Global semiconductor stocks retreated after President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up their summit without announcing major chip agreements or a clear breakthrough on NVIDIA Corp’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) China business, dampening investor expectations across the AI supply chain.
President Donald Trump has reportedly pushed for broader access to China’s financial market for U.S. credit card companies. During talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump raised concerns about the limited access these companies face in China’s credit card market.
California’s Governor Gavin Newsom proposed a tax on digital prewritten software, aimed at creating a level playing field between online and in-store software purchases.
Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled a new EV rebate program in the state that could provide a major boost to Tesla Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Semi truck sales.
Earnings Snapshot
Figma, Inc. (NYSE:FIG) posted first-quarter revenue of $333.4 million, topping analyst expectations of $313.2 million. Adjusted earnings reached 10 cents per share, exceeding Wall Street estimates of six cents per share.
Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) issued strong third-quarter guidance and reported better-than-expected second-quarter results driven by AI-related semiconductor demand.
POET Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:POET) reported a first-quarter net loss of $0.08 per share, improving sharply from a loss of $0.32 per share in the previous quarter.
Nebius Group (NYSE:NBIS) reported first-quarter 2026 adjusted loss per share of 33 cents on revenue of $399 million, up 684% from a year earlier.
Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) reported stronger-than-expected third-quarter results, raised its fiscal 2026 guidance and highlighted accelerating demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Birkenstock Holding plc (NYSE:BIRK) reported second-quarter adjusted EPS below estimates and margin pressure tied to unfavorable currency translation, evolving U.S. tariff policies and ongoing instability in the Middle East.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE:BABA) reported mixed fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 results, as strong revenue growth and accelerating AI momentum were overshadowed by a sharp decline in adjusted earnings.
Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ:TSEM) posted first-quarter revenue of $413.63 million, up 15% from a year earlier and ahead of analysts’ estimates of $410.98 million. Adjusted earnings came in at 65 cents per share, topping Wall Street expectations of 56 cents per share.
Technology, Software & Semiconductors
Anthropic and the Gates Foundation, backed by Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates, have pledged $200 million to further artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives in the health and education sectors.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (NYSE:TSM) is accelerating investments in advanced chips, packaging, and AI infrastructure as company executives position the foundry giant to capture long-term growth from the expanding artificial intelligence market.
Taiwan Semiconductor said artificial intelligence is set to propel the global semiconductor industry to a $1.5 trillion market by 2030.
Taiwan Semiconductor’s board approved about $31.28 billion in capital spending to expand advanced chip manufacturing capacity, construct new fabs and install facility systems to support rising demand for AI, 5G and high-performance computing chips.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) AI Chief, Alexandr Wang, has debunked rumors that the company’s SuperIntelligence Lab is staffed with top AI researchers who were poached from rival companies with lucrative pay packages.
Meta is temporarily granting competing AI chatbot developers free access to WhatsApp in Europe as it seeks to resolve escalating antitrust concerns from EU regulators and avoid potentially billions in penalties.
Amazon Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is swapping out its Rufus chatbot for Alexa, positioning it as the core of its AI shopping strategy.
Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu Yongming said the company may exceed its planned AI capital spending as the Chinese tech giant pushes deeper into a “full-stack” artificial intelligence strategy, betting heavily on chips, cloud infrastructure, models and applications to drive its next phase of growth.
Smartphones, Electronics & Communication Equipment
Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) shares are down Friday as the company faces a legal setback following a ruling in the UK regarding patent licensing disputes.
Samsung Electronics (OTC:SSNLF) faces a potential strike by its South Korean labor union next week, despite the company offering to restart unconditional wage negotiations.
Trump Mobile has started delivering its long-delayed $499 T1 smartphones to customers after repeated postponements, while continuing to face questions over manufacturing claims and political scrutiny tied to the Trump-branded venture.
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) is cutting nearly 4,000 jobs as part of a sweeping restructuring effort designed to accelerate its push into artificial intelligence, security, silicon and networking infrastructure.
Automobile, Defense & Spacecrafts
Uber Technologies Inc.’s (NYSE:UBER) partnership with Alphabet Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) Waymo could reportedly hit a sour note as executives from the ride-hailing giant have criticized the latter’s expansion.
Elon Musk said that SpaceX signed deals offering lower revenues with airlines for the Starlink service to increase its accessibility, as Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE:DAL) chooses Amazon.com Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Leo over Starlink.
BYD Co. Ltd. (OTC:BYDDY) (OTC:BYDDF) and Xpeng Inc. (NYSE:XPEV) are reportedly in talks with manufacturers to incorporate their underutilized production facilities in Europe as it looks to bolster their overseas presence.
Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) is back in the defense-tech spotlight after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he met with CEO Alex Karp to discuss deeper cooperation with the American defense sector.
Artificial Intelligence
NBA champion and serial investor Tristan Thompson disclosed that he holds equity in Anthropic, the maker of Claude, which is currently valued at roughly $900 billion, crediting Silicon Valley dinners hosted around NBA road games for the access.
Anthropic unveiled expanded legal tools for Claude Cowork, enabling law firms to connect existing software and automate complex legal tasks at scale.
The first phase of the Elon Musk vs. OpenAI trial wrapped in federal court in Oakland, California, as both sides presented closing arguments before a jury now set to weigh claims over alleged broken nonprofit commitments and billions in damages.
AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRS) CEO Andrew Feldman positioned the company’s Nasdaq debut Thursday as a milestone in its long-term AI growth strategy after Cerebras priced its initial public offering at $185 per share, amid strong investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Softbank Group Corp (OTC:SFTBY) may be preparing for its next giant AI gamble: borrowing against its soaring OpenAI stake to help finance an expanding empire spanning Stargate data centers, robotics and AI infrastructure.
Robo.ai Inc. (NASDAQ:AIIO) announced the launch of its NeuroStream technology platform.The platform is introduced by its newly acquired business, Neurovia AI. It aims to optimize data storage and processing for AI applications.
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