“If we lose this, we do not have a future at Ford,” says Jim Farley, CEO at Ford
China added 295,000 industrial robots last year. The US? 34,000. The UK? 2,500. Source: Zane Hengsperger @zanehengsperger
US technology stocks now account for a record 56% of total US stock market cap.
At the same time, defensive stocks make up just 16%, AN ALL-TIME LOW. This has NEVER happened. Source: Global Markets Investor, Topdown charts
OpenAI and Oracle are betting big on America’s AI future
OpenAI and Oracle are bringing online the flagship site of the $500 billion Stargate program, a sweeping infrastructure push to secure the compute needed to power the future of artificial intelligence. The debut site in Abilene, Texas, about 180 miles west of Dallas, is up and running, filled with Oracle Cloud infrastructure and racks of Nvidia chips. The data center, which is being leased by Oracle, is one of the most notable physical landmarks to emerge from an unprecedented boom in demand for infrastructure to power AI. Over $2 trillion in AI infrastructure has been planned around the world, according to an HSBC estimate this week. Source: CNBC
Big Tech groups are losing a political battle in Brussels to gain access to the EU’s financial data market
This was despite Donald Trump’s threats to punish countries that “discriminate” against US companies with higher tariffs. With the support of Germany, the EU is moving to exclude Meta, Apple, Google and Amazon from a new system for sharing financial data that is designed to enable development of digital finance products for consumers. Such a decision would hand a significant boost to banks in their efforts to fight off a competitive threat from Big Tech groups, which they fear will use their data to disintermediate them from their customers while extracting much of the value of knowing people’s spending and saving behaviour. After more than two years, negotiations on the Financial Data Access (FiDA) regulation are entering the final stages in coming weeks, with Big Tech groups facing almost certain defeat, according to diplomats. Source: FT https://lnkd.in/eMfM2QFb
Seagate is now the top performing stock in the S&P 500 for 2025
The GenAI bull market is expanding. Source: Mac10
Is Larry Ellison the GOAT?
1) Owns 40% of $ORCL, 2) Hasn't sold any shares! 3) $ORCL bought back 50% of the shares outstanding, 4) Now worth $401B. He is 81 years old and could be on his Yacht in Monaco. Yet, he remains the CEO of the company he founded 48 years ago, and still answers questions on earnings calls! Still creating value for his shareholders. Unbelievable! Source: Ray Myers @TheRayMyers
The Economist cover page this week
Peak AI spending growth???
Elon Musk has lost his title as the world's richest person to Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle and an ally of US President Donald Trump
Ellison's wealth surged to $393bn (£290bn) on Wednesday morning, surpassing Musk's $385bn (£284bn), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Source : bloomberg
