Alphabet Just Cut Share Buybacks To $0, While Acquiring A $40 Billion Stake In A Rival AI Company
GOOGL ended a decade of buybacks, redirecting cash from a $300 billion repurchase streak into annual AI capex projected between $175 billion and $185 billion. Alphabet bet $40 billion on rival Anthropic while Google Cloud must hit 70% YoY growth to validate scrapping shareholder returns.
TSLA Stock Continues Slide After Musk Says ‘A Little Less Capital Efficient’ Is Acceptable — Warns Of Rising Capex for Next 2-3 Years
Shares of EV giant Tesla Inc fell as much as 5% after-hours on Wednesday after the company said that its capital expenditure will continue to grow for the next 2-3 years as the company seeks to scale its AI and robotics ventures. For FY6, the company expects capex to be more than $25 billion, marking a huge jump from the $8.5 billion recorded in 2025. “CapEx will grow for the next 2 or 3 years as we expand our robotaxi fleet, expand our production capacity for Optimus, make investments for semiconductor fab install solar manufacturing capacity and compute infrastructure in addition to all the other expansions we will do for other manufacturing, for automotive,” company CFO Vaibhav Taneja said during the company’s second quarter earnings call. In the second quarter alone, Tesla recorded 142% year-on-year increase in capital expenditure to $5.8 billion, causing it to report negative free cash flow of $1.1 billion. When asked about the pace of capital spending, Musk said Tesla is prioritizing speed over maximum capital efficiency. He stated that the company is comfortable being “a little less capital efficient” if it allows projects to move forward faster, as time-to-market is more valuable in this phase. Tesla exited the second quarter with its largest vehicle order backlog since 2023, Taneja said, attributing it to a broad resurgence in demand across all major regions.
Why Constellation Energy Stock Blasted Higher on Wednesday
The Trump administration announced Wednesday that it had signed a long-term deal to help develop nuclear technology with Saudi Arabia. The 30-year pact formalizes nuclear cooperation between the two nations and pushes several U.S. energy companies into leading roles in build-outs in the strategic Middle Eastern country. Besides, the government's striking this deal is yet another strong indication of its desire to promote and support the nuclear power industry. A key goal of this initiative, not surprisingly, is to satisfy the considerable power needs of artificial intelligence (AI)-ready data centers. As nuclear plants produce considerable clean power, they are considered ideal facilities for such a push. The Bloomberg article, which cited a document its reporters had seen, mentioned small modluar reactor (SMR) specialists Oklo and X-Energy as participants on the energy industry side, and Microsoft and Nvidia as partners from the tech sector.
Super Micro Computer Q4 2026 margins beat guidance, stock surges
Super Micro Computer issued a preliminary business update for its fiscal fourth quarter on Tuesday showing gross margins roughly twice what the company had forecast, sending SMCI stock up 17% in after-hours trading. The San Jose-based AI server maker said it now expects GAAP and non-GAAP gross margins in the range of 15% to 17% for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, compared with prior guidance of 8.2% to 8.4%. Super Micro also disclosed that new orders during the quarter exceeded $60 billion, bringing its backlog to a record high as it closed out fiscal year 2026.
Bond yields rise as elevated oil prices reignite threat of 'renewed pressure on inflation'
The 10-year yield (^TNX), used as a benchmark for mortgage and loan rates, rose to 4.65% on Wednesday. The 30-year yield (^TYX) climbed to 5.14% as the long-dated bond notched its longest stretch above 5% since 2007, the year prior to the financial crisis. While the June CPI report reduced the urgency for the Fed to raise interest rates, an assessment of the broader inflation picture suggests that at least one rate hike remains the base case for this year.
Big Tech Is Hiding $1.65 Trillion in Debt. How Worried Should Investors Be?
$1.65 trillion in off-balance-sheet AI infrastructure obligations buried in SEC footnotes, invisible in headline debt figures. Meta's hidden obligations hit $420 billion, a figure three times its reported debt, while Oracle's off-balance-sheet commitments expanded 30-fold in just four years. The five technology giants have accumulated roughly $1.65 trillion in future lease and purchase obligations tied primarily to AI infrastructure. These commitments are perfectly legal under U.S. accounting rules because they represent future contractual obligations rather than traditional borrowings. Meta Platforms $140 billion ~$420 billion Oracle ~$100 billion ~$273 billion Microsoft ~$100 billion ~$350 billion Amazon ~$180 billion ~$350 billion Alphabet ~$30 billion ~$250 billion Meta's obligations are roughly three times its reported debt. Oracle's off-balance-sheet commitments have expanded about 30-fold in just four years as it races to build AI capacity. That can make leverage appear lower precisely when spending is reaching record levels. Microsoft produced nearly $100 billion in operating cash flow over the past year, while Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon each generated tens of billions of dollars that help support these long-term commitments.
Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Is in Talks for a $10 Billion Anthropic Deal That Would Make Meta the Fourth Major Cloud Provider. Meta Stock Reports Q2 Earnings on July 29.
Today, an average of 3.56 billion people, about 43% of the world's population, already log into a Meta-owned site daily. The company has pledged to spend between $125 billion and $145 billion on capital expenditures in 2026 alone, primarily to develop its AI. That comes after it spent almost $70 billion on capex in 2025.
Bernstein says Bitcoin mining deals necessary for AI power crunch
The investment manager’s Bitcoin mining industry deal tracker registered a new AI-related deal every week in July, with combined deals standing at more than 7.5 gigawatts or the contracted equivalent of $150 billion in multi-year contracts, according to a Thursday research note shared with Cointelegraph. Bitcoin mining stocks logged double-digit gains on Monday after Bitcoin mining companies Hut 8 and IREN announced major AI infrastructure deals. Hut 8 announced a 15-year, $9.8 billion lease for its AI data center campus and IREN disclosed $2.8 billion in cloud services contracts with AI developers. Days earlier, TeraWulf signed a 20-year data center lease with AI startup Anthropic, a deal the company said could generate roughly $19 billion in contract revenue. Sector tracking exchange-traded fund CoinShares Bitcoin Mining ETF (WGMI) was up 1.47% ahead of the Nasdaq open. Bernstein’s research note said that Bitcoin miners and third-party computing power providers will remain important for AI companies, as the construction of new data centers is facing growing bipartisan political pushback. In April, US Senator Ron Wyden shared concerns that AI data centers in his home state of Oregon could worsen water scarcity during persistent droughts. He said that large data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons of water per day and asked large data center operators to explain how they would reduce groundwater withdrawals to protect the local water supply. In March, President Donald Trump’s administration published a Ratepayer Protection Pledge aiming to expand AI infrastructure without increasing electricity bills for households and small businesses.
Chip firm priced as China's most valuable company before its IPO brings scrutiny to crypto platform
The perpetual futures contract tracking CXMT traded near $6.35 per share on Hyperliquid on Thursday, after it peaked recently at $8.60, just days before the chipmaker's blockbuster listing in Shanghai next Monday. The current price implies a market capitalization of roughly $425 billion, or about 2.9 trillion yuan — which would make it more valuable than Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the mainland's largest listed company at roughly 2.56 trillion yuan. Its SpaceX contract traded roughly 20% above the fixed $135 offer price ahead of the June debut after peaking above $220 in May — though still nowhere near the CXMT premium. The listing of the world's fourth-largest DRAM memory chipmaker also comes amid a historic memory upcycle, with AI-driven demand and a global supply shortage lifting prices across the industry.
GE Vernova Q2 Earnings Call Highlights
Orders Rise 88% as Backlog Expands Chief Financial Officer Ken Parks said GE Vernova booked $24.2 billion of orders in the second quarter, an 88% year-over-year increase, with a book-to-bill ratio of slightly more than two times. Revenue rose 12%, including 14% growth in equipment revenue and 10% growth in services revenue. Adjusted EBITDA increased 61% year-over-year to $1.2 billion, and adjusted EBITDA margin expanded 340 basis points. The company ended the quarter with approximately $13 billion in cash, up $3 billion from the end of the first quarter, after returning $2.5 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases during the quarter. Power Segment Fueled by Gas Turbine Demand In Power, orders more than doubled, driven by Gas Power equipment orders that increased approximately four times year-over-year. GE Vernova shipped three gigawatts of gas equipment during the quarter while signing 20 gigawatts of orders and slot reservation agreements in markets including the U.S., Brazil and Qatar. Strazik said the company's total gigawatts under contract increased sequentially from 100 to 116 gigawatts, including orders for 52 heavy-duty units and 61 aeroderivative units in the quarter. He said more than half of the gigawatts under contract are for GE Vernova's HA turbines, which are expected to run at baseload and support services growth in the next decade. Power revenue increased 14%, and segment EBITDA margin expanded 320 basis points to 18.8%. Parks said the improvement was mainly driven by favorable pricing and higher volume, partially offset by inflation and expenses tied to capacity and research and development investments. For the third quarter, GE Vernova expects Power revenue growth of 17% to 19% and EBITDA margin of approximately 17% to 18%. Electrification Backlog Grows on Grid and Data Center Demand Electrification orders increased 66% year-over-year to approximately $6.3 billion, or about 1.7 times revenue, as demand grew for substations, switchgear and transformers. Parks said equipment orders growth was particularly strong in North America, rising approximately four times year-over-year. Strazik said GE Vernova booked $2.7 billion of data center orders in Electrification during the second quarter, bringing first-half data center orders in the segment to more than $5 billion, more than double the full-year 2025 level. Electrification equipment backlog rose to $41 billion, up 69% from the second quarter of 2025. Revenue in Electrification increased 68% on a reported basis, including the impact of Prolec, and 29% organically. Prolec contributed nearly $900 million of revenue in the quarter. Segment EBITDA more than doubled, with margin expanding 700 basis points to 18.4%. For the third quarter, the company expects Electrification revenue of $3.8 billion to $4 billion and continued year-over-year EBITDA margin expansion, with margins modestly above second-quarter levels. During the question-and-answer session, Strazik said GE Vernova remains on track to increase Gas Power output from roughly three gigawatts per quarter to five gigawatts per quarter starting in the third quarter, reaching a 20-gigawatt annualized run rate. He said the company now sees an opportunity to reach 30 gigawatts of annual output in 2030 through lean initiatives, incremental machinery and use of existing factory space. Strazik also said the company expects to end 2026 with at least 125 gigawatts under contract and that it is "mostly sold out" through 2030, with more than half of 2031 production slots expected to be contracted by year-end.
Trump’s $200 Billion Bet on Lower Mortgage Rates Worked. War in Iran Just Changed Everything.
By early March 2026, mortgage rates fell below 6% for the first time since 2022. Mortgage rates track the 10-year Treasury, plus a spread that widens when investors demand more compensation to hold prepayment-sensitive housing debt. Trump's executive order attacked the spread directly by turning the government-sponsored enterprises into a captive buyer. It was a mechanical fix to a mechanical problem, and it delivered. Rates continued easing after a preliminary Iran ceasefire in June, and the spring housing narrative shifted from paralysis to cautious thaw. WTI crude jumped 9.3% in a single day to $79.20 a barrel on July 13, after Brent had spent the spring above $100 per barrel during the initial Strait of Hormuz closure. The national average gasoline price crossed back above $4.00 per gallon on July 20, up 3.8% in a single week. That fed inflation expectations, which fed the 10-year Treasury, which currently sits at 4.60%, up 0.14% over the past month and near its 12-month high. Mortgage rates followed. They hit a wartime high of 6.75% on July 13, then eased slightly to a 6.54% to 6.74% range across daily trackers as of July 21, the highest level in nearly a year. Freddie Mac's official weekly average sits at 6.55% for the week ending July 16. Buyers noticed immediately: Mortgage Bankers Association applications fell 2.7% week-over-week, dipping below last year's pace, with MBA's Joel Kan citing higher rates as the driver.
IREN Limited (IREN) Lands $2.8 Billion in AI Contracts. Is This the Catalyst Its Stock Needed?
IREN Limited (NASDAQ:IREN) was considered a Bitcoin mining operation company, but the company's cloud approach and AI deals have successfully transitioned it into a vertically integrated AI cloud provider. The company came under the spotlight when it announced raising its year-end AI Cloud annualized run-rate revenue target to more than $4 billion, up from $3.7 billion, on July 20. The stock rallied nearly 20% after this news. Out of the new target, roughly 85% is already under contract, as IREN Limited (NASDAQ:IREN) won multi-year cloud services deals with key AI developers, reflecting $2.8 billion in total contract value. A testament to the company's scaled AI Cloud business is the expansion of 3MW of self-built AI Cloud capacity to 480MW being delivered this year, with expectations of the 1.2GW level in 2027. The news supports the earlier revenue projection by Freedom Capital. The firm expects the company's revenue to "explode" from $717 million this year to $3.1 billion and $8.5 billion in FY27 and FY28, respectively. As of June 30, the company had approximately $7.6 billion in cash and cash equivalents. This, together with customer prepayments covering about 45% of related GPU capex, meaningfully reduces the capital needed to support its growing AI infrastructure.