🎲 Nvidia stayed on a roll

What’s going on here?

Nvidia beat sales and profit expectations for the seventh straight quarter.

What does this mean?

Nvidia’s stock had already risen 160% this year – and with the firm making up nearly 7% of the S&P 500 index, its performance would be noticed by the masses. Good thing, then, that the company made $30 billion in sales last quarter – up 122% from the same time last year, and better than the $28.7 billion that analysts had forecast. Profit came in better than expected, too, at $16.6 billion – 166% higher than this time last year. The all-star topped it off by bumping up its share buyback scheme by $50 billion and issuing higher-than-expected projections for this quarter. Thing is, investors hoped for so much that they initially sent the stock down a touch after the results.

Why should I care?

Zooming in: Tough crowd.

Investors expect the very best from Nvidia, so even the tiniest slip can show up in its share price. Remember, rumors of a delay to the next-generation Blackwell chip dented the firm’s stock recently, although it didn’t take long for investors to get back on board. But at least the company’s four biggest customers are more reliable. Big spenders Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet, and Amazon make up more than 50% of Nvidia’s data center revenue. And better yet, those four companies plan to throw even more cash at AI for the rest of this year.

The bigger picture: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Nvidia might be the main firm churning out the super-advanced chips used for AI, but its runaway success isn’t exactly a secret. So, naturally, companies like Cerebras, d-Matrix, and Groq are focusing on cheaper, more specialized chips in an attempt to compete. Cerebras even claims that its solution is 20 times faster than Nvidia’s current crop of Hopper chips, and it sells for a fraction of the price.

What’s going on here?

The European Union’s (EU) harsh rules have scared off tech companies, so the region won’t be getting any cool new toys from Apple or Meta.

What does this mean?

Europe’s Digital Markets Act hasn’t gone down well with tech giants, mainly because it could force them to compromise on security measures. So some are putting their money makers where their mouths are. Apple’s keeping its fancy iPhone features out of Europe, after hitting the brakes on rolling out Apple Intelligence there back in June. Meta’s also skipping the region with its shiny new Llama AI model – and OpenAI hinted that it might bail, too. Elon Musk’s also fallen out with European lawmakers recently, with X in hot water over its use of European data for AI model Grok.

Why should I care?

For markets: This town ain’t big enough…

Apple and Meta pulling their goodies from the region is just the latest showdown between Europe and Silicon Valley. The EU maintains that tough tech rules and antitrust crackdowns are needed to handle the problems caused by Silicon Valley’s tech dominance – think murky user terms and an overall lack of competition. Now, this pullback probably won’t incite panic: iPhones, X ads, and Meta’s VR headsets aren’t exactly flying off the shelves. But if the next generations of gadgets are especially souped-up, Europe may end up missing out – especially if AI services, relied on by workers and startups, dip out of the region.

The bigger picture: The European Dream is more of a snooze.

In theory, the temporary absence of advanced American tech products should give European startups a leg up. And yet, Europe’s still trailing behind the US when it comes to tech development. That has a lot to do with the EU’s love of heavy regulation, which makes innovating a slower, more bogged-down process and forces companies to shell out valuable cash – that could be used elsewhere – just to stay compliant.