A tumultuous twenty-four hours in the technology sector, marked by mixed earnings and a landmark political shift in New York City, dominated discussion on "Bloomberg Tech" with an analysis of volatility in chip stocks, the future of AI commerce, and a historic mayoral election.
The semiconductor landscape has been volatile, with AMD shares swinging between gains and declines after the company provided an outlook that was in line with consensus but failed to impress the most bullish investors. As reported on Bloomberg Tech, AMD is aggressively moving into the AI data center context to compete with NVIDIA. While NVIDIA is growing in the 50% range, AMD has been more in the 30% range, leaving investors wanting to see whether AMD's AI chip business is going to take off. Some analysts suggested that higher-than-expected operating expenses may indicate the business is relying more on the "old traditional P.C. business" rather than the high-growth AI sector. However, AMD is clearly continuing to gain share versus Intel in the "old boring part of A.M.D.," such as P.C. and standard server C.P.U.'s, which serves as a good cash generator. Despite the volatility, Bloomberg Tech reiterated that the chip pie is still rising due to AI and infrastructure investment, giving AMD an opportunity to take a greater share as the overall market grows.
Meanwhile, Super Micro is facing headwinds, with its outlook for current period earnings falling below consensus, causing the stock to drop 7%. Though Super Micro has benefited from fast growth in AI demand in the past, it appears to be losing momentum. This could be due to competitors like Dell picking up more market share, or large companies building AI chips into servers themselves, which would take away business from Super Micro.
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A major political story for the technology hub of New York City was also covered on Bloomberg Tech: the historic victory of Zohran Mamdani, the "111th Mayor of New York City," and the "youngest mayor-elect in a century". Mamdani is an avowed Democratic Socialist in charge of a city that is increasingly a major technology hub. The CEO of Tech NYC expressed cautious optimism, noting that "what’s good for New York tends to be good for tech here". Mamdani ran on a campaign of making New York affordable, a platform that resonated with many young tech workers, particularly since research shows that "even people who have high paying jobs in tech are having a hard time affording housing in New York City". Tech NYC supports the "pro-housing initiatives that won yesterday". The immediate priority for the tech sector is modernizing government, finding a way to "use technology to make New York City government work better for New Yorkers". Concerns, however, include a potential "anti-business dynamic" and the possibility of future proposals for higher corporate or income taxes, though these would require approval from the state.
In corporate governance news, Tesla is heading for a high-stakes shareholder vote on a proposed $1 trillion compensation package for Elon Musk. The Norway Sovereign Wealth Fund, Tesla’s ninth biggest shareholder, voted No against the proposal, arguing the award’s total size is too great and worrying about dilution. However, an advisor to the special committee noted on Bloomberg Tech that the fund had also opposed the pay plan ratification last year, despite having built its position and enjoying the benefit of nearly a 40,000% increase in share value since 2011. Crucially, this is the first vote under Texas law, which means Elon Musk’s shares "will definitely be counted and included as part of this process," a fundamental change from previous votes under Delaware law.
The emergence of AI-driven commerce is also driving new legal conflicts, as highlighted on Bloomberg Tech. Amazon is suing Perplexity over its AI shopping tool, which helps users buy items on Amazon. Amazon alleges Perplexity committed computer fraud and violated terms of service by masking the identity of its AI agent (Comet) when it was making purchases on behalf of real people. Amazon is concerned about account integrity and liability if a return is needed, framing this as a "turf war over the customer experience" on its retail site. Perplexity has accused Amazon of "bullying," arguing that authorizing their AI to navigate purchases is no different than a user navigating with a mouse and keyboard. This conflict underscores the emerging debate about "who owns the experience when agents are going all over the internet rather than individual users with hands and eyes".
Other key stories covered on Bloomberg Tech include the successful funding of Video Rebirth, a new AI startup aiming to rival OpenAI by making video creation as intuitive as chatting with AI. Furthermore, Google is nearing the end of the Justice Department’s investigation into its $32 billion acquisition of cybersecurity firm Wiz. On the consumer front, Apple is set to launch a new, cheaper Mac Book, estimated to be in the $600 to $800 range, designed to compete with Google’s Chrome Books and Windows P.C.’s. This new model is expected in the first half of next year and may use an advanced iPhone chip to keep costs down and provide an entry point into the Apple ecosystem.
