Alpha Coverage #114
Free Weekly Stock Market Newsletter
Coming to you this week from the foothills of the Himalayas.
Weekly newsletter bringing you a summary of unbiased, critical, thesis changing stock market news with long term impact. We cover news articles, opinion pieces and all forms of media to help you stay ahead of the curve.
A Seeking Alpha subscription would help. Here is a 7 Day Free Trial + 20% off coupon to help you get started (Affiliate Link).
This Week’s Alpha Coverage: YouTube Playlist.
Editor’s Pick:
[News] Elon Musk sets June 22 target for robotaxi launch in Austin
Musk said in a post on platform X that the date could change because Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is “being super paranoid about safety.” He emphasized that safety is a top priority, and the launch date could shift if necessary due to ongoing safety checks.
The initial launch date was expected to be June 12.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 11, 2025
[News] DICK’S Sporting Goods and Golf Galaxy join Uber Eats for on-demand delivery
Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) and DICK’S Sporting Goods (NYSE:DKS) have formed a new partnership that brings the retailer’s sporting goods, athletic apparel, footwear, team sports gear and more to the Uber Eats platform.
This partnership continues Uber’s (NYSE:UBER) momentum in expanding beyond food delivery, offering a broader range of everyday essentials to customers coast to coast.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 12, 2025
[News] AMD CEO expects AI inferencing demand to increase 80% per year
Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) CEO Lisa Su said artificial intelligence inferencing demand is now outpacing training demand due to an "explosion" in the number of models.
"When we were here last year, we said that we expected the datacenter AI accelerator TAM to grow more than 60% annually to reach $500B in 2028," Su said. "At the time, that seemed like a really big number. What I can tell you, from everything we've seen today, that number is going to be even higher. We can now see that inference inflection point. We now expect inference to grow more than 80% per year for the next few years - really becoming the largest driver of AI compute."
Su revealed the new MI350 series of GPUs, with customers such as Meta Platforms (META), Elon Musk's xAI and Microsoft (MSFT) preparing to upgrade from the MI300 to the MI350 series.
Su also said the MI355, which has a 35 times performance leap from the previous series, either matches or surpasses Nvidia's (NVDA) B200 GPU when running LLMs such as DeepSeek-R1 (DEEPSEEK) or Meta's Llama 3.3 and Maverick.
"MI355 delivers 40% more tokens per dollar than the competing GPU solution," she added.
Eric Boyd, Microsoft's corporate vice president of AI Platform, said the high volume of memory per AMD chip provides a significant advantage when running LLMs.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 12, 2025
ITA 0.00%↑ NOC 0.00%↑ KGC 0.00%↑ AEM 0.00%↑ SLV 0.00%↑ SLB 0.00%↑ OXY 0.00%↑
[News] Israel attacks Iran, airstrike kills Revolutionary Guard chief Hossein Salami
Israel launched a series of airstrikes against Iran early Friday morning local time, targeting locations it said were related to Iran’s nuclear program.
Iranian state media Tasnim reported that Hossein Salami, Commander-in-Chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps [IRGC] was killed in the strikes.
Tasnim also reported that at least three other senior Iranian leaders were thought to have been killed. Amogst them were an Iranian physicist and nuclear scientist.
Beyond Tehran, Iranian news channel IRINN reports that there were airstrikes on the city of Natanz, which is home to a key nuclear facility. Also hit were targets in the city of Khandab, where a heavy water nuclear reactor is located, and Khoramabad, the site of a ballistic missile base.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the nation, “this operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.”
Oil prices jumped more than 10% late Thursday amid fears of a broader regional war. U.S. stock futures fell for the same reason, with Dow futures down more than 600 points.
The United States did not participate in the military operation, but President Donald Trump was briefed on it beforehand.
Link to CNBC News Article - Jun. 12, 2025
Link to NY Times News Article - Jun. 12, 2025
[News] NHTSA to streamline ADS exemption in time for Tesla's Cybercab launch
Under the current standards mandated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, any full self-driving vehicle for commercial use without driver controls must obtain an exemption under “Part 555” of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. As part of its new mandate, NHTSA is taking a “dynamic and flexible approach to evaluate these exemptions” to allow the agency to process ADS and other exemptions “within months, rather than years.”
The news comes just in time for Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Cybercab launch in Austin, Texas on June 22 and bolstered shares in Friday’s afternoon trading.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 13, 2025
[YouTube/TCAF] The Next Big Short is the Trade War | TCAF 196
On episode 196 of The Compound and Friends, Michael Batnick and Downtown Josh Brown are joined by Steve Eisman to discuss: behind-the-scenes on The Big Short, what's going on with the trade war, what looks good in financials, the labor market, what's going on at Apple, and much more!
Tariffs is a risk, Private Credit and Buy Now Pay Later is a risk, US debt is not a risk. We don’t know how much debt is bad but it’s likely not 100%, considering Japan is at 200%+.
Link to Full Video (01:15 Hours) - Jun 13, 2025
News, Facts, Analyst & Market Commentary - Short Reads:
Westinghouse is said to eye major role in U.S. nuclear revival under Trump plan
The company’s interim chief executive, Dan Sumner, said all 10 projects could use Westinghouse’s signature AP1000 pressurized water reactor design. The estimated cost for the effort could reach $75 billion, according to figures from TD Cowen, not including the risk of delays or cost overruns.
Westinghouse’s AP1000 design is already in use internationally and holds the distinction of being the last commercial reactor design deployed in the U.S. The company is currently co-owned by Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEP) and Cameco (CCJ) (CCO:CA), a leading uranium producer.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 08, 2025
IONQ 0.00%↑ AZN 0.00%↑ AMZN 0.00%↑ NVDA 0.00%↑
IonQ, AstraZeneca, Nvidia and AWS show quantum-accelerated drug development workflow
The demonstration focused on a critical step in a Suzuki-Miyaura reaction — a class of chemical transformations used for the synthesis of small molecule drugs. By integrating IonQ’s Forte quantum processing unit, or QPU, with the Nvidia CUDA-Q platform through Amazon Braket (accelerated with NVIDIA H200 GPUs) and AWS ParallelCluster services, the team achieved more than 20 times improvement in end-to-end time-to-solution compared to previous benchmarks.
IonQ noted that the technique maintained accuracy while reducing the overall expected runtime from months to days.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 09, 2025
Semiconductors in focus as NEC director says 'some' China controls may be eased
Semiconductors were in focus on Monday as National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said that the U.S. could ease some export curb controls to China as part of trade talks.
However, export controls on high-end versions of Nvidia's (NASDAQ:NVDA) chips will not be eased, due to national security issues, Hassett said in an interview on CNBC.
In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang said his company will be excluding China from its financial forecasts due to U.S. restrictions on chip sales to that country. He added that he didn't expect the restrictions to be lifted in the wake of this week's trade talks between the two nations.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 09, 2025
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 13, 2025
MP Materials jumps as U.S.-China trade talks focus on critical materials
The focus of the trade conflict between the world's two largest economies has shifted from tariffs to curbs on critical products and materials, as the U.S. wants China to ease exports of rare earth materials and magnets containing them while China seeks a removal of restrictions on the sale of jet engines and technology products.
Over the weekend, China approved a certain number of export license applications for rare earth-related items, the Ministry of Commerce said.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 09, 2025
Trump kicks off Invest America roundtable, highlights $1,000 investment accounts for kids
In a bid to give American children a "strong start in life," U.S. President Donald Trump introduced a pilot program that would give a $1,000 government-funded index fund account to American children born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028.
The Treasury Department will provide initial funding for tax-deferred accounts tied to the overall stock market, which guardians can manage and add up to $5,000 annually. The funds become accessible once the child reaches 18 years old.
Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ:HOOD) plans to provide technology and capital resources for the White House's "Invest America" initiative
The savings accounts for minors were part of the House's "One Big, Beautiful Bill" that also included big tax cuts and rolled back a raft of green energy tax incentives. The House passed the bill, but the Senate has yet to vote on it.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 09, 2025
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 09, 2025
NVDA 0.00%↑ #Huawei
Huawei chips lag one generation behind U.S., but company pursuing workarounds, CEO says
In an interview with the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, CEO Ren Zhengfei stated that Huawei Technologies' chips are currently one generation behind those of their U.S. counterparts, but the company is working to boost performance through approaches like cluster computing.
Ren highlighted the potential of compound chips—semiconductors made from a combination of different elements—as a promising area of innovation.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 10, 2025
[Newsletter Exclusive] Uber and Wayve join hands for L4 autonomy trials in London
This collaboration combines Wayve’s advanced embodied AI platform with Uber’s (NYSE:UBER) global mobility network.
London and other UK cities represent complex driving environments, with significantly different road layouts and traffic laws compared to locations in the US, where a majority of global L4 testing has until now been conducted.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 10, 2025
[Newsletter Exclusive] Nvidia, HPE to make new supercomputer in Germany; Nvidia unveils AI model for climate
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) are partnering with Germany’s Leibniz Supercomputing Centre to build a new supercomputer.
Nvidia said the supercomputer called Blue Lion is being built by Hewlett Packard and will use next-generation HPE Cray technology and feature Nvidia graphics processing units, or GPUs.
The supercomputer will run on Nvidia Vera Rubin architecture and Vera CPU — Nvidia's first custom CPU, built to work in lockstep with the GPU.
The supercomputer delivers roughly 30 times more computing power compared with SuperMUC-NG, the current LRZ high-performance computer.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Energy said that its new supercomputer Doudna will use technologies from Nvidia and Dell Technologies (DELL). Doudna will also run Vera Rubin.
The Blue Lion supercomputer will become available to scientists in early 2027, according to a report by Reuters.
Separately, Nvidia unveiled what it calls "Climate in a Bottle," or cBottle, calling it the world’s first generative AI foundation model designed to simulate global climate at kilometer resolution.
Part of the Nvidia Earth-2 platform, the model can generate realistic atmospheric states that can be conditioned on inputs like the time of day, day of the year and sea surface temperatures. This offers a new way to understand and expect Earth’s most complex natural systems, according to the AI chip giant.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 10, 2025
#RYCEY #RYCEF
U.K. selects Rolls-Royce to build Britain's first small modular nuclear reactors
Rolls-Royce (OTCPK:RYCEY) (OTCPK:RYCEF) +2.6% in London trading on Tuesday after saying it was selected by state-owned Great British Nuclear to build the U.K.'s first small modular reactors, the culmination of a competition launched nearly two years ago to select a company to help usher in a "golden age" of atomic power for the country.
Rolls-Royce (OTCPK:RYCEY) (OTCPK:RYCEF), which said it would build three units, beat out a short-list of companies vying to provide SMR technology, including Westinghouse (CCJ) (BEP) and a collaboration between GE Vernova (GEV) and Hitachi (OTCPK:HTHIY) (OTCPK:HTHIF).
The government pledged £2.5B ($3.4B) for the program over the next four years, aiming to launch one of Europe's first SMR nuclear industries.
The company said it is 18 months ahead of its competition in the U.K.'s independent industry regulatory assessment process.
Separately, the U.K. announced it will spend more than £14B (~$19B) in the large-scale Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk as part of "the biggest nuclear rollout for a generation."
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 10, 2025
MU 0.00%↑ #HXSCF #SSNLF
Micron ships HBM4 to key customers for AI platforms
Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) announced on Tuesday the shipment of HBM4 36GB 12-high samples to multiple key customers.
This milestone extends Micron’s leadership in memory performance and power efficiency for AI applications.
Micron plans to ramp HBM4 in calendar year 2026, aligned to the ramp of customers’ next-generation AI platforms.
Wells Fargo analysts, led by Aaron Rakers, said in a Tuesday investor note, "MU's HBM4 also features >20% better power efficiency vs the prior gen HBM3E and achieves speeds >2.0TB/s per memory stack and more than 60% better performance over the prior gen HBM3E at 1.2TB/s."
Wells Fargo said that SK Hynix (OTCPK:HXSCF), which is the current leader in HBM share, announced its HBM4 12-high sample shipments in mid-March, with mass production expected during the second half of 2025.
"Samsung (OTCPK:SSNLF), which has struggled in HBM3/3E, had noted during their 1Q25 earnings call that it targets mass production of HBM4 in 2H25; revenue contributions starting in 2026," Rakers noted.
Micron estimates its HBM total addressable market is more than $35B in 2025. It was $16B in 2024. It is expected to expand to $64B by 2028 and $100B by 2030.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 10, 2025
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 10, 2025
GOOG 0.00%↑ GOOGL 0.00%↑ #OpenAI
[Newsletter Exclusive] OpenAI signs deal with Google Cloud for compute needs: Reuters
The deal, which had been discussed for a few months, was finalized in May, the news outlet added, citing a source familiar with the matter. Google will supply additional computing power for OpenAI's training of its artificial intelligence models, separate sources told the news outlet.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 10, 2025
[Newsletter Exclusive] Quantum computing stocks mixed after IBM unveils plans to make new quantum computer
Shares of quantum computing companies were mixed after IBM (NYSE:IBM) shares hit a record high on Tuesday as it unveiled plans to build what it calls the “world's first large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer” by 2029.
New York-based IBM, which already operates a large, global fleet of quantum computers, is releasing a new Quantum Roadmap that outlines its plans to build out a practical, fault-tolerant quantum computer in Poughkeepsie, New York.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 10, 2025
[Newsletter Exclusive] EPA proposes giving Texas authority to oversee carbon capture and storage projects
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the state is best positioned to protect its drinking water from contamination while enabling carbon capture and storage projects to proceed.
The planned approval comes as some landowners and environmental groups have expressed concerns that pumping CO2 into the ground could harm their groundwater and exacerbate earthquakes and old oil well blowouts already happening in the Permian Basin.
Federal tax credits to incentivize carbon sequestration projects that were expanded under former President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act have been left mostly intact, even as House Republicans voted to eliminate or reduce other subsidies for clean energy and electric vehicles.
The Trump administration, Republicans and some oil companies including Occidental (NYSE:OXY) have maintained support for CCS technology, even as President Trump has sought to roll back most regulations aimed at reducing CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 10, 2025
Qualcomm unveils AR1+ Gen 1 platform for AI-enabled glasses
Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) announced its new augmented reality platform for artificial intelligence-enabled glasses on Tuesday, known as AR1+ Gen 1.
The AR1+ Gen 1 platform is 12% smaller than the previous AR1 Gen 1, which is used in Meta's (META) Ray-Ban shades, Qualcomm said in a statement. It also offers better image quality and can process large language models with up to 1B parameters on the device itself, including models that cater towards image recognition and speech-to-text.
Together, these traits will “open the door to a revolution in AI smart glasses,” Qualcomm executive Ziad Asghar wrote on a blog post. They will allow companies to achieve breakthroughs such as offering thinner, lighter and more varied glass designs that are powerful enough to run AI assistants right on the device.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 10, 2025
[Newsletter Exclusive] NextEra Energy CEO says renewables needed as bridge to expanding gas power
Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind are needed as a "bridge" to meet rapidly growing energy demand in the U.S. with near-term obstacles to increasing natural gas capacity, NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) CEO John Ketchum said Tuesday, according to Reuters.
The CEO told the Politico Energy Summit that competition and high costs to obtain gas turbines, a construction labor shortage, and the costs associated with tariffs mean that it will take at least seven years to get new gas-fired power plants online.
"We need a bridge to get ourselves to 2032 when that gas shows up... and when that gas shows up, it's going to be three times more expensive than it's ever been," Ketchum reportedly said, adding that "If we take renewables off the table, we are going to have a real power shortage problem in this country."
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget reconciliation bill last month which is now being debated by the Senate; Ketchum said it shortens the window for developers to start and complete new clean energy projects to qualify for tax credits, and makes the incentives unworkable.
Ketchum's comments reverse a common defense of natural gas in the fossil fuel industry, which has long framed the fuel as a bridge to a renewables-driven carbon-free energy system.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 10, 2025
[Newsletter Exclusive] Google's AI tools are hurting traffic for news sites - WSJ
According to a Wall Street Journal report from Tuesday, Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) AI Overviews and its AI tools like chatbots have drastically reduced traffic to news sites, causing publications to reconsider their business model and implement more job cuts.
The report said chatbots are eliminating the need to click on blue links and tanking referrals to news sites, due to which traffic for publishers is plummeting.
In an interview with the Journal, the CEO of The Atlantic, Nicholas Thompson, said, “Google is shifting from being a search engine to an answer engine. We have to develop new strategies.”
As per data from Similarweb, which was cited by WSJ, traffic from organic search to HuffPost’s desktop and mobile websites more than halved in the past three years, and by nearly that much at the Washington Post.
WaPo's publisher and chief executive, William Lewis, who was cited in the report, warned that the rapid development of click-free answers in search “is a serious threat to journalism that should not be underestimated.”
Organic search traffic at Business Insider's websites declined by 55% between April 2022 and April 2025. The news outlet recently slashed 21% jobs as it saw "extreme traffic drops" beyond its control. The New York Times' traffic from organic search to desktop and mobile websites slid to 36.5% in April 2025 from almost 44% three years earlier, according to Similarweb.
The Wall Street Journal’s organic search traffic was up in April from three years ago, although the share of overall traffic declined to 24% from 29%, Similarweb data showed.
Google’s AI Overviews have also dented traffic to features like vacation guides and health tips, as well as to product review sites, and the tech giant's "AI Mode" is expected to deliver "a stronger blow," the report said.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 10, 2025
[Newsletter Exclusive] Trump administration set to repeal Biden restrictions on power plant emissions - Bloomberg
The Trump administration will propose the repeal of Biden-era climate mandates requiring U.S. firms to curb emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from coal-fired and natural gas power plants as soon as tomorrow, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
The Environmental Protection Agency also is expected to repeal stringent standards limiting the emission of mercury, particulate matter and other pollutants that necessitate the installation of costly pollution controls at coal-fired power plants, according to the report.
Opponents of the Biden-era limits have argued the mandates would unnecessarily shutter coal-power plants and discourage the construction of new gas-fired facilities needed to meet a massive surge in power demand from artificial intelligence.
"Scrapping these two Clean Air Act protections will impose profound costs on millions of people in America, including more serious illnesses and more premature deaths," the Environmental Defense Fund told Bloomberg.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 10, 2025
Trump says China will supply rare earths up front in 'done' trade deal
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said a deal with China was done, subject to final approval from him and the Asian nation's leader Xi Jinping.
As per the terms, China will provide any rare earths required by the U.S., while Chinese students will continue to have access to American universities. The deal also set the final U.S. tariff rate at 55% on Chinese imports, while China gets a 10% levy on U.S. goods.
Both sides have until August 10 to reach a more comprehensive agreement, or else the tariff rates revert from around 30% to 145% on the U.S. side and from 10% to 125% on the Chinese side.
MP Materials (NYSE:MP) -8.2% and USA Rare Earth (NASDAQ:USAR) -6.8% in early trading Wednesday, surrendering a week's worth of gains following the announcement.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 11, 2025
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 11, 2025
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 11, 2025
IONQ 0.00%↑ QBTS 0.00%↑ NVDA 0.00%↑
Quantum computing stocks rise as Nvidia CEO sees 'inflection point'
“Quantum computing is reaching an inflection point,” Huang said during the GTC Paris event, while mentioning Nvidia's quantum computing service, Cuda Q.
Huang added that the world is “within reach” of being able to use quantum computers.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 11, 2025
[Newsletter Exclusive] Nvidia's Jensen Huang talks AI factories, agentic AI at Paris event
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang said that the company is going to build the world’s first Industrial AI Cloud in Europe.
Nvidia also announced a partnership with Microsoft (MSFT)-backed Mistral AI to build AI cloud together.
In addition, Huang showed off the company's Grace Blackwell chips. He noted that the company is shipping 1000 Grace Blackwell GB200s per week.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 11, 2025
Talen Energy surges on expanding Pennsylvania nuclear power relationship with Amazon
Talen Energy (NASDAQ:TLN) +9.7% pre-market Wednesday after saying it has expanded its nuclear energy relationship with Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) to provide carbon-free energy from Talen's Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania to Amazon Web Services data centers in the region.
Under the terms of a new power purchase agreement, Talen (NASDAQ:TLN) will supply electricity to Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) for operations that support AI and other cloud technologies at the AWS data center campus adjacent to Susquehanna, with the ability to deliver to other sites in Pennsylvania.
The two companies also will explore building new small modular reactors within Talen's (NASDAQ:TLN) Pennsylvania footprint and pursue expanding the nuclear plant’s energy output through uprates.
Under the expanded PPA, Talen (NASDAQ:TLN) will provide Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) with as much as 1,920 MW of nuclear power through 2042, with options to further extend its duration; the power delivery schedule will ramp over time, expecting to achieve full volume no later than 2032, with the potential to accelerate.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 11, 2025
[Newsletter Exclusive] CrowdStrike, NVIDIA team up to provide protection for full lifecycle of LLMs
CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) announced on Wednesday the integration of its Falcon Cloud Security with Nvidia's (NVDA) universal LLM NIM microservices and NeMo Safety, to deliver full lifecycle protection for AI and over 100,000 large language models ((LLMs)) in collaboration with Nvidia (NVDA).
The Falcon platform integrates with NVIDIA NIM to deliver end-to-end protection, monitoring runtime behavior and powering AI-driven detection and response trained on trillions of daily security events and frontline intelligence, it added.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 11, 2025
NVDA 0.00%↑ ANSS 0.00%↑ CDNS 0.00%↑
[Newsletter Exclusive] Nvidia to build world’s 1st Industrial AI Cloud in Europe with 10,000 GPUs
The Germany-based AI factory will feature 10,000 GPUs, including through Nvidia DGX B200 systems and Nvidia RTX PRO Servers, and run Nvidia CUDA-X libraries, Nvidia RTX and Nvidia Omniverse —accelerated workloads from software providers such as Siemens (OTCPK:SIEGY) (OTCPK:SMAWF), Ansys (NASDAQ:ANSS), Cadence (NASDAQ:CDNS) and Rescale.
It will enable Europe’s industrial companies to accelerate every manufacturing application, from design, engineering and simulation to factory digital twins and robotics.
As part of the blueprint, Cadence’s Reality Digital Twin Platform will be used to simulate and optimize the entire AI factory in a physically accurate virtual environment, enabling the engineering teams to build a smarter, more reliable facility.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 11, 2025
Oklo selected as intended awardee to provide power at Alaska's Eielson Air Force Base
Oklo (NYSE:OKLO) +2.2% pre-market Wednesday after saying it was issued a Notice of Intent to Award (NOITA) by the U.S. Department of Defense's energy logistics agency to provide power at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska through the deployment of an Aurora powerhouse.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 11, 2025
Voyager Technologies soars 139% in market debut after $383M IPO
A key part of its business includes a $217.5 million NASA contract to develop Starlab, a next-generation space station designed to replace the aging International Space Station by 2030. Voyager (VOYG) plans to run the project through a joint venture with strategic partners including Airbus (OTCPK:EADSF) (OTCPK:EADSY), Mitsubishi, MDA Space and Palantir Technologies (PLTR).
Most of the company’s revenue, nearly 84% in 2024, comes from U.S. government contracts. In the first quarter of this year, Voyager reported $34.5 million in revenue and a net loss of $26.9 million, widening its year-over-year loss.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 11, 2025
#RareEarthMetals
[Newsletter Exclusive] China-backed militia secures control of new rare earth mines in Myanmar - report
According to Chinese customs data, nearly half of these imports came from the conflict-ridden country during the first four months of this year.
However, Beijing’s access to new supplies of key minerals such as dysprosium and terbium has been severely restricted after a major mining region in northern Myanmar was seized by an armed group fighting the country’s military junta—an ally of China.
According to the report, Chinese miners are now opening new deposits for extraction in the hillsides of Shan state in eastern Myanmar, and at least 100 people are working day and night shifts excavating hillsides and extracting minerals using chemicals.
Two residents of the area said they had witnessed trucks carrying material from the mines, between the towns of Mong Hsat and Mong Yun, toward the Chinese border some 200km away. Reuters identified some of the sites using imagery from commercial satellite providers Planet Labs (NYSE:PL) and Maxar Technologies.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 12, 2025
NVDA 0.00%↑ #SSNLF #SFTBY #SkildAI
[Newsletter Exclusive] Nvidia and Samsung to take minority stakes in robotics startup Skild AI - Bloomberg
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is investing $25 million, while Samsung (OTCPK:SSNLF) is contributing $10 million to the Series B funding round, which is being led by a $100 million commitment from Japan’s SoftBank (OTCPK:SFTBY). This latest funding round values Skild AI at approximately $4.5 billion, according to the report.
Skild AI is a Pittsburgh-based startup known for its advanced software that powers robotic systems, enabling robots to learn and adapt across various industries.
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) that is already a key player in AI chips, sees robotics as a major future revenue driver and has previously invested in companies like Figure AI and Serve Robotics.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 12, 2025
XPEV 0.00%↑ NVDA 0.00%↑ #VLKAF
[Newsletter Exclusive] XPeng is making AI chips for Volkswagen and perhaps other automakers in the future
The company has reportedly created self-designed Turing processors, which it claims perform even better than those made by U.S. semiconductor giant Nvidia (NVDA). The advanced chips are expected to enhance computing capabilities in future Volkswagen models, potentially improving features such as autonomous driving systems and in-car entertainment options.
The chip development marks a dramatic new phase in the partnership between XPeng (NYSE:XPEV) and Volkswagen (OTCPK:VLKAF). In July 2023, Volkswagen (OTCPK:VLKAF) invested $700 million for a 4.99% stake in XPeng (NYSE:XPEV), initiating a strategic alliance to co-develop electric vehicles tailored for China.
XPeng's (XPEV) Turing chip is described as an in-house, AI-focused processor designed to power the next generation of intelligent vehicles, robots, and flying cars. Developed since 2020 and successfully taped out in August 2024, the Turing chip is engineered specifically for AI applications, including advanced driver-assistance systems and large AI models.
Looking ahead, XPeng (XPEV) has signaled that its in-house developed Turing AI smart driving chip will be open to partners in the future.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 12, 2025
[Newsletter Exclusive] Synopsys said to restart some services in China: Reuters
Some services resumed last week, including the sale of non-core hardware and intellectual property used for existing customers, Reuters added, citing a source familiar with the matter.
SolvNet, a unit of Synopsys, has also restarted services in China, albeit with some restrictions, the news outlet added.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 12, 2025
NATO selects Planet Labs for landmark seven-figure contract
Planet Labs (NYSE:PL) was selected for a new seven-figure contract with NATO to deliver advanced daily monitoring and intelligence capabilities across the Alliance’s strategic areas of interest.
In this collaboration, Planet will provide NATO with a specialized platform solution that leverages its PlanetScope Broad Area Monitoring technology combined with advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) analytics.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 12, 2025
[Newsletter Exclusive] Nvidia's GTC Paris conference reveals multiple new growth drivers: analysts
Morgan Stanley reiterated its Overweight rating and "Top Pick" status on Nvidia following developments from the conference. It has a $170 price target on the stock.
"With Nvidia announcing today plans that will require 'more than 3,000 exaflops of NVIDIA Blackwell compute'; that includes an 18k GB200 phase one deployment with Mistral in France that will expand to multiple locations next year, a 14k Blackwell development in the UK with Nebius and Nscale, along with others from partners like Domyn and with telcos Swisscom, Telefónica, Telenor, Fastweb and Orange," said Morgan Stanley analysts, led by Jospeh Moore, in an investor note. "Nvidia specifically will be building, 'the world's first industrial AI cloud for European manufacturers' featuring 10k Blackwell GPUs, and AI technology centers in Germany, Sweden, Italy, Spain, the U.K. and Finland focused on development and R&D."
Evercore ISI reiterated its Outperform rating and $190 price target, while maintaining Nvidia as a "top semi core holding."
"NVDA highlighted AI infrastructure projects from 5 European Telcos, 19 CSPs and 16 Supercomputing centers all for local compute consumption and using NVDA hardware," said Evercore analysts Mark Lipacis and Natalia Winkler, in an investor note. "NVDA expects EU government to support buildout of 20 AI factories, with a handful of them being gigafactories. Overall, NVDA expects 20 gigafactories ($40-50bn per gigawatt) over the coming years – all incremental to US CSPs."
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 12, 2025
GOOG 0.00%↑ GOOGL 0.00%↑ META 0.00%↑ AMZN 0.00%↑
[Newsletter Exclusive] Tech companies working on automation AI tools pose threat to ad agencies - WSJ
Tech and media companies like Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Meta (NASDAQ:META), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) that are developing new tools to help advertisers automate creative work on their platforms pose a threat to the giant agency holding companies that have for decades dominated that work, according to a Wall Street Journal report from Thursday, citing industry analysts.
Michael Nathanson, an analyst at equity research firm MoffettNathanson, told WSJ that the largest ad holding companies will have to downsize in response to a technology that is speeding the commoditization of their services. “You don’t need a 1,000-person team anymore. You need three or four great people with a vision,” he said.
Jessica Serrano, chief marketing officer at Dig, a chain of farm-to-table-themed restaurants, told WSJ that full creative automation will allow brand-side marketing teams to handle campaigns on their own while looking to their agency partners primarily for strategic guidance.
Serrano said technology like Meta’s proposed products will appeal most to startups and smaller companies. “If I had an e-commerce business with one to three employees, I’d be pretty excited about a tool like this,” she said.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 12, 2025
[Newsletter Exclusive] BWXT-led JV wins C$1.2B annual contract to operate Canadian Nuclear Laboratories
BWX Technologies (NYSE:BWXT) +1.4% in Thursday's trading, posting a new all-time intraday high $138.51, after saying its joint venture was selected as the preferred bidder to operate and manage Canadian Nuclear Laboratories following a competitive procurement process.
The contract from Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. is valued at C$1.2B/year on average and runs for six years with potential performance-based extensions for up to a total of 20 years.
The BWXT-led JV - which also includes Kinectrics, Amentum (AMTM), and a key subcontractor, Battelle - will assume responsibility of CNL on September 13.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 12, 2025
[Newsletter Exclusive] Coinbase unveils its first credit card in partnersip with American Express
Crypto exchange Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN) will roll out if first branded credit card on the American Express (NYSE:AXP) network, it said on Thursday. The new Coinbase One Card is set to offer up to 4% bitcoin (BTC-USD) back on every purchase.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 12, 2025
[Newsletter Exclusive] Shopify partners with Stripe for stablecoin payments
Payment tech company Stripe (STRIP) announced on Thursday a deeper partnership with the commerce company Shopify (NASDAQ:SHOP) (TSX:SHOP:CA) to help the latter's merchants accept stablecoin payments.
Stripe said Shopify merchants across 34 countries will be able to accept payments in USDC in a few weeks.
Merchants are expected to have the option to receive stablecoin payments in their preferred local currency or transfer funds as USDC directly to an external wallet.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 12, 2025
Apple targets spring 2026 for release of delayed Siri AI upgrade - Bloomberg
The company’s Siri team is aiming to bring the revamped voice assistant to market as part of an iOS 26.4 software update, Bloomberg reported.
The long-promised changes will allow Siri to tap into consumers’ personal data and on-screen activities to better fulfill queries.
Apple had originally planned to launch the new Siri in late 2024.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 13, 2025
Tesla unveils upgraded Model S and X in U.S. with $5,000 price hike
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) has launched its upgraded Model S and Model X vehicles in the U.S., alongside a sharp $5,000 price hike, signaling a renewed focus on margins and premium positioning.
Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) latest price hike signals a shift in strategy for its premium vehicles. After a series of price cuts throughout 2023 and into April 2024, including a $2,000 reduction across the Model S, Model X, and Model Y in the U.S., the company has now reversed course. In February 2025, Tesla raised the price of the Model X by $5,000 to $84,990.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 13, 2025
AAPL 0.00%↑ EPI 0.00%↑ INQQ 0.00%↑
Foxconn ships 97% of India-made Apple iPhones to US amid tariff woes - report
During March-May, Foxconn exported iPhones worth $3.2B from India, with an average of about 97% shipped to the U.S., compared to a 2024 average of 50.3%, the report added.
India iPhone shipments by Foxconn to the U.S. in May were worth about $1B, the second-highest ever after the record $1.3B worth of phones shipped in March, according to the report.
In the first five months of 2025, Foxconn has already sent iPhones worth around $4.4B to the U.S. from India, compared to $3.7B in the whole of 2024, the report noted.
Trump said on Wednesday that China will face 55% tariffs after the two countries agreed on a plan, subject to approval of both leaders, to ease duties that had reached triple digits.
India is subject to a baseline 10% tariff and is trying to negotiate a deal to avoid a 26% new tariff that Trump announced and then paused in April.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 13, 2025
WMT 0.00%↑ AMZN 0.00%↑ EXPE 0.00%↑
[Newsletter Exclusive] Walmart and Amazon explore issuing stablecoins - report
Walmart (NYSE:WMT), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE) have explored issuing their own stablecoins in the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to be pegged one-for-one to an actual asset, such as a fiat currency, most often the U.S. dollar.
New payment systems created by massive retailers would send shocks through the country's banks, which dominate the U.S.'s payment plumbing.
The companies' decisions partly hinge on Congress passing what's called the Genius Act, which would provide a regulatory framework for stablecoins. The bill cleared a procedural hurdle in the Senate on Wednesday, but still needs to be voted on in both chambers of Congress.
Stablecoin-based systems could allow retailers to bypass traditional payment rails, including credit and debit cards, that charge interchange fees each time a customer makes a purchase on a card. Those systems are dominated by Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA). The banks that issue the cards, though, get the lion's share of card fees.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is still in the early stages of its stablecoin exploration, one person told the WSJ. Some of the discussion has focused on issuing its own stablecoin for online transactions.
U.S. banks and other payment companies haven't ignored the potential of stablecoins. Some of the U.S.'s largest banks are in talks to issue a joint stablecoin, including JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), and Wells Fargo (WFC). JPMorgan has had its own stablecoin for years, which it uses internally, and PayPal Holdings (PYPL) has launched its own token.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 13, 2025
[Newsletter Exclusive] AMD AI event shows MI350 is 'okay,' but MI400 is the possible inflection: Morgan Stanley
“AMD launched the MI350 as expected, but the focus remains on the rack scale MI400/450 product for next year which could provide the bigger inflection – if they can deliver,” analyst Joseph Moore wrote in a note to clients. Moore kept his Equal-Weight rating and $121 price target on AMD.
The event provided a number of customer testimonials, including those from Meta (META), Oracle (ORCL), OpenAI, Microsoft (MSFT), Cohere and HUMAIN, which were all “constructive but not thesis changing,” Moore added. However, AMD also gave a sneak of its MI400 series of chips and rackscale architecture (set to come next year) and the early belief is that they are on par with Nvidia's (NVDA) Vera Rubin line, Moore explained.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 13, 2025
YouTube:
Dividend Data - You Should Buy Stocks During Crisis - Israel Attacks Iran
A great reminder that you should buy stocks when missiles are in the air.
My favorite part of the video: “If we go into a major war, the value of money will go down” - Warren Buffett
Link to Full Video (08:41 Mins) - Jun. 13, 2025
Charts & Technicals:
Adobe in charts: FQ2 Digital Media and Digital Experience revenue grow in double-digits
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun. 13, 2025
Disclosure: We own positions in some/all of the tickers mentioned in this article.
