Friday, October 23, 2026 · 1:09 AM ET
Markets
The Nasdaq fell 2.6% (Nasdaq 100 -2.9%) in its worst session since June 5, erasing nearly $1.2T as AI spending and profitability fears hit chips hardest (SOX -6.7%, AMD -8%, Micron -6%, Nvidia -4%) and Meta dropped 7%. AI and chip names drove ~90% of the Nasdaq 100's losses, though the Dow and Russell 2000 gained.
AI
Huang pushed back on concerns about neocloud financing, arguing demand for AI compute remains 'off the charts' and that strong customer demand will ultimately help providers secure the working capital needed to expand. He said 'you can't solve the absence of demand,' but financing challenges are solvable when demand is high.
Earnings
Bloom Energy posted Q3 revenue up 138% YoY to $1.24B (vs $1.05B est) and adjusted EPS of $0.94 (vs $0.68 est), with adjusted operating income of $285.7M and gross margins expanding 412bps to 34.5%. It raised FY2026 revenue guidance to $4.4B-$4.6B and adjusted EPS to $3.10-$3.40, though operating cash flow was -$27.1M.
Deals
OpenAI is reportedly close to a $30B funding round at a $1.25T valuation, led by UAE investors and Coatue, positioned as a bridge ahead of a possible 2027 IPO, per CNBC. It is separately negotiating to secure additional AI computing capacity from the UAE.
Deals
SK Hynix has scrapped plans for a U.S. IPO of its Solidigm subsidiary and halted a related pre-IPO round after regulators flagged a possible 'duplicate listing' and shareholders objected, per Bloomberg. The IPO, with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley lined up as underwriters, had been targeted for 2027.
Markets
The top options by contracts traded were NVDA (3.5M), TSLA (2.6M), SPCX (1.7M), AAPL (1.4M), MU (1.2M), META (1.2M), INTC (1.2M), AMZN (1.0M), NFLX (967K) and CRWV (941K).
Deals
SpaceX is reportedly seeking access to at least 80,000 U.S. cell tower sites, in talks with operators including Crown Castle on deals potentially worth billions, per Bloomberg. Following its low-band spectrum deal and FCC approval for 15,000 direct-to-device satellites, the push would let Starlink compete with AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile.
Macro
Goldman Sachs estimates Chinese gold purchases via the London OTC market hit 25 tonnes in August, ~25% above the 20 tonnes officially reported, with estimated OTC buying exceeding reported central-bank purchases by 83 tonnes (128%) over four months. Global central banks are estimated to have bought 79 tonnes in August, ~365% above the pre-2022 average.
AI
Huang told CNBC he doesn't expect a surplus of memory supply by 2029, signaling continued confidence in long-term DRAM and HBM demand as AI infrastructure expands. He noted 'you can always use more of it' as larger models, context windows and inference workloads push memory needs higher.
Deals
SpaceX is reportedly finalizing a $40B debt financing led by Apollo and Goldman Sachs, per Semafor, including a lower-rated tranche near 8.3% and a chip-backed portion around 7.75% - more than 100bps above its existing bonds. The deal, expected to close next week, underscores the rising cost of financing large-scale AI infrastructure.
AI Infrastructure
Nebius secured a $3.5B senior secured credit facility from Citi to fund its global AI data-center expansion and GPU purchases, with a 364-day maturity and costs starting at SOFR+2.75%. The company cited more than $40B in long-term contracts with investment-grade customers to support further asset-backed financing.
Markets
The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield slipped below 5.00% for the first time since September 23 as the tech and AI selloff intensified and investors rotated into government bonds. The move highlights a growing divergence between falling yields and pressured equities.
AI · The Information
AI video-generation startup Utopai has reached unicorn status with a valuation topping $1 billion, as investor demand for generative video AI accelerates.
AI · WSJ
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek raised $15 billion in its second private financing round, nearly doubling its initial target, as it accelerates its IPO timeline toward a potential Shanghai listing early next year.
Markets · WSJ
Spotify shares jumped more than 10% after the company reported better-than-expected third-quarter premium subscriber growth, adding 6 million subscribers to reach 306 million — about a million above its prior guidance.
Markets · WSJ
Meta will split its stock and create a new share class to fund soaring AI investments after reporting record Q3 revenue of $64.6 billion; shares fell more than 5% as investors balked at projected billions in additional future spending commitments.
AI · Bloomberg
Kevin Weil, who led OpenAI's AI-for-science efforts, launched Warp Sciences out of stealth with $215 million led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, valuing the AI drug-development startup at $865 million.
Earnings · Bloomberg
Nokia's third-quarter adjusted operating income rose to 605 million euros, beating the 454 million euro analyst estimate, driven by surging demand for data-center networking equipment tied to AI-infrastructure investment.
AI · Bloomberg
SoftBank shares fell 6.9% Thursday, taking the drop from its June peak to 50%, as higher borrowing costs stoke investor concern over the sustainability of its massive AI investments; its market cap is now about 24.7 trillion yen ($157 billion).
Deals · The Information
SB Energy, the SoftBank-controlled developer behind a large Ohio data-center project for OpenAI, is weighing pushing its IPO to December or into next year — later than the September debut once targeted — as public markets turn cautious on data-center listings.
Deals · The Information
Datadog offered about $4 billion to acquire cloud-security startup Upwind, a deal that would significantly expand its security product line as it pushes deeper into the fast-growing cloud-security market.
Earnings · Bloomberg
Western Digital forecast better-than-expected earnings and raised its quarterly dividend 17% to $0.175 a share as AI-driven data-storage demand surged. Fiscal Q1 revenue jumped 55% to $4.38 billion and non-GAAP gross margin expanded to 58.1% from 43.9%, though shares gave back early gains in a broad AI selloff.
AI · Bloomberg
Anthropic's draft S-1 revealed $16.3 billion in first-half 2026 revenue, up from $1.1 billion a year earlier, ahead of a public IPO filing expected as soon as Friday. The filing also flagged heavy customer concentration and a large, mostly non-cash loss, with an implied valuation near $2 trillion that would make it one of the biggest listings ever.
Earnings · FT
Tesla's Q3 revenue was roughly flat at $28.05 billion, narrowly beating estimates, but net profit fell about 43% as margins compressed. Musk set a lower vehicle sales target, leaned into robotaxi and robot plans, and said Tesla is exploring a merger with SpaceX. Shares slipped despite the earnings beat.
AI · Bloomberg
DeepSeek and MiniMax have won approval to deploy their AI models overseas, part of a wave of homegrown Chinese AI that Beijing will allow to operate globally, according to a CCTV-affiliated state media account. Much of Chinese AI will remain free for export despite a draft proposal for AI export controls.
AI · Bloomberg
SK Hyper, SK Group's data center arm, is in talks with big tech firms and financial investors to help fund an envisioned $350 billion data center buildout, part of a global rush to roll out AI infrastructure. The plan targets 15 gigawatts of capacity in South Korea by 2035, with the first 5GW phase alone needing $350B.
Markets · Bloomberg
Apple has become one of the market's most reliable hedges against AI-spending jitters, moving opposite AI stocks as sentiment swings. Its shares are up 27% in 2026 - the biggest contributor to the S&P 500's climb and the best performer among the Magnificent Seven this year.
AI · Bloomberg
SpaceX is working with Apollo Global Management, Nvidia and dozens of other firms on a new partner program to deploy and improve its Grok AI systems and boost enterprise adoption. More than 130 companies, including Snowflake, Databricks, Bain and Booz Allen, gained early access to the Super Intelligence Partner Network.
Tech · Bloomberg
Huawei has secured a 15 billion yuan ($2.25 billion) seven-year offshore loan from six Chinese banks, including Bank of China, China Construction Bank and ICBC, as its spending on chips to power AI projects soars. Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.
Deals · The Information
Tractian, a 7-year-old Atlanta-based physical AI startup that retrofits industrial machines with sensors and AI software to predict failures, raised $130 million at a $1.4 billion valuation in a Series D led by Sapphire Ventures. Annualized revenue recently crossed $100 million, growing 90% year over year, with AI data centers among its fastest-growing customer segments.
Markets · Bloomberg
The combined market value of Chinese AI model developers MiniMax and Z.AI (Zhipu) has fallen about $150 billion from their respective highs as of Thursday's close, a sharp reversal from their hotly anticipated January debuts. Intensifying competition and the threat of rival listings next year are fueling the ongoing slide.
Markets · Bloomberg
A measure of Meta's credit risk hit a record high Thursday as plans to ramp up capital spending reignited fears that tech giants will issue more debt for the AI buildout. Five-year credit default swaps on Meta's debt rose as much as 8.9 basis points to around 119.3 bps, the highest since the swaps began actively trading about a year ago, with CDS on Oracle, Microsoft and Broadcom also rising.