in need of constant funding. Elon Musk’s Tesla has shown that retail investors can support the stock price of a buzzy brand. An ongoing cleanup of the company’s unusual governance structure would help too.

US-China tech war will hold Asian allies hostage

16 Dec 2024

Washington’s curbs on semiconductors and other goods are starting to elicit a response from the People’s Republic. New export control rules offer a way for Beijing to retaliate. Its leverage over giants like Japan’s Toyota or South Korea’s SK Hynix make them prime targets.

AI models’ slowdown spells end of gold rush era

13 Dec 2024

Rapid progress from building bigger systems set off a dash for data centers and chips. But progress may be slowing. Microsoft and Alphabet face less existential pressure but also new competitors, putting a question mark over the $8 trln rise in Big Tech’s market value since 2022.