Alpha Coverage #165
AI, Robotics, Space, Quantum Computing, Climate Change/Energy Transition, Biotech/Genomics
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This Week’s Alpha Coverage: YouTube Playlist or Weekly Compilation.
Editor’s Pick:
NVDA 0.00%↑ MSFT 0.00%↑ ADBE 0.00%↑
[News] Nvidia debuts RTX Spark AI superchip for Windows laptops, desktops
NVIDIA (NVDA) on Monday unveiled NVIDIA RTX Spark, a new superchip that reinvents Windows PCs for the era of personal AI agents, featuring 1 petaflop of AI performance, power efficiency, full-stack NVIDIA AI and graphics technology, and up to 128 GB of unified memory.
Designed for AI, content creation, and gaming, the RTX Spark brings three decades of Nvidia graphics and processing advancements to slim Windows laptops with all-day battery life and ultra-efficient desktop PCs.
The new Arm-powered superchip also positions Nvidia and Microsoft to directly challenge the personal computing strongholds of Apple (AAPL), Qualcomm (QCOM), Intel (INTC), and AMD (AMD).
RTX Spark lets creators, AI developers, and gamers render ultralarge 90GB+ 3D scenes, edit 12K 4:2:2 video, generate 4K AI videos, run 120B-parameter LLMs with up to 1 million tokens context using agents locally, and play AAA games at 1440p and over 100 frames per second, the U.S. tech giant company said in a statement.
Nvidia said Adobe (ADBE) is rearchitecting Photoshop and Premiere from the ground up for RTX Spark to deliver 2x faster AI and graphics performance.
Starting this fall, Nvidia’s new RTX Spark Superchip will debut in laptop and desktop computers from leading PC brands including Dell Technologies (DELL) and Lenovo Group (LNVGY), Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang said at the Computex trade show in Taipei.
The product is a combination of microprocessor and graphics chip, built with help from Taiwan’s MediaTek, that will run Microsoft Corp.’s Windows for Arm operating system.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 01, 2026
[News] Nvidia’s Huang says Marvell could be the next trillion-dollar chip company
Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang said Marvell Technology (MRVL) could become the next semiconductor company to reach a $1T market valuation, citing growing demand for AI infrastructure driven by the rise of autonomous AI models.
Speaking alongside Marvell CEO Matt Murphy at a trade show in Taipei, Huang outlined his vision for the next phase of AI infrastructure, emphasizing a shift from traditional copper interconnects to optical networking technologies.
“When you take a computing problem, and you disaggregate it into a lot of parts, and you distribute it across the entire data center, what’s necessary is connectivity,” Huang said at Computex, the annual computing industry event held in Taiwan.
“That’s the reason why Matt’s doing so well,” Huang added, referring to Marvell CEO Matt Murphy. “That’s the reason why Marvel is so essential.”
“We view NVLink Fusion as an important long-term option for Marvell, but the monetization path will likely depend on hyperscalers’ willingness to adopt Nvidia’s interconnect architecture within their custom AI silicon roadmaps. We remain constructive on Marvell. Beyond the optionality around Nvidia, our positive view continues to be driven primarily by Marvell’s positioning in custom AI silicon and connectivity,” GF analyst Jeff Pu said.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 02, 2026
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 02, 2026
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 02, 2026
[News] T1 Energy to buy KORE Power, entering BESS and data center infrastructure markets
T1 Energy (TE) down 2.3% pre-market Wednesday after saying it agreed to acquire KORE Power, an engineering-focused battery energy storage systems and software solutions provider supporting industrial hyperscaler development, in a deal valued at ~$32M.
T1 (TE) expects the acquisition to provide an entry point into the energy storage and AI data center infrastructure markets through an expanded potential customer base for solar and storage solutions.
KORE Power’s NRI division, which is focused on designing, delivering, installing, and operating utility-scale energy storage solutions and has deployed ~1,100 BESS projects worldwide, is considered the “strategic centerpiece” of the acquisition.
T1 (TE) expects the transaction will generate positive EBITDA in 2026 and contribute $15M-$20M of EBITDA in 2027.
T1 Energy (TE), which is building its first solar cell fab in Texas and expects to start producingcells by the end of the year, is an important part of establishing an end-to-end U.S. polysilicon-to-solar-panel supply chain, and as such will benefit from several macroeconomic shifts, Northland analyst Gus Richard says.
The company’s products are primarily used for utility-scale solar, the least expensive and quickest-to-build source of electricity, Richard notes; the alternatives, new natural gas combined-cycle plants and nuclear power plants, take years before large-scale deployment comes on-line and are more expensive forms of energy.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 03, 2026
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 03, 2026
[News] JinkoSolar to supply power to Chinese desert AI data center - report
JinkoSolar (JKS) is poised to enter the data center business, planning to build a massive 1 GW data center near the desert city of Zhongwei in western China, supplying power directly from its plants to meet the growing demand from the spread of artificial intelligence, Nikkei reported Wednesday.
Construction of the data center spread out over 530K sq meters reportedly is set to begin this year, with a goal of completion by 2028.
Operating data centers in tandem with power plants is known in China as computing powercoordination, a term that was included for the first time in a government policy document released in March outlining policies for this year, but a solar panel maker—JinkoSolar (JKS)—is uniquely taking the lead in this case.
Jinko (JKS) decided to run the data center because revenue in the external power supply business depends on factors such as securing long-term contracts and maintaining an advantage in price negotiations, and it aims to stabilize earnings by shifting from an electricity supplier to a company that generates and manages demand, the Nikkei report said.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 03, 2026
[News] Redwire wins Astrobiome Space contract for first commercial space greenhouse mission
Redwire (RDW) Thursday said that it has been awarded a contract from Astrobiome Space S.à r.l., a Luxembourg-based biotech company pioneering microbiome solutions for regenerative space agriculture, to grow strawberries and test Astrobiome Space’s proprietary soil enhancement product inside Redwire’s Greenhouse systems on board the International Space Station.
This award marks the inaugural flight for Redwire’s trailblazing Greenhouse system—the world’s first commercial space greenhouse.
The Redwire Greenhouse provides a simple, scalable commercial solution for customers seeking to advance crop science from benchtop laboratory facilities to true production in space.
Astrobiome Space will begin growing test crops in the Greenhouse system on Earth in June, in preparation for the ISS flight.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 04, 2026
[News] Apple’s AI-focused apps on its App Store increase billings revenue fourfold
AI-focused apps stormed into Apple’s (AAPL) App Store, as billings revenue for such apps increased fourfold in 2025, and 40 of the top 100 apps on the storefront for that year featured consumer-facing AI capabilities, according to a new study by the Analysis Group.
Some of these apps include Daydream: AI for Fashion, which acts as a personal stylist; Capy, an AI-powered meeting translator; VSCO, an AI-powered photography editor; and Linearity Curve Graphic Design, an AI-enhanced illustrator for digital artwork.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 04, 2026
COIN 0.00%↑ BETR 0.00%↑ CRCL 0.00%↑
[News] Coinbase, Better offer first Fannie Mae-eligible crypto-backed mortgage to Michigan couple in early 30s
The first loan was closed by Joe, a software engineer, and Amy, a graduate student. The couple pledged their crypto as collateral to buy their first home instead of liquidating their long-term Bitcoin position, incurring capital gains taxes, and forfeiting future upside.
The product, which enables Americans who qualify for a mortgage with BETR to pledge crypto tokens as collateral to fund their cash down payment, initially supports Bitcoin (BTC-USD) and Circle Internet Group’s (CRCL) USDC (USDC-USD). However, the plan is to expand support to additional digital assets as the market matures.
At BETR, about 41% of pre-approved customers qualify on income and credit but do not have the cash for a traditional down payment.
“The 30-year fixed mortgage was designed for a generation that kept its savings in a bank account and built equity through a single employer. That’s not the financial reality of millions of qualified buyers today that are building real wealth in digital assets,” said Better CEO Vishal Garg.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 04, 2026
News, Facts, Analyst & Market Commentary - Short Reads:
HON 0.00%↑ #HONA
Honeywell unveils new brands ahead of June 29 aerospace spin-off
Honeywell (HON) on Monday announced the new brand identities for its automation and aerospace businesses ─ Honeywell Technologies and Honeywell Aerospace. These will become two independent, publicly traded companies on June 29, 2026, when Honeywell spins off its aerospace business.
Honeywell, which has a market value of $150.72B, said the automation business will be known as Honeywell Technologies and will continue to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker “HON.”
The company will be a global leader of the industrial world’s transition from automation to autonomy, with a comprehensive portfolio of mission-critical, outcome-based technologies, solutions, and software to drive customers’ productivity and growth.
The aerospace business, meanwhile, will trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker “HONA” and will be known as Honeywell Aerospace. The company will be one of the largest publicly traded, pure-play aerospace suppliers, with leading positions in technology and systems that will continue delivering the future of aviation through increasing electrification and autonomous flight.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 01, 2026
Uber, Autobrains partner on Munich robotaxi program powered by Nvidia Drive
Uber (UBER), and Autobrains on Monday announced a strategic collaboration to launch a robotaxi program in Munich, combining Uber’s ride-hailing platform, Autobrains’ agentic autonomous driving intelligence, and Nvidia Drive’s (NVDA) robotaxi-ready level 4 Hyperion platform to support scalable autonomous mobility for commercial ride-hailing.
Pending regulatory approval, Munich will serve as the first deployment city for the robotaxi program, establishing an OEM-agnostic model to scale autonomous ride-hailing across vehicle platforms and urban markets.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 01, 2026
Nvidia highlights agentic and physical AI, key partnerships at Computex
Nvidia launched an open world foundation model for physical AI called Cosmos 3.
The company noted that Cosmos 3 is the world’s first fully open omnimodel that can natively understand and generate text, images, video, ambient sound, and actions with leading physics accuracy, reducing physical AI training and evaluation cycles from months to days.
An open world foundation model is an AI architecture that understands the physical laws of the real world. An omnimodel is a type of AI system that perceives, reasons, and generates across multiple data types — such as text, images, audio, and video — in a single unified architecture.
The company launched Nemotron 3 Ultra, a 550-billion-parameter mixture-of-experts model that delivers frontier-level intelligence to long-running agents across coding, research, and enterprise workflows.
Nvidia also introduced the Alpamayo 2 Super open reasoning model for robotaxis.
It is a 32-billion-parameter reasoning‑based vision language action, or VLA, model that reasons, plans, and acts across the full driving stack for safer, scalable level 4 development.
In addition, Nvidia unveiled Isaac GR00T Reference Humanoid Robot, the first open humanoid robot reference design built on Nvidia Jetson Thor and the Isaac GR00T open development platform.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 01, 2026
ITA 0.00%↑ USO 0.00%↑ FCG 0.00%↑
Crude oil spikes as Iran says stopping talks with U.S., will ‘completely’ block Strait of Hormuz
Crude oil futures jumped Monday after Iran’s Tasnim state-affiliated news outlet said Iranian negotiators will stop exchanging messages with the U.S. through intermediaries in protest of Israel’s attacks in Lebanon and Gaza.
Iran will completely block the Strait of Hormuz and open other fronts, including the Bab el-Mandeb Strait which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, according to the Tasnim report.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Monday it had targeted an air base used by the U.S. in response to an attack on southern Iran; the group did not identify the base, but Kuwait activated air defenses and denounced Iranian missile and drone attacks.
Fighting in Lebanon has continued despite the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered troops to move further into Lebanon in the battle against Iranian-backed Hezbollah.
Oil prices dropped from their highs after President Trump said the growing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon will stop, following calls he held with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Hezbollah “through highly placed representatives.”
Netanyahu said he told Trump on their call that “if Hezbollah does not cease attacking our cities and citizens, Israel will attack terror targets in Beirut” and that the Israeli military will continue to operate as planned in southern Lebanon.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 01, 2026
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 01, 2026
Marvell edges up after releasing 102.4 Tbps switch built for AI infrastructure
Marvell Technology (MRVL) released the Teralynx T100 in what the company described as the industry’s first 102.4 Tbps switch silicon that was purposely built for AI infrastructure.
The semiconductor firm also said the T100 uses up to 25% less power than competitive solutions.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 01, 2026
FLNC 0.00%↑ NVDA 0.00%↑ #SIEGY
Fluence Energy skyrockets on tie-up with Siemens, Nvidia for AI data center design
Siemens (SIEGY) said it will partner with Fluence (FLNC) to develop infrastructure built with Nvidia’s (NVDA) Vera Rubin NVL72, a new rack-scale AI supercomputer designed for use in data centers.
The companies said the blueprint, which incorporates design work from nVent Electric (NVT), would translate Nvidia’s (NVDA) AI factory vision into deployable systems for data center providers; reference plans involve a 136 MW data center facility that would incorporate Fluence (FLNC) batteries.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 01, 2026
#Binance
Binance becomes first global crypto exchange to offer direct stock trading worldwide
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance on Monday said its users can now also trade in U.S. stocks and ETFs in addition to crypto tokens on its platform.
The Binance app will let users trade over 7,000 stocks and ETFs, making the company the first global crypto exchange to offer direct stock trading worldwide.
Binance said its users can also opt into fully paid securities lending from June 4, allowing additional yield on shares by lending them out while retaining ownership.
Furthermore, the company said its users can buy stocks and ETFs with stablecoins used for their crypto portfolio, including USDT (USDT-USD) and USDC (USDC-USD).
Binance users can trade stocks and ETFs 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 01, 2026
[Newsletter Exclusive] MP Materials, USA Rare Earth rally as Needham starts coverage with Buy ratings
Needham analyst Carter Goman sees MP Materials (MP), the largest producer of rare earth materials in the Western Hemisphere, as a “clear leader” with “early mover advantages,” believing the sector is in the front end of a multi-year rare earths investment cycle as supply chains increasingly bifurcate between China and non-China.
While significant amounts of capacity have been announced, Goman thinks MP’s (MP) odds of success are among the highest, given legacy operations at Mountain Pass and the strength of the management team.
“As we reach the latter part of the decade and into the 2030s, the story should shift focus back to demand growth, with broader EV adoption and eventually ramping humanoid robot deployments,” Goman writes.
The analyst also thinks USA Rare Earth (USAR) has assembled a unique collection of assets across the value chain, along with a strong management team, that position the company as a leader of the secular push to decouple rare earth magnet supply chains from China.
With the Serra Verde acquisition expected to close in Q3, the integration of LCM, and first magnet shipments to customers beginning in H2 2026, Goman says USA Rare Earth (USAR) is “on the cusp of ramping meaningful capacity.”
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 01, 2026
[Newsletter Exclusive] Moderna, Merck release promising data on mRNA cancer vaccine
Moderna (MRNA) and Merck (MRK) said that the experimental cancer vaccine intismeran autogene plus Keytruda (pembrolizumab) led to a 49% decline in the risk of recurrence or death, and a 50% reduction in the risk of distant metastasis, compared to Keytruda alone, or death in patients with late-stage melanoma.
The data is based on a median five-year follow-up of the phase 2 KEYNOTE-942/mRNA-4157-P201.
Overall survival, an exploratory endpoint, also showed a positive trend.
Enrolled patients had high-risk stage III/IV melanoma.
Intismeran autogene, known as an mRNA-individualized neoantigen therapy, is also under investigation by the two companies for other tumor types, including non-small cell lung cancer, bladder cancer, and renal cell carcinoma.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 01, 2026
Credo Technology Non-GAAP EPS of $1.16 beats by $0.13, revenue of $437M (+157.0% Y/Y) beats by $3.7M
“We believe fiscal ‘27 represents an inflection point for Credo’s optical business.” (President, CEO & Chairman Brennan)
“That inflection is bolstered by more than $600 million in optical revenue ... driving more than 80% year-over-year total revenue growth for the full year.” (Chief Financial Officer Fleming)
“In fiscal ‘27, we expect our optical DSPs, SiPho PICs and ZeroFlap optics will each contribute more than $100 million of revenue and in total, more than $600 million of revenue, with this expected ramp accelerating in the second half of the year.” (President, CEO & Chairman Brennan)
First Quarter of Fiscal Year 2027 Financial Outlook: Revenue is expected to be between $465.0 million and $475.0 million vs consensus of $464.67M.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 01, 2026
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 01, 2026
Bloom Energy CEO sees no need to raise capital despite AI boom
Bloom Energy (BE) makes fuel cells that generate electricity from natural gas through a chemical reaction, rather than burning the fuel. Bloom can recover the cost of building a new factory in six months through sales, making it unnecessary to raise capital, KR Sridhar said in an interview on Monday.
Also, rising local opposition to data centers presents an opening for Bloom Energy (BE), whose fuel cells are cleaner and quieter than conventional power-generating systems, according to CEO KR Sridhar.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 02, 2026
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 02, 2026
#SKHynix
[Newsletter Exclusive] SK Hynix to double wafer capacity to ease memory shortage
Chairman Chey Tae-won told reporters in Taipei that the company is responding to a persistent shortage of memory chips that could continue through 2030. While SK Hynix intends to increase investment to expand capacity, Chey did not disclose how much the company plans to spend.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 02, 2026
WeRide, Uber bring robotaxis to Madrid
WeRide (WRD) and Uber Technologies (UBER) announced plans to launch Spain’s first commercial robotaxi pilot in the Region of Madrid, marking the companies’ first joint entry into the European market.
This marks the fourth of the 15 cities outlined under WeRide and Uber’s previous agreement, with another 11 cities to come by 2030.
The service is expected to begin operations later this year, in collaboration with Madrid’s Regional Government (Comunidad de Madrid), with rides available via the Uber app.
It will be carried out with the support of AVOMO, a Moove Cars Group company, and Uber’s AV fleet operations partner in the U.S. in both Atlanta and Austin, using WeRide’s autonomous driving technology.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 02, 2026
Generac signs global supply deal with hyperscale data center operator; shares up 7%
Generac Holdings (GNRC) has signed a global supply agreement with a hyperscale data center operator to supply backup power generators for the company’s data center infrastructure, it said on Tuesday, sending shares up 7% in early trade.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 02, 2026
[Newsletter Exclusive] SEALSQ buys Miraex to expand quantum solutions
SEALSQ Corp (LAES), a subsidiary of WISeKey International (WKEY), on Tuesday announced the acquisition of 100% of Miraex SA, a developer of photonics-based quantum interconnect solutions headquartered at the EPFL Innovation Park in Ecublens, Switzerland.
As part of this strategic transaction, SEALSQ has acquired the entire issued share capital of Miraex SA.
SEALSQ Corp. (LAES) Monday also reported its participation as a lead investor in Quobly’s €130 million Series A financing. The round is led by ST Microelectronics (STM), SEALSQ, Isalt, and the French Public Investment Bank (BPI France).
The SEALSQ investment made via the SEALSQ Quantum Fund supports Quobly’s industrialization of silicon-based quantum processors and the deployment of its first commercial systems.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 02, 2026
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 02, 2026
Voyager to buy Astrobotic Technology for up to $300M
Voyager Technologies (VOYG) has agreed to acquire Astrobotic Technology, a Pittsburgh-based company specializing in commercial lunar delivery, lunar power systems and reusable rocket technology.
The transaction, valued at up to approximately $300M including contingent consideration, is expected to close by early July 2026, subject to customary regulatory approvals. The consideration will be paid in a combination of cash and stock.
“With Astrobotic, Voyager is now a lunar platform that will have capability at every infrastructure layer needed to put Americans on the lunar surface and keep them there,” said Dylan Taylor, chairman & CEO, Voyager.
Voyager said it plans to increase investment in Astrobotic’s lunar transportation, power and reusable rocket programs as it seeks to support future U.S. lunar exploration and Moon Base initiatives.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 02, 2026
Broadcom surges after unveiling broadband Edge AI portfolio products
The company said that the lineup of AI-ready broadband solutions includes a 50G Passive Optical Network, or PON, gateway System-on-Chip, or SoC, a comprehensive Wi-Fi 8 product family, and a joint 5G and Wi-Fi 8 fixed wireless access, or FWA, platform solution.
Designed to enhance intelligence and security across smart homes and enterprises, these solutions deliver low latency, localized processing, and robust reliability essential for next-generation connected AI applications, according to the company.
Broadcom noted that the newest integrated Wi-Fi 8 and broadband solutions are engineered to maximize performance while minimizing total latency and making the edge more intelligent.
The CPU and neural processing unit, or NPU, capabilities can enable these broadband devices to operate as intelligent agentic orchestrators. Operators and original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, can use the chips’ capabilities to dynamically route compute between the edge and the cloud while simultaneously serving as the local agentic compute engine, the company added.
“By deploying NPUs across our Wi-Fi 8 and broadband solutions, we empower service providers to secure user privacy, reduce network congestion, and deliver the multi-gigabit, sub-millisecond connectivity that enables the AI era,” said Vijay Nagarajan, vice president of marketing in Broadcom’s Wireless and Broadband Communications Division.
Broadcom has collaborated with Samsung (SSNLF) to develop the integrated 5G and Wi-Fi 8 FWA platform.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 02, 2026
AppLovin slips even as Citi adds 90-day catalyst watch
“We see scope for potential upside as AppLovin’s eCommerce platform migrates from the pilot/referral phase to general availability by June 30, 2026,” analysts at the firm wrote in a note to clients. “Currently, new eCommerce customers are somewhat limited as new firms must receive a referral code to join the platform. We expect general availability will open up the platform and may result in an acceleration of store growth and eCommerce revenue. We’d note, ahead of general availability, AppLovin seems to have increased Axon marketing.”
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 02, 2026
AA 0.00%↑ CENX 0.00%↑ RIO 0.00%↑
[Newsletter Exclusive] Aluminum climbs to new four-year highs; analysts say rally far from over
Aluminum futures on the London Metal Exchange rose to its highest in more than four years on Tuesday, and some industry watchers say aluminum’s rally is far from done.
LME aluminum (LMAHDS03:COM) recently traded up 1.3% at $3,765/ton, marking an advance of more than 25% this year.
In a sign of tighter markets, cash aluminum contracts were as much as $116.50/ton more expensive than three-month futures on Tuesday, the biggest premium since 2007, according to Bloomberg.
Commodities are facing a “super squeeze” that will worsen if the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively shut, HSBC analysts said in a note.
“The longer the strait is closed, the more inventories are run down, the more likely it is that we reach ‘tipping points’ in the markets for some commodities,” HSBC analysts wrote, although knowing exactly when that might happen is hard to determine.
For aluminum, “the structural demand story is positive, but a key driver of late has been the damage to smelting capacity in the Middle East,” the analysts said, noting the region accounted for ~10% of global output before the conflict began.
Up to 3.5M tons of Middle East aluminum production will be lost this year, roughly half the region’s recent annual output, Wood Mackenzie analyst Charvi Trivedi told The Wall Street Journal.
“We think we could see real physical scarcity of metal over the next six months in Europe or in North America,” Alcoa (AA) CEO Bill Oplinger told a Miami conference this month.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 02, 2026
SNOW 0.00%↑ #Anthropic
Snowflake and Anthropic partnership drives enterprise AI adoption
Snowflake’s (SNOW) partnership with Anthropic (ANTHRO) is driving up Claude adoption by enterprises through Snowflake Cortex AI, the companies announced today at Snowflake Summit 26.
The two companies initially announced the multi-year partnership in December 2025.
“The rapid adoption of models like Claude through Snowflake Cortex AI reflects a broader shift in what enterprises expect from AI,” said Christian Kleinerman, EVP of Product at Snowflake. “Customers want AI that works directly on their governed data, not in isolated systems. We’re seeing strong demand across our AI products, with Snowflake Cortex Code becoming the fastest-growing product in Snowflake’s history.”
Snowflake’s Cortex Code now has more than 7,100 users.
“Snowflake brings the governed data environment enterprises already rely on, and Claude brings the reasoning to put that data to work,” said Steve Corfield, Head of Global Business Development & Partnerships at Anthropic. “Together we’re making it easy for organizations to use trusted AI on their most critical business data.”
At its Snowflake Summit 26, the company announced new capabilities for its coding agent Snowflake CoCo, formerly known as Cortex Code. The company said the new capabilities in CoCo bring the experience across desktop, mobile, and Slack interfaces, meeting builders where they work to build, iterate, and ship. Builders can now let CoCo run tasks autonomously, assist with end-to-end app development and deployment, and help teams deliver production-ready results faster and more securely.
Snowflake also introduced Snowflake Datastream, a new, fully managed streaming service for Apache Kafka that brings real-time data and AI together in a single, governed platform. This gives organizations an easier way to power AI apps and agents with continuously flowing data, according to the company.
The company also unveiled enhancements to Snowflake CoWork, formerly Snowflake Intelligence, designed to provide more AI capabilities to workers grappling with fragmented data, tools, and workflows that don’t understand the full context of their work.
With innovations including Artifacts, Cortex Sense, and personalization, CoWork unifies data, context, and AI into a single agent experience so that business teams can safely interact with AI to drive decisions and execution with confidence, the company added.
In addition, Snowflake highlighted innovations in the Snowflake Horizon Catalog to govern, contextualize, and secure AI. New enhancements ensure that every person, tool, and agent shares the same trusted business context through richer semantic views, built-in governance, and security controls, the company noted.
Snowflake also introduced new capabilities for interoperability, enabling organizations to access, govern, share, and act on data across systems without compromise.
The company said that for the first time, enterprises can work on a single, live, governed copy of their data wherever it resides across Snowflake, external lakes, and open systems, without moving or duplicating it. Powered by Snowflake Horizon Catalog, organizations can now transform siloed data into a connected, AI-ready foundation where users and AI agents securely discover, govern, and access the full business context.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 02, 2026
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 02, 2026
[Newsletter Exclusive] USA Rare Earth selects South Carolina for $1.2B magnet manufacturing, rare earth metals facility
The plant is expected to produce 6,400 metric tons/year of NdFeB magnets and 5K tons/year of rare earth metals and alloys, with commissioning targeted to begin in 2028; combined with the planned expansion at the company’s Oklahoma plant, USA Rare Earth (USAR) expects total domestic production capacity to reach 10K tons/year of NdFeB rare earth magnets and 10K tons/year of heavy rare earth metals and alloys.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 02, 2026
Microsoft flexes AI muscles with new in-house models, agents and quantum chips at Build
The company announced several new models developed by Microsoft AI. The new models include MAI-Thinking-1, MAI-Code-1-Flash, MAI-Image-2.5, MAI-Transcribe-1.5 and MAI-Voice-2.
“The compute used to train frontier models has increased by a factor of one trillion. Now we expect another thousand-fold increase over the next three years,” said Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman.
Microsoft also unveiled Majorana 2, its latest topological quantum chip, which the company said was built in part by Microsoft Discovery’s agentic AI. The new chip’s qubits are 1,000 times more reliable than predecessors, the company said.
Microsoft now expects to develop a scalable quantum computer by 2029, reducing its prior timeline by several years.
The Redmond-based corporation also announced the general availability of Microsoft Discovery, a comprehensive platform for organizations to utilize frontier research and development. There is also a Microsoft Discovery app available in early preview.
The company introduced Microsoft Scout, which is intended to serve as an always-on personal agent. It is considered the first of a new category of AI agents that Microsoft has named Autopilots.
“Autopilots stay active in the background, understand how work gets done across your apps and systems, and take action without needing to be prompted each time,” said Omar Shahine, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Scout. “Because they operate with their own identity, they can carry out tasks within the permissions and policies you and your organization set. This creates a more durable way to keep work in motion so it continues even when your attention is elsewhere.”
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 02, 2026
Global oil inventories on track for critical levels before summer peak, IEA says
Global oil stocks fell by more than 250M barrels between March and May, with on-land commercial and strategic stockpiles draining at a record pace, the IEA reported.
A full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz could take 6-8 months in the best-case scenario if an agreement was reached today, Bosoni said at the S&P Global Energy Middle East Petroleum and Gas Conference in London.
An additional IEA-coordinated emergency stock release could become a possibility, but it is not currently being discussed as around half of the initial 400M-barrel coordinated release from March has not yet reached the market, Bosoni added.
The IEA is seeing higher prices and a weaker economic outlook turning into lower demand for transport fuels, Bosoni said, adding, “The biggest adjustment factors we have seen to the markets have come from the demand side.”
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 02, 2026
Perplexity CEO: Efficiency metric will decide AI winner
The companies that can provide the most economic value from the power their AI uses will ultimately command the highest valuations, Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas told CNBC on Wednesday.
Srinivas said that whichever company can provide the “most taken value per watt per user” will be the winner in the future.
“Whoever is able to maximize this particular objective really will, by balancing accuracy, latency, cost, privacy and intelligence all together, they’re going to win, that’s what’s going to win long term,” Srinivas told CNBC in an interview on Wednesday. Perplexity AI, a San Francisco-based startup, is backed by Nvidia (NVDA), SoftBank (SFTBY), and Jeff Bezos.
A token refers to the basic unit of data that an AI model can process. When an AI chatbot is asked to carry out a task, it breaks it down into tokens. Each token then requires energy to be processed. Srinivas’ view is that whichever company can provide the best ratio of energy to economic output will be in the strongest position.
“And so it might feel like some model providers are making a lot of money because their models are very expensive ... but that’s short-term revenue growth,” Srinivas said.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 03, 2026
Inflation woes: Emerging markets lead rate hikes; ECB may be next
Indonesia, South Africa, Rwanda and Sri Lanka hiked rates over the past two weeks, while Singapore and the Philippines did so in April. The Philippine central bank is also considering an off-cycle rate hike.
India is widely expected to maintain rates on Friday, but some analysts say a surprise hike may be in the cards as the rupee continues to weaken. Japan is seen raising rates later this month, and South Korea may follow in July.
Developed markets have largely left rates unchanged, except for Australia and Norway, which lifted rates in May.
But Europe may not be far behind in policy tightening. Eurozone inflation growth crossed 3% in May, the highest since 2023 and well above the ECB’s 2% target, driven by a 10.9% jump in energy prices.
In the U.S., Fed Funds futures are leaning towards the Federal Reserve maintaining rates at 3.50%-3.75% until at least October, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.
But recent data supports the narrative that the U.S. economy could be re-accelerating despite stretched consumer finances, ING economists noted, adding that the Fed may have to hike by year-end.
“Based on the data, I’m more concerned about the growing risks of persistently elevated inflation than the risks to full employment and that monetary policy may not be sufficiently restrictive to bring inflation down to 2%,” Cleveland Fed’s President Beth Hammack said on Tuesday.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 03, 2026
USA Rare Earth secures up to $1.6B funding via U.S. government CHIPS program
The agreements comprise up to $277M in federal funding and up to $1.3B in senior secured loan capacity under the CHIPS Act, with disbursements tied to the achievement of project milestones.
Combined with the $1.5B private capital raise completed in January and previous capital raises, the agreements bring total committed capital supporting USA Rare Earth’s (USAR) growth plan to ~$3.5B.
Specifically, the agreements will support development of the Round Top heavy rare earth and critical mineral deposit in Texas, targeted to begin commercial production in 2028; processing and separation of the output from Round Top, including heavy rare earth element and critical mineral oxides and concentrates; reshoring of 10K tons/year of heavy rare earth element metal- and alloy-making and strip-casting capacity; and the scaling of NdFeB magnet manufacturing capacity in Oklahoma and South Carolina to 10K tons/year.
As part of the agreement with the Commerce Department, USA Rare Earth (USAR) will issue 16.1M common shares and 17.6M warrants to the DoC.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 03, 2026
AMD rises after execs highlight agentic AI driving CPU, GPU demand
“I think the biggest change during the last few months is really the rise and inflection of agentic AI. You can see continued momentum from training to inference, from AI adoption, experimentation, to more adoption at scale,” said AMD’s CFO Jean Hu at the Bank of America 2026 Global Technology Conference on June 2. “And all of those require significant CPU performance. And what we are seeing is very significant and incremental demand for our CPU platforms.”
Hu noted that the CPU business grew over 50% in the first quarter, with second quarter guidance for 70% year-over-year growth.
She also pointed out that agentic AI workloads require high core count and high-performance CPUs, leading to increasing average selling prices, or ASPs, over time.
“You can already see, with the software engineering part of agentic work -- autonomous agentic workflow, you really need very high performance, high core count CPUs. That tends to have a higher ASP,” said Hu.
In addition, Hu discussed GPUs, noting that MI450 is on track. “Yes. We are on track. We sampled MI450. We expect to be launching in second half or Q3 starting point, and Q4” Hu added.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 03, 2026
ITA 0.00%↑ USO 0.00%↑ FCG 0.00%↑
Oil extends gains as Persian Gulf countries caught in serious U.S.-Iran flare-up
Crude oil futures are higher Wednesday but pull back from earlier highs, as hostilities in the Middle East erupted overnight in some of the most intense fighting since the ceasefire went into effect in April.
Iranian drone and missile attacks on Kuwait killed one person, injured at least 63, and damaged the international airport, which suspended flights.
Kuwait’s military said it had tracked and intercepted 13 ballistic missiles and 17 drones in Kuwaiti airspace since dawn, and Bahrain’s army said it had intercepted three missiles and several drones, as Iran said it had attacked the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in the country.
The U.S. and Iran had exchanged heavy fire the previous night, after the U.S. struck an empty oil tanker it said was attempting to breach its blockade.
The attacks follow days of rising tensions, including over Israeli operations against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, that threaten to derail U.S.-Iran talks about an interim peace deal that could reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. stocks of crude oil and petroleum products have dropped to their lowest level since 2004 after falling by 10.6M barrels last week, according to new data released Wednesday from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Crude inventories fell by 8M barrels to 433.7M barrels in the week ended May 29, the EIA reported, 3% below the five-year average and more than double the draw analysts had forecast.
Overall, crude inventories have declined by 63.9M barrels since the U.S.-Israeli launched strikes on Iran on February 28.
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a war powers resolution aimed at curbing President Donald Trump’s military actions in Iran. The House passed a Democratic-led measure on Wednesday with a 215-208 vote.
Four Republicans joined all Democrats in voting yes to end the war with Iran: Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Tom Barrett of Michigan, and Warren Davidson of Ohio.
The resolution calls on Trump to withdraw U.S. armed forces from hostilities involving Iran unless Congress formally declares war. However, the resolution would not force Trump to end the conflict and is largely viewed as symbolic unless it passes the Senate and survives a presidential veto.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 03, 2026
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 03, 2026
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Axon real-time translation rolls out at Calgary Police Service in Canadian debut
The technology, known as Real-Time Translation, is integrated into Axon Body 4 cameras and enables two-way conversations between officers and members of the public in more than 50 languages.
The translation feature is part of Axon Assistant, the company’s artificial intelligence-powered toolset for law enforcement.
Axon said its Axon Assistant platform has been used more than one million times by over 500 public safety agencies.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 03, 2026
Broadcom Non-GAAP EPS of $2.44 beats by $0.04, revenue of $22.19B (+47.9% Y/Y) beats by $70M
Third quarter revenue guidance of approximately $29.4 billion vs consensus of $28.47B.
“During the quarter, bookings for AI semiconductors were over $30 billion against the $10.8 billion we shipped.” (President, CEO & Executive Director Hock Tan)
“For the full year 2026, we expect to achieve AI semiconductor revenue of $56 billion, up approximately 180% from fiscal 2025.” (President, CEO & Executive Director Hock Tan)
“Now we expect this momentum to continue into fiscal year 2027 and reiterate our AI semiconductor revenue guidance to be in excess of $100 billion.” (President, CEO & Executive Director Hock Tan)
“To deliver this vision, we are creating the AI XPV platform with Apollo and Blackstone and other leading investors to deploy more than 20 gigawatts of compute capacity through 2028.” (President, CEO & Executive Director Hock Tan)
“The first tranche of this platform valued at $35 billion is, in fact, currently being launched by Apollo.” (President, CEO & Executive Director Hock Tan)
Ross Seymore, Deutsche Bank: Pressed on gross margin drivers and whether it was rack-related; CFO & Chief Accounting Officer Spears said, “as the TPUs continue to accelerate, there’ll be pressure overall on margins” while “the connectivity side, the AI networking side of the business has very rich margins.” Tan added, “No racks it’s all chip...” (CFO & Chief Accounting Officer Spears; President, CEO & Executive Director Tan)
James Schneider, Goldman Sachs: Asked if AI networking stays near “40%” of AI revenue and timing for CPO/optics to become meaningful; President, CEO & Executive Director Tan said the 40% was “probably as high as that percentage” and “The more expected percentage... would be closer to around 30%.” (President, CEO & Executive Director Tan)
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 03, 2026
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 03, 2026
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 03, 2026
UBER 0.00%↑ #Nuro
Uber commits nearly $500M to self-driving startup Nuro to boost robotaxi fleet
Uber (NYSE: UBER) has committed nearly $500 million to self-driving startup Nuro, according to a Reuters report citing sources familiar with the matter.
According to sources directly aware of the matter, the investment includes an unreported follow-on capital injection that significantly exceeds Uber’s initial funding in Nuro’s $203 million round. A portion of the newly disclosed funds has already been released after Nuro met its first few development targets on time, one of the sources told Reuters.
The remaining capital is strictly tied to upcoming performance milestones, including driverless testing and early passenger deployment in the San Francisco Bay Area slated for later this year, with plans to ramp up the service next year, the source said.
Nuro has already made regulatory headway for this phase, having secured California permits to test its vehicles without a safety driver, alongside a separate clearance to carry passengers in testing with drivers present.
This capital heavily backs a blockbuster three-way alliance between Uber (UBER), Nuro, and electric vehicle maker Lucid Group (LCID). The partnership aims to deploy a fleet of 35,000 robotaxis leveraging Lucid’s Gravity SUVs, its upcoming midsize vehicle platform, Nuro’s autonomous software stack, and Uber’s dispatch network.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 04, 2026
Amazon launches AI-powered warehouse robot as part of €10B Europe push
E-commerce giant Amazon (AMZN) showcased the next-generation Proteus robot at its “Delivering the Future” event in Dartford, UK with deployment across European facilities scheduled for H1 2027.
Unlike the current Proteus, which operates mainly in dock areas, the upgraded robot can work across entire warehouse floors.
The U.S. e-commerce giant also plans to expand STARK, a robotic tote-handling system that will reach 15 European sites by 2027, and highlighted Vulcan, its robot equipped with tactile sensing capabilities.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 04, 2026
GE Vernova to launch 3.8 MW workhorse turbine in India with wind farm order
GE Vernova (GEV) said Thursday it signed an agreement with Indian company Powerica to supply 28 of its 3.8 MW–154m onshore wind turbines for the 100 MW Botad wind farm in Gujarat, India, marking the debut of the 3.8 MW workhorse turbine in the Indian market.
The deal includes turbine supply and installation and further strengthens a partnership that has delivered four wind farm projects together.
The turbines will be supplied from GE Vernova’s (GEV) plant in Pune, India, with deliveries expected to start in Q4 2026.
GE Vernova (GEV) also said it has been certified by India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and included on the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers of Wind Turbines, a mandatory requirement for wind turbine OEMs participating in India’s wind market.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 04, 2026
CrowdStrike falls after Q1 results; analysts bullish but highlight high investor expectations for ARR
RBC Capital Markets kept its Outperform rating and increased the price target to $755 from $650.
“CrowdStrike delivered a strong start to the FY, beating and raising across the board. While the ARR [Annual Recurring Revenue] beat did not meet high investor expectations due in part to Mythos/Glasswing-led optimism, the FY ARR raise was much higher than the beat, with accelerating y/y NNARR [Net New Annual Recurring Revenue] growth reflecting pipeline generation driven by AI,” said analysts led by Matthew Hedberg.
J.P. Morgan maintained its Overweight rating and $800 price target on the shares of the cybersecurity company.
Analysts led by Brian Essex said that CrowdStrike exceeded the high end of guidance on all first quarter metrics and increased its ARR outlook for the year by a magnitude meaningfully greater than the size of the beat for the quarter. The company also guided fiscal second quarter ARR well over consensus. Better-than-expected guidance for growth was supported by a healthy second quarter pipeline, post-Mythos demand activity, and accelerating module adoption.
“Shares traded lower after-market as the degree of 1Q NNARR beat was low relative to historical performance. However, we think the magnitude of the upward revision to ARR outlook more than offsets any near-term NNARR softness. Guidance implies NNARR acceleration vs. FY26, which is a more meaningful read into the durability of demand for CRWD’s platform,” said the analysts.
The analysts noted that recent frontier model releases (Anthropic’s (ANTHRO) Glasswing and OpenAI’s (OPENAI) Daybreak) are triggering an inflection point where cybersecurity is shifting from a risk-management function to foundational AI infrastructure.
“CRWD’s positioning as a Glasswing launch partner, partner in Daybreak, and founder of Project Quiltworks position Falcon as a critical runtime defender for frontier AI deployment. We see the ‘Mythos moment’ as a structural shift, with AI adoption at scale requiring a runtime security control plane that Falcon is well-positioned to capture,” said Essex and his team.
Wedbush maintained its Outperform rating while raising the price target to $720 from $700.
“CrowdStrike reported its FY1Q27 results featuring slight beats across the board while slightly raising its FY27 guidance as the company continues to see an expansive pipeline for its cyber-AI product portfolio which remains a significant driver of its bookings pipeline. We maintain our OUTPERFORM rating while raising our price target from $700 to $720 reflecting significant momentum for its platform approach and we would be buyers of weakness in shares,” said analysts led by Dan Ives.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 04, 2026
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 03, 2026
[Newsletter Exclusive] Welcome to the bot-dominated internet
Bot traffic has overtaken human activity in a closely watched slice of the internet, underscoring how quickly AI (AIQ) agents and other automated systems are reshaping the web.
Cloudflare (NET) Radar data shared by CEO Matthew Prince on Thursday showed bots accounting for 57.5% of worldwide HTTP requests to HTML content over the last seven days, versus 42.5% for humans.
“Thought it would be end of 2027, then early 2027, but agentic traffic [is] growing so fast that bots have now passed human traffic online for the first time in the Internet’s history,” Prince wrote in a social media post.
That is a narrower measure than all internet traffic, though it is still a striking milestone because HTML requests sit close to the core of ordinary web browsing and content consumption.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 04, 2026
AAPL 0.00%↑ NVDA 0.00%↑ GOOG 0.00%↑
[Newsletter Exclusive] Apple’s revamped Siri may run on Nvidia chips from Google: report
The revamped version of Siri, which Apple (AAPL) is set to debut perhaps as soon as next week, could run partially on Nvidia (NVDA) Blackwell B200 GPUs provided by Google (GOOG) (GOOGL), The Information reported.
The new voice assistant will use Nvidia’s confidential compute feature, which allows for data to keep encrypted as it’s being processed, the news outlet added. It’s unclear at this point how, if at all, it will use Apple’s Private Cloud Compute, which was introduced in 2024, as part of Apple’s artificial intelligence push.
Private Cloud Compute allows Apple Intelligence to use large server-based models to handle more complex requests, while smaller requests can be handled on the device itself.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 04, 2026
The $805B secret hiding in central bank portfolios
Central banks are increasingly allocating foreign exchange reserves to smaller currencies rather than traditional alternatives to the U.S. dollar, according to a recent Financial Times analysis of International Monetary Fund data.
The IMF’s latest Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves report showed that the “other currencies” category accounted for 6.13% of global reserves, or roughly $805B. The category has grown by about $550B since 2020 and now exceeds both the Japanese yen and British pound in reserve holdings.
The trend suggests that reserve managers are diversifying beyond major currencies such as the euro, yen, and Chinese renminbi. The renminbi, once viewed as a potential challenger to the dollar, has seen its share of reserves largely stagnate recently, according to the report.
The IMF does not disclose which currencies make up the “other currencies” category.
Rather than replacing the dollar with another dominant reserve currency, central banks appear to be spreading holdings across a broader range of smaller, high-quality markets, reflecting a gradual shift in global reserve management.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 04, 2026
Quantinuum makes IPO debut as quantum era approaches
Quantinuum (QNT) shares opened at $68, climbing 12% from its initial public offering price, after debuting on the Nasdaq on Thursday afternoon.
However, the price retreated by late market action and closed at $60.38.
The quantum computing company, which is majority owned by Honeywell (HON), offered 28M shares priced at $60. It had earlier planned to offer 21M shares priced from $45 to $50, but early demand pushed the price higher just ahead of its IPO. It attracted about 20 times the demand than shares it had to offer. Quantinuum raised nearly $1.7B through the offering, propelling its valuation to more than $15B.
Quantinuum generated 2025 bookings of $79.3M, with revenue rising to $30.9M from $23.0M in 2024, while net loss widened to $192.6M as the company continued investing heavily in growth and commercialization efforts. Bookings were $1.3M for the three months ended March 31, 2026, compared to $1.9M for the three months ended March 31, 2025.
The firm recently signed a deal with the U.S. federal government to receive R&D funding to address specific technology bottlenecks in the development of fault-tolerant trapped-ion quantum computers. And earlier this week, it inked a memorandum of understanding with Mitsubishi Electric to develop quantum computing applications for advanced industrial engineering and design.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 04, 2026
SpaceX AI-related revenue expected to jump 100 times by 2030: report
The investment bank expects AI-related revenue to surge to $322B by 2030, up from around $3.2B in 2025, according to a forecast that was discussed with a potential investor, the news outlet explained. SpaceX’s total revenue is expected to hit $474B by 2030, including $144B from Starlink.
The investment bank also expects SpaceX to generate $72B in free cash flow by 2031, the news outlet added.
In 2025, SpaceX’s revenue was $18.7B, with the vast majority coming from Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 04, 2026
Planet wins $22M NGA contract extension, secures new crisis monitoring award
Planet Labs PBC (NYSE: PL) on Thursday said that its subsidiary, Planet Labs Federal, received a one-year, $22 million contract extension from the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) for maritime surveillance services and was also awarded a new contract to support crisis response monitoring.
The $22 million award represents the first option-year extension under the NGA’s Luno B contract for Advanced Analytics for Maritime Operations and Reconnaissance.
Under the agreement, Planet will continue providing maritime domain awareness services, including the detection of ship-to-ship transfers and other maritime activity.
Separately, the company said it was awarded a contract by the NGA, in partnership with the Defense Innovation Unit, to provide its Global Monitoring Service, which uses satellite imagery and analytics to support crisis response and situational awareness efforts.
Financial terms of the new Global Monitoring Service contract were not disclosed.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 04, 2026
Planet Labs Non-GAAP EPS of -$0.03 beats by $0.01, revenue of $94M (+41.9% Y/Y) beats by $3.87M
“In Q2, we’re expecting revenue to be between $102 million and $107 million.” (CFO Johnson)
“Q2 adjusted EBITDA profit is expected to be between breakeven and $5 million.” (CFO Johnson)
The company now expects fiscal-year revenue of $425 million to $441 million, compared with prior guidance of $415 million to $440 million, reflecting continued momentum across its customer base.
“We are maintaining our prior expectations for fiscal year ‘27 adjusted EBITDA profit to be between breakeven and $10 million.” (CFO Johnson)
The updated forecast highlights the increasing importance of Earth-observation data as governments and businesses seek real-time insights into military conflicts, supply chains, natural disasters and environmental conditions.
Planet Labs (PL) said its contracted backlog expanded 72% year over year to more than $906 million.
“We also successfully launched 3 additional Pelican satellites, including one for Sweden, their first sovereign reconnaissance satellites, just 4 months after contract signing.” (CEO Marshall)
“We recently started early customer access through a private beta testing phase of our new AI app, a pioneering tool aimed at making Planet’s massive global data archive querable through natural language.” (CEO Marshall)
Colin Canfield, Cantor: asked about “Planet on-ramps for orbital compute”; CEO Marshall said, “what we’re doing with Google is an early tech demo” and added, “within 10 years, it will definitely be cheaper to do it in space than on the ground.” (CEO Marshall)
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 04, 2026
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 04, 2026
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 05, 2026
AIQ 0.00%↑ #Anthropic
[Newsletter Exclusive] Anthropic co-founder says humans might become the bottleneck in AI
“The evidence suggests that the human role is narrowing at each step in the AI development process,” said Marina Favaro, head of The Anthropic Institute, and Jack Clark, a co-founder of Anthropic, in a blog post. “Once human- and AI-authored code quality reach parity, humans will stop writing code entirely, and shift to only reviewing it. But if they can’t review code as quickly as Claude can generate it, human review will become the bottleneck to AI development.”
Claude has learned how to handle code. Anthropic engineers are shipping eight times as much code per quarter as they were from 2021 through 2025.
AI agents can now write and edit their own code. They can also delegate hours of work to other agents. As of May 2026, more than 80% of the code that Anthropic merged into its codebase was written by Claude.
However, these accelerating improvements could lead to grave consequences, the authors warn. As of now, engineers provide Claude with a goal, and Claude can figure out how to achieve the goal without being given a specific method to use. And in research, Claude can already match or outperform humans at executing an experiment. But humans are still required to provide the assignment. Claude is not yet capable of effectively coming up with or using judgment when it comes to generating its own research ideas or specific goals.
When, and if, the day arrives that Claude is capable of full recursive self-improvement and begins building ever-more-powerful successors, humans could conceivably lose control of the AI system.
“The rare occurrences of misalignment present in today’s models could compound as the models build their successors, growing more frequent but less understood until we lose control of them,” Favaro and Clark said. “It’s possible that we can’t build, integrate, and verify the tools that we’d need to understand which trendline we are actually on.”
“We do not have good intuitions for what this world would look like, because our economy is currently driven by humans and human-built tools,” they said. “By its nature, a world driven by fast recursive self-improvement could become dominated by the self-improving model as its capabilities fully eclipse those of humans and the model proliferates across the broader economy. It is difficult to predict what the economy looks like if human labor stops being competitive.”
In light of this possibility, Favaro and Clark propose a slowdown or pause in AI model development. However, they admit AI developers with nefarious intentions would not likely stall their efforts, and a nuclear peace treaty-type commitment would be required to keep the genie in the bottle.
Anthropic plans to organize meetings with policymakers, researchers, and other AI companies to discuss what should come next.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 04, 2026
S&P refuses to waive rules for megacap IPOs ahead of SpaceX listing
S&P Global said on Thursday it would keep the existing criteria for entry into its major indices, dashing hopes of a swift S&P 500 (SP500) inclusion for Elon Musk’s SpaceX (SPCX) following what is expected to be the world’s largest-ever IPO.
The index provider in a press release said it will not shorten the 12-month seasoning period for newly public companies it currently has or waive existing profitability and public-float requirements based on a company’s size, diverging from a broader industry shift embraced by rivals Nasdaq (NDAQ) and FTSE Russell.
“Initial public offerings should be traded on an eligible exchange for at least 12 months before being considered for addition to an index,” the release said.
Under one of the S&P 500 eligibility criteria that remains unchanged, a company must report profits under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) both in its latest quarter and on a cumulative basis over its four most recent quarters to qualify for inclusion in the index.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 05, 2026
Samsara Non-GAAP EPS of $0.17 beats by $0.04, revenue of $478.8M (+30.5% Y/Y) beats by $23.63M
“We ended Q1 with nearly $2 billion in ARR, growing 30% year-over-year” and “We added $101 million in net new ARR” (CEO Biswas).
“We now have over $1.2 billion in ARR from our customers spending $100,000 or more, growing 37% year-over-year” (CEO Biswas), and “In Q1, we added 169 customers with $100,000 or more in ARR and 15 customers with $1 million or more in ARR” (CEO Biswas).
“For Q2, we expect revenue to be between $482 million and $484 million” (CFO Dominic Phillips), with “Non-GAAP operating margin to be 18%” and “non-GAAP EPS to be between $0.15 and $0.16” (CFO Phillips), plus: “we expect to be GAAP profitable for Q2” (CFO Phillips).
“For full year FY ‘27, we expect revenue to be between $2.005 billion and $2.013 billion” (CFO Phillips), with “Non-GAAP operating margin to be 20%” and “non-GAAP EPS to be between $0.70 and $0.72” (CFO Phillips), adding: “We also expect to be GAAP profitable for full year FY ‘27” (CFO Phillips).
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 04, 2026
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 05, 2026
NVDA 0.00%↑ EWY 0.00%↑ MU 0.00%↑
Nvidia CEO highlights robotics as South Korea’s next major sector
When asked about potential investments in South Korea, Huang said, “Korea has many sectors to invest in. Robotics is going to be the next major sector here in Korea.”
“Korea is extraordinary at manufacturing, mechatronics, and also artificial intelligence,” Huang noted. “The fusion of all of that technology is perfect robotics.”
Separately, Huang said he’s given the go-ahead for Samsung Electronics (SSNLF), SK Hynix (HXSCL) and Micron Technology (MU) to supply HBM4, an indispensable component of Nvidia’s (NVDA) next-generation Vera Rubin platform for artificial intelligence work.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 05, 2026
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 05, 2026
XPeng highlights its physical AI upside at the CVPR Conference
A key focus is XPeng’s (XPEV) in-house AI model, called VLA2.0, which was first introduced at the same conference in 2025 and is now being rolled out into mass production across the company’s products. VLA2.0 is software that learns from how humans drive and then helps vehicles decide what to do on the road, such as when to change lanes or react to sudden events. XPENG frames this as proof that it can turn cutting-edge research into real features used by everyday drivers, not just demos in controlled environments.
XPeng (XPEV) also said it validated a scaling law that delivered a 4,360% jump in single-job training efficiency as it ramped up compute and data, while GPU hardware utilization climbed from 40% to 90%, matching benchmarks set by top-tier global AI firms.
The company also pointed to work on a “world model,” another AI system designed to predict how the surrounding environment will change after a vehicle or robot takes an action. Beyond cars, XPeng (XPEV) stressed that the same physical-AI technology is being extended to its humanoid robots and flying car projects, signaling its ambition to build a broad ecosystem of intelligent hardware.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 05, 2026
GOOG 0.00%↑ #SPCX
Google agrees to rent up to $30B of compute capacity from SpaceX in multiyear deal
The compute capacity includes access to 110,000 Nvidia (NVDA) GPUs, CPUs, memory and other related components.
“Pursuant to the agreement, the customer has agreed to pay us $920M per month from October 2026 through June 2029, with capacity ramping up through September at a reduced fee,” the filing reads. “If we fail to deliver access to the committed amount of GPUs by September 30, 2026, then following a one-month grace period, Google may immediately terminate the agreement or accept the number of GPUs provided, with a corresponding pro rata reduction in monthly fees.”
After December 31, 2026, either company has the right to terminate the agreement with a 90-day notice. If the deal runs the entire 33 months of the agreement, it would generate more than $30B in revenue for SpaceX, which recently merged with xAI.
Throughout the agreement, Google will retain ownership of its intellectual property rights, content, AI models and related data.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jun 05, 2026
Disclosure: We own positions in some/all of the tickers mentioned in this article.
