Key Republican urges US to stop advanced chips from reaching sanctioned Chinese firms

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.

Netlist, Inc. shares soared 17.9% to close at $6.66 after the company disclosed a settlement with Micron that resolves all pending legal proceedings between the two firms. Under the deal, Micron receives a five-year license to Netlist's patent portfolio, including server DIMMs and High Bandwidth Memory technologies, and will pay Netlist $30 million every quarter from the fourth quarter of 2026 through the third quarter of 2031, totaling $600 million over the five-year term. Micron also agreed to purchase 10 million Netlist common shares for an aggregate of $1 million, subject to a lock-up and phased release schedule over five years. The Micron agreement follows Netlist's August announcement of a five-year strategic alliance with Samsung covering patent cross-licensing, DRAM and NAND supply, and settlement of all pending litigation, under which Samsung will also buy 10 million Netlist shares. Netlist is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.60 per share, a year-over-year change of +3100%, on revenues of $308.6 million, up 630.8% from the year-ago quarter, while its consensus EPS estimate has remained unchanged over the last 30 days and the stock carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Micron Technology has reached a major patent settlement with Netlist that includes a multi-year license for key memory technologies, resolving longstanding litigation between the two companies over intellectual property used in Micron's memory products. Separately, workers at Micron's critical Taiwan facility have backed a strike action that could affect production during strong AI-related demand. The Netlist settlement supports Micron's advanced DRAM and high bandwidth memory roadmap from an IP standpoint, while the Taiwan labor threat could turn tight supply into an operational risk if output for AI data center clients is interrupted. The clearest proof point will be Micron's next detailed operational update, especially whether management keeps its fiscal 2027 capex and first quarter 2027 revenue guidance of about US$61.5b intact while outlining how Taiwan production plans and labor relations are being stabilised.