AI stock sell-offSignal 8/10
Semiconductor and AI stocks post a third day of losses as Kimi K3 and bubble fears weigh on markets
US equity markets closed the week with notable losses led by semiconductor stocks, after Kimi K3's launch reinforced concerns that expensive frontier compute may not be defensible. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 each fell roughly one per cent on Thursday according to CNN, and the broader AI stock cohort extended declines into Friday. Databricks was reported by TechCrunch to have reached a valuation of 188 billion US dollars in its latest funding round, cited as a claimed figure from the company. OpenAI's chief financial officer Sarah Friar published a proposed 'AI scorecard' framework encouraging investors to measure return on investment through task success rates and cost per useful output rather than headline revenues, signalling awareness that conventional financial metrics are struggling to capture AI's value. Apple briefly overtook Nvidia to become the world's most valuable listed company, according to The Guardian, illustrating how investors are beginning to differentiate between AI infrastructure builders and consumer technology companies that may benefit from AI without bearing the same capital costs. Separately, a 400 million US dollar chip-backed loan highlighted continued institutional appetite for AI infrastructure debt even as equity markets wobble.
AI infrastructure dealsSignal 7/10
Meta in talks to sell spare compute to Anthropic in a deal reported at up to 10 billion dollars
Meta is reportedly in early-stage discussions to lease surplus data-centre capacity to Anthropic, with the New York Times citing a potential deal valued at up to 10 billion US dollars; these figures are attributed claims and no agreement has been confirmed. The talks come weeks after Anthropic announced a separate arrangement to use computing capacity at SpaceX's Colossus 1 data centre. CNBC notes that Mark Zuckerberg has been openly exploring ways to monetise excess AI compute, and Anthropic would be the first large customer of that strategy if a deal is struck. Elon Musk's Memphis data-centre campus, also known as Colossus, is meanwhile described by CNBC as the epicentre of a growing backlash against data-centre developments, with policy proposals, protests, and litigation under way across the United States. European chip equipment maker ASML is navigating a tightrope between China sales, which are forecast to account for roughly a fifth of its 2026 net revenue, and US-led export restrictions.