Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's net worth surged by an estimated $14.9 billion on Thursday, reaching $196.1 billion and moving him to sixth place on the Forbes Billionaires List, passing Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Ellison. The gain came as Nvidia's stock rose 8.7% to $227.98, nearing its all-time high of $236.54, following the company's second-quarter financial results and guidance. Huang, who owns about 3% of the semiconductor giant, now trails fifth-place Michael Dell by more than $45 billion. Nvidia's shares soared as analysts reacted to the company's unofficial fiscal 2028 revenue guidance of 70% year-over-year growth, which could exceed 100% if not for supply constraints.
SpaceX Seeks $40B Apollo-Led Financing for Nvidia Chips
SpaceX is reportedly seeking about $40B to finance a major Nvidia chip purchase, with Apollo Global Management expected to lead the financing. The package could include roughly $10B of bank loans and $30B of investment-grade debt, the Financial Times reported, adding another large financing commitment to the AI infrastructure buildout. Separately, David Ellison said technology will be central to Skydance's strategy following the completion of its $110B acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, noting in a memo obtained by Business Insider that technology is changing how content is created, distributed, and consumed. Constellation Energy jumped 12.2% Tuesday after announcing a 20-year power purchase agreement with Google tied to 890 MW of additional nuclear generation, lifting Talen Energy, Vistra, and NRG Energy by 12.4%, 10.7%, and 7%, respectively, while the State Street Utilities Select Sector SPDR rose 3%. Chevron agreed to sell interests in Hess Midstream and its DJ Basin crude midstream assets as it restructures related contracts, with revised Bakken agreements expected to cut midstream costs for its Bakken operations by roughly half. Ray Dalio warned the AI investment cycle is approaching a point where rising interest rates and heavy borrowing could trigger a reversal.
Aehr Test Systems wins $6M follow-on orders for hyperscale AI chip
Aehr Test Systems has received approximately $6M in follow-on production orders from its lead hyperscale customer for package-level burn-in of that customer's next-generation AI processor. The orders cover additional Sonoma high-power test and burn-in systems, turnkey burn-in modules, device-specific sockets and software enhancements. The equipment will be deployed at an OSAT partner in Taiwan, with deliveries scheduled over the next six months.
Citi Lifts TSMC Estimates, Sees Over 40% Revenue Growth Into 2027
Citi analyst Atif Malik raised his earnings estimates for Taiwan Semiconductor for the next two fiscal years, writing that another round of consensus earnings upgrades is likely to come for the chipmaker. Malik expects more than 40% year-over-year revenue growth for TSMC into 2027, supported by robust AI compute demand, potential upside from agentic AI, and the new networking cycle of co-packaged optics, or CPO. He also expects TSMC's AI revenue growth to nearly double next year, noting that Nvidia, TSMC's largest customer, has guided to a doubling of its order intake and over 70% year-over-year revenue growth in fiscal 2028, while AMD has guided to over 80% CAGR in its Data Center AI business and Broadcom expects its AI semiconductor revenue to almost double in fiscal 2028. Taiwan Semiconductor shares hit a record high this week and are up 61% year to date, with the company set to report earnings on Oct. 15.
Constellation Brands Falls on Guidance, SpaceX Debt Plan Weighs on Premarket
Constellation Brands shares fell 4.9% in premarket trading after the company's fiscal second-quarter 2027 results beat on earnings and revenue but its full-year profit outlook came in below analyst expectations. The company reported adjusted earnings of $3.74 per share, above consensus estimates of roughly $3.55 to $3.61, while net sales rose 6% year over year to $2.63 billion, topping the $2.54 billion estimate, but its reaffirmed fiscal 2027 adjusted EPS guidance of $11.20 to $11.90 carried a midpoint of $11.55, below the analyst consensus of about $11.72. Beer volumes remained weak, with Modelo Especial depletions down roughly 2% and Corona Extra down about 5%, bringing total beer depletions down 0.6% for the quarter, and the company also announced the acquisition of SpikedAde, a vodka-based, zero-sugar ready-to-drink beverage brand, for $75 million upfront plus up to $278 million in contingent payments over five years. Elsewhere in premarket trading, Intel shares rose 1% to around $113.50 after Elon Musk said TSMC will not own or operate the planned Terafab AI chip complex in Texas, easing concerns Intel could lose its role in the project, while Sigma Lithium shares surged nearly 5.9% after a Brazilian Federal Court of Appeals granted emergency suspensive relief upholding its environmental licenses at the Grota do Cirilo complex in Minas Gerais. Space Exploration Technologies shares slid 1.9% after a report said the company is seeking to raise $40 billion in debt to fund a massive Nvidia AI chip order, consisting of roughly $10 billion in bank loans and $30 billion in investment-grade bonds, with Apollo Global Management expected to lead the deal and Pimco among the lenders in early discussions.
Artificial Intelligence › Custom Silicon / ASIC Capital
STZ · Capital · Negative Constellation Brands' reaffirmed fiscal 2027 adjusted EPS guidance midpoint of $11.55 came in below analyst consensus of about $11.72.
STZ · Demand · Negative Beer volumes remained weak, with Modelo Especial depletions down ~2% and Corona Extra down ~5%, total beer depletions down 0.6%.
SGML · Regulation · Positive A Brazilian Federal Court of Appeals granted emergency suspensive relief upholding Sigma Lithium's environmental licenses at the Grota do Cirilo complex.
SPCX · Capital · Negative SpaceX is seeking to raise $40 billion in debt (bank loans plus investment-grade bonds) to fund a massive Nvidia AI chip order.
INTC · Competition · Positive Musk said TSMC will not own or operate the planned Terafab AI chip complex in Texas, easing concerns Intel could lose its role in the project.
Reflection AI, $25 Billion Startup Backed by Nvidia, Nears First Open-Source Model Launch
Reflection AI, a New York City startup valued at $25 billion, is rumored to be on the verge of releasing its first open-source AI model, according to a report from Axios. Founded about 2.5 years ago by two former Google DeepMind researchers who worked on the foundations of Google Gemini, the company came out of stealth at a $545 million valuation and has since raised $2 billion from Nvidia, which led its next round. Reflection AI has committed upwards of $7 billion on compute before its first model ships, including roughly $150 million per month paid to Elon Musk's SpaceX AI for compute access, and it does not own any of its own chips. The company's pitch centers on an "AI factory" model in which enterprises pay for model weights, download them, and run them privately on their own infrastructure so proprietary data never reaches a centralized lab. The launch would mark a rare Western attempt to compete in open-source AI, where Chinese models now account for 58 to 80 percent of usage among US AI startups, and where Reflection AI's $7.4 billion compute spend amounts to only about 1.4 percent of the $0.5 trillion Anthropic plans to spend on compute over the next 5 to 10 years.
AMD CEO Lisa Su Cites Strong Data Center Demand as Citi Lifts Target to $800
AMD CEO Lisa Su said overall data center demand remains "very strong" and that she is seeing "strong demand signals" across the company's product portfolio during a visit to Seoul on Wednesday to meet with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, according to a Reuters report, a day after she predicted in Taipei that chip demand would stay strong for years. AMD shares are trading at a record high and are up 200% year to date. Citi analyst Atif Malik raised his price target on AMD to $800 from $575 on Tuesday, citing demand for Meta's new AI agent known as Muse and calling AMD the primary beneficiary of a CPU renaissance, with Meta among the largest customers of AMD's server business. Malik said he expects the CPU total addressable market to expand from $29 billion in 2025 to $300 billion in 2030, a 60% CAGR, with AMD the key beneficiary and Intel a secondary one.