Alpha Coverage #143
AI, Robotics, Space, Quantum Computing, Climate Change/Energy Transition, Biotech/Genomics
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. WealthWise Coverage Universe (Only for paying subscribers).
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This Week’s Alpha Coverage: YouTube Playlist or Weekly Compilation.
Editor’s Pick:
NVDA 0.00%↑ AMD 0.00%↑ SMH 0.00%↑ #Naura
[News] China requiring chipmakers to use at least 50% local equipment: report
China is requiring chipmakers to use at least 50% locally manufactured equipment for adding new capacity, Reuters reported, citing three people with knowledge of the matter, as the country pushes to build a self-sufficient semiconductor supply chain.
The rule is not publicly documented, however, in recent months, chipmakers looking for state approval to set up or expand their plants have been told by authorities that they must prove through procurement tenders that at least half their equipment will be China-made, the report added.
Applications failing the threshold are usually rejected, but authorities grant flexibility depending on supply constraints, the report noted. The requirements are relaxed for advanced chip production lines, where locally developed equipment is not yet fully available, according to the report.
China’s President Xi Jinping has been calling for a “whole nation” effort to build a fully self-sufficient local semiconductor supply chain.
Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Chinese scientists are working on a prototype of a machine capable of making cutting-edge chips, an outcome the U.S. has been trying to prevent.
“Before, domestic fabs like SMIC would prefer U.S. equipment and would not really give Chinese firms a chance,” a former employee at local equipment maker Naura Technology said, referring to the Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SIUIF). “But that changed starting with the 2023 U.S export restrictions, when Chinese fabs had no choice but to work with domestic suppliers,” according to the report.
State-affiliated entities placed a record 421 orders for local lithography machines and parts this year, worth about 850M yuan.
The policy is already yielding results, including in areas like etching, a vital chipmaking step that involves removing materials from silicon wafers to carve out intricate transistor patterns, the report noted.
China’s largest chip equipment group, Naura, is testing its etching tools on a cutting-edge 7-nanometer, or nm, production line of Semiconductor Manufacturing International, the report added. The early-stage milestone, which comes after Naura recently deployed etching tools on 14-nm successfully, shows how quickly domestic suppliers are advancing.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Dec. 30, 2025
XPEV 0.00%↑ #BYDDY
[News] Chinese automakers outpace Japan in global auto sales -- Nikkei
Within a short timeframe, Chinese automakers have surpassed Japanese manufacturers as the leading global sellers of automobiles, according to figures compiled by Nikkei using automaker disclosures and S&P Global Mobility data.
Global sales of Chinese vehicles are projected to increase by 17% in 2025 to ~27 million units, although nearly three-quarters of that is attributed to sales domestically thanks to heavy promotion of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.
By comparison, global sales for Japanese vehicles are expected to remain flat in 2025 at ~25 million as China erases Japan’s lead of 8 million units in the global auto market in under three years.
The U.S. is expected to have sold ~16.3 million units worldwide in 2025, the best year since 2019.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Dec. 30, 2025
SLV 0.00%↑ FXI 0.00%↑ SPY 0.00%↑
[News] China names companies allowed to export silver over 2026-2027
China is set to tighten controls on silver exports from Thursday, expanding restrictions on the once-ordinary metal critical to the U.S. industry and defense supply chains.
China’s Commerce Ministry first announced the new measures in October to strengthen oversight of rare metals.
On Tuesday, China named the companies that will be able to export tungsten, antimony (materials dominated by China’s supply chain and widely used in defense and advanced technologies) and silver during the 2026 and 2027 period, metals Beijing deems as critical to support its own industries.
While China hasn’t explicitly announced a blanket ban on silver exports, the state-run Securities Times on Tuesday cited an unnamed industry insider, who said the new policy formally elevates the metal from an ordinary commodity to a strategic material, placing its export controls on the same regulatory footing as rare earths.
The U.S. added silver to its nationally designated list of critical minerals in November, citing its use in electrical circuits, batteries, solar cells, and anti-bacterial medical instruments.
The restrictions on silver come just as interest in the metal has increased in recent weeks.
Link to Reuters News Article - Dec. 30, 2025
Link to CNBC News Article - Dec. 30, 2025
NVDA 0.00%↑ TSM 0.00%↑ AMD 0.00%↑ MAGC 0.00%↑
[News] Nvidia said to approach Taiwan Semi to boost H200 production amid China surge: reports
Nvidia (NVDA) has approached Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) about increasing production of its H200 GPUs amid a surge in demand from China, Reuters reported.
Chinese technology companies have placed orders to the tune of 2M H200 GPUs, whereas Nvidia only has 700,000 units in stock, the news outlet added, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Of the 700,000 units, approximately 100,000 are GH200 Grace Hopper CPU-GPU combinations, while the remainder are H200 GPUs, one of the sources added.
Separately on Wednesday, the South China Morning Post reported that ByteDance (BDNCE) intends to spend about $14B on Nvidia GPUs in 2026 for its computing needs, citing people familiar with the matter. Meanwhile, Tencent (TCEHY) reportedly has access to Nvidia’s Blackwell line of GPUs via a third party in Japan, while Alibaba (BABA) has placed an order with AMD (AMD) for some of its MI308 AI accelerators.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Dec. 31, 2025
#BYDDY
[YouTube | Business Explains The World] The Ship That Sank Detroit Is Coming For Japan And Germany
For decades, Detroit stood unchallenged. It was the city that built the cars that built America. Then an unlikely force from overseas appeared, quietly rewriting the rules of global trade. What followed was a slow-motion collapse: factories shuttered, jobs vanished, and foreign automakers surged. Today, an even more formidable version of that same innovation is rising. Nations that once benefitted from the first wave are now bracing themselves … because this time, they might be the ones in the crosshairs.
Link to Full Video (12:19 Minute) - Nov 27, 2025
ORA 0.00%↑ #FervoeEnergy
[YouTube | Morning Brew] The world’s most abundant energy source is now scalable
For the past 100 years, geothermal energy has quietly sat deep underground — largely untouched. With the spawn of new technologies and political support, the industry might be ripe for explosive growth, but developing it might shake things up… literally.
Link to Full Video (13:02 Minute) - Aug 1, 2025
News, Facts, Analyst & Market Commentary - Short Reads:
Energy Fuels says U.S. uranium production, sales exceed guidance
Energy Fuels (UUUU) said its Pinyon Plain mine in Arizona and La Sal complex in Utah have mined more than 1.6 million lbs of uranium YTD, exceeding the top end of previously reported guidance by more than 10%, and is currently mining at the rate of ~2 million lbs/year of recoverable uranium contained in ore from the main zone at Pinyon Plain and La Sal, which is expected to continue at least through 2026.
The company said its White Mesa mill in Utah has produced more than 1 million lbs of finished U3O8 in 2025, including more than 350,000 lbs of U3O8 in December alone, and expects to continue milling at ~250,000 lbs/month of U3O8 through H1 2026 and, as previously announced, expects to shift to commercial-scale production of dysprosium and terbium, which would mark the first U.S. commercial production of highly sought heavy rare earths in many years.
Energy Fuels (UUUU) said it expects to sell 360,000 lbs of U3O8 in Q4, up 50% compared to 240,000 lbs sold in Q3, and sees $27 million in total gross uranium sales revenue for Q4, with a weighted average sales price of $74.93/lb.
The company also said it has completed two new long-term uranium sales contracts with U.S. nuclear power generating companies, adding to its U3O8 deliveries for 2027-32, and expects to complete 780,000-880,000 lbs in U3O8 sales into its portfolio of long-term contracts in 2026, along with the potential for additional sales on the spot and term markets, subject to continued strong uranium markets and production.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Dec. 29, 2025
META 0.00%↑ #Manus
Meta to acquire Singapore-based Manus for over $2 billion to boost AI agent capabilities - report
Manus is an AI startup that specializes in general-purpose AI agents, flexible software that can understand tasks, make decisions, and operate across many use cases.
The company pitches itself as an autonomous AI agent rather than a traditional chatbot.
Currently based in Singapore, Manus was originally founded in China by Butterfly Effect Technology before relocating its headquarters. The startup achieved a $125 million annual revenue run rate shortly after launching its subscription-based AI agent for tasks like research, coding, data analysis, resume screening, and stock analysis.
Manus’s co-founder and CEO Xiao Hong will report to Meta (META) COO Javier Olivan, some of the people added.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Dec. 30, 2025
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Dec. 30, 2025
NVDA 0.00%↑ #xAI
Musk goes ‘MACROHARDRR’ as xAI plans to build third data center near Memphis
xAI (X.AI) has purchased a massive warehouse for the construction of a third data center near Memphis, Tenn.
“xAI has bought a third building called MACROHARDRR,” xAI and Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk said in a post on his social media platform X. “Will take @xAI training compute to almost 2GW.”
The 810,000-square-foot facility is located just across the state line from Memphis in Southaven, Miss. It is positioned near the Colossus 2 data center. It is also close to a new natural gas power plant project being funded by xAI to help provide the necessary electricity for the data centers, according to The Information.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Dec. 30, 2025
U.S. measles cases climb to the highest level in over three decades
The number of confirmed measles cases in the U.S. has exceeded 2,000 this year, the highest in more than three decades, according to the latest data announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
According to CDC data, 11% of measles cases were treated in hospitals, while three deaths associated with the viral disease were also reported. The agency noted that unvaccinated individuals or those with unknown vaccination status contributed to 93% of cases.
The country’s previous highest measles case count was recorded in 1992 when there were 2,126 confirmed infections. Measles was officially eliminated from the U.S. in 2020, more than three decades after the first measles vaccines were licensed.
The MMR vaccine remains safe and effective, giving herd immunity when more than 95% of people in a community are immunized against the virus. However, U.S. vaccination coverage among kindergartners has dropped to ~93% for the 2023–2024 school year from ~95% during the 2019–2020 school year, exposing nearly 280K kindergartners to measles, the CDC said.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Dec. 31, 2025
GOOGL 0.00%↑ ANET 0.00%↑ AVGO 0.00%↑ GEV 0.00%↑ PANW 0.00%↑ CRM 0.00%↑ SLB 0.00%↑ SNPS 0.00%↑ VRT 0.00%↑
[Newsletter Exclusive] All J.P. Morgan’s top stock picks for 2026
These companies typically possess Strong Financial Health, Pricing Power, Secular Growth Exposure, Operational Excellence: Management teams that execute well on efficiency and capital allocation, along with Regulatory Alignment.
The report highlights three major thematic drivers for the upcoming year: AI & Data Center Expansion, Infrastructure & Electrification and finally Quality & Resilience.
Top picks (within the WealthWise Coverage Universe), all rated Overweight, with price targets:
Alphabet (GOOG) OW $385.00
Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) OW $385.00
Arista (ANET) OW $175.00
Broadcom Inc (AVGO) OW $475.00
GE Vernova (GEV) OW $1,000.00
Palo Alto Networks (PANW) OW $235.00
Salesforce Inc (CRM) OW $365.00
SLB (SLB) OW $43.00
Synopsys Inc (SNPS) OW $650.00
Vertiv (VRT) OW $230.00
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Dec. 31, 2025
#Neuralink
Neuralink to start high-volume production of brain implants this year
Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk announced that Neuralink, his brain implant company, will start high-volume production of brain-computer interface devices this year.
The company will also “move to a streamlined, almost entirely automated surgical procedure in 2026,” Musk posted on X.
“Device threads will go through the dura, without the need to remove it,” he added. Dura refers to the tough outermost layer of tissue that covers the brain and spinal cord.
Participants in Neuralink’s clinical trials are using the brain implants to control computers and robotic arms with their thoughts.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jan. 01, 2026
Apple working on AirPods Pro 3 with infrared camera: report
Apple (AAPL) is working on a new version of its AirPods Pro 3 wearable earbuds with an infrared camera, 9to5Mac report reported.
The infrared cameras could be used for added artificial intelligence capabilities, and provide users with an added ability to understand the outside world and gather information, the news outlet added. Other potential features include Visual Intelligence, which already exists on some of Apple’s iPhone models.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jan. 02, 2026
TSLA 0.00%↑ #BYDDFY
BYD officially overtakes Tesla as the world’s largest seller of all-electric vehicles
BYD Company Limited (BYDDF) sold the most all-electric vehicles in the world during a calendar year for the first time in the company’s history.
While Tesla (TSLA) saw sales slump in Europe and China in 2025, BYD Company (BYDDF) continues to gain traction and has now topped Tesla (TSLA) for five straight months for global deliveries.
BYD reported about 2.26 million fully electric vehicles sold in 2025, up roughly 28% year over year and almost equal to its plug-in hybrid volume.
Meanwhile, Tesla (TSLA) global deliveries fell by about 9% in 2025 to 1.64 million vehicles.
The decline was partly due to the expiration of the electric vehicle tax credit that helped lower the cost of ownership for certain electric vehicles.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jan. 02, 2026
YouTube:
#BTC #ETH #SOL #USDC
[DW News] The ideology behind the US policy on crypto and digital money
As global confrontation around trade picks up, we take a look at the strength the United States has in financial markets. Special crypto tokens called stablecoins have emerged as a tool to advance dollar dominance -- a position some in US President Donald Trump’s administration have taken. The US position towards crypto differs from many other countries around the world. So how did they get there? We take a deep dive into the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 blueprint for a second Trump term and untangle the ideological roots of the administration’s thinking. To get there, we travel back in time to how money worked in the 19th century in the United States and how offshore dollar markets emerged in the late 1940s in London. Because the battlefields of money will play out about how much public backing each market segment will get in the future.
Link to Full Video (13:00 Minute) - Dec 13, 2025
#VastEnergy
[DW Planet A] How we can make solar power at night
We all know about photovoltaic solar panels. But there’s another, almost forgotten type of solar energy: concentrated solar power. Its big advantage is that it can store the sun’s heat for a long time and turn it into electricity when needed – for example at night, when normal solar panels lie idle. Is it set for a comeback?
We’re destroying our environment at an alarming rate. But it doesn’t need to be this way. Our new channel Planet A explores the shift towards an eco-friendly world — and challenges our ideas about what dealing with climate change means. We look at the big and the small: What we can do and how the system needs to change. Every Friday we’ll take a truly global look at how to get us out of this mess.
Link to Full Video (12:26 Minute) - Jul 12, 2024
TSLA 0.00%↑ GOOG 0.00%↑ #Waymo
[Schwab Network] TSLA Autonomous Driving Success Putting Bulls in Driver’s Seat for 2026
@LikeFolio’s Andy Swan shows what he considers eye-opening statistics for Tesla’s (TSLA) autonomous driving safety. His firm’s data found that supervised autonomous driving was more than two times safer than having a human at the wheel. Andy explains why he believes Tesla and Elon Musk need to “get ahead” of this date to open new paths for a bull run next year. He later compares Tesla’s robotaxi unit to Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Waymo.
Link to Full Video (09:55 Minute) - Dec 23, 2025
#Helion
[Core Memory] The Machine That Could End Climate Change
Helion Energy is the secretive, billion-dollar “bad boy” of the fusion race, and they finally let us inside to see if the hype matches the physics. While most competitors are still trying to boil water to spin turbines, CEO David Kirtley is betting on a pulsed magnetic approach that looks less like a traditional power plant and more like a sci-fi rocket engine. We go behind the scenes at their “Ursa” facility to understand how they plan to skip the steam and capture electricity directly from superheated, charged particles.
This is the first time a journalist has laid eyes on Polaris, the machine designed to prove Helion, backed by Sam Altman, can produce more electricity than it consumes. It is a visual feast of “megameters” of cables and fuschia-glowing fusion reactions that feels completely mad—in the best way possible. With a massive capacitor bank and a contract to supply Microsoft with power by 2028, Helion is either building the most important machine in history or a very expensive science experiment.
Link to Full Video (13:02 Minute) - Dec 12, 2025
NFLX 0.00%↑ ADBE 0.00%↑ UBER 0.00%↑ CRM 0.00%↑
[The Compound | TCAF 223] Welcome to 2026
On episode 223 of The Compound and Friends, Michael Batnick, Downtown Josh Brown and Ben Carlson are back for the very first of the year TCAF livestream, breaking down what to expect in the year ahead.
Link to Full Video (56:58 Minute) - Jan 2, 2026
CEG 0.00%↑ HOOD 0.00%↑ MSTR 0.00%↑ $BRK
[Yahoo Finance] Investopedia’s top stock picks as the bull market enters its 4th year
Wall Street’s investing calendar has officially changed over into 2026 as Friday marks the first full trading day of the new year. Investopedia Editor-In-Chief Caleb Silver looks ahead and outlines the market trends he will be watching closely in 2026, including some of the risks associated with US midterm elections and how labor market data will dictate the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy.
Link to Full Video (07:39 Minute) - Jan 3, 2026
Disclosure: We own positions in some/all of the tickers mentioned in this article.
Solid roundup. The measles outbreak stat at 2000+ cases really underscores what happens when vaccination rates slip below herd immunity thresholds. What's interesting is this isn't purely an anti-vax issue but also reflects access gaps and vaccine hesitancy in more affluent communities where people think disease risk is low. Merck's MMR franchise benefits from these spikes but they're also stuck in a weird spot where demand is driven by public health failures rather than product innovation. I actually worked on a public health campagin years ago and the hardest part wasn't convincing hardcore skeptics but reaching families who just kept postponing appointments.