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Luke Kawa

Nvidia reportedly receives US government approval to ship some AI chips to the UAE

Nvidia has received the all clear from the US Commerce Department to start sending its powerful AI semiconductors to the United Arab Emirates, per Bloomberg.

These shipments are part of the “Stargate UAE” project, announced in May, which saw the UAE offer to invest over $1 trillion in the US in exchange for access to American technology — including massive amounts of Nvidia chips — to support the build-out of a cluster of data centers in the Gulf nation.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, as well as some senior White House officials, were frustrated by the lack of progress on this deal amid national security concerns held by others in the administration, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The apparent internal strife underscores the difficulties involved in the pursuit of “sovereign AI” by many nations, with the US government aiming to balance the best interests of its leading technology companies with a desire to maintain a national competitive edge in the space by controlling the flow of key AI hardware.

The Stargate UAE venture — which also includes OpenAI, Oracle, Cisco, SoftBank, and G42 — came amid a spree of multiyear, multibillion-dollar pacts between US tech giants and companies or sovereign-affiliated entities in the Middle East, which were announced in May as President Donald Trump toured the region. This included Super Micro Computer’s $20 billion partnership agreement with Saudi Arabian data center firm DataVolt as well as Nvidia’s deal with the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund to build “AI factories of the future.”

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SpaceX gets a wave of bullish ratings from Wall Street analysts

SpaceX received more than a dozen positive analyst calls on Tuesday — including from major Wall Street banks — as they initiate coverage on Elon Musk’s space and AI company.

SpaceX went public on June 12 at a $2.2 trillion valuation, the largest debut in history. While the company hasn’t yet posted a profit, it seems to have convinced Wall Street that it will get there and grow its valuation on the way.

Of the at least 17 analysts that gave a rating on Tuesday, all but one gave it a “buy” or “outperform” rating. MoffettNathanson was "neutral."

The ratings come as SpaceX joined the Nasdaq 100 index, a benchmark tech-heavy basket of companies that underpins millions of portfolios. The inclusion adds built-in demand for the stock from index funds and ETFs.

Still, SpaceX fell more than 5% on Tuesday amid a broader sell-off, and is currently effectively flat from its opening price of $150 a share.

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Nike sinks to lowest level since 2014 after warning of “challenged” sales environment in Q4 report

Did Nike do it?

Investors had a mixed reaction after the global sports apparel company reported its fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday after the bell. Shares initially rose 5% as Nike beat out Wall Street expectations amid a hefty tariff refund bonus. However, the stock then sank to its lowest level since August 2014 in postmarket trading.

Here are the Q4 numbers:

  • Revenue of $11.0 billion (estimate: $10.8 billion).

  • Adjusted earnings per share of $0.20 (estimate: $0.12).

Ahead of this report, Nike warned that results would be flattered by a one-time tariff refund (now estimated at roughly $0.52 per share for the bottom line). That gave the company an extra cushion in snapping its streak of seven quarters of year-over-year profit declines.

Over the past year, the company had been punished by tariffs on imported goods, stagnant consumer spending, and increasing competition from other footwear brands like New Balance, Adidas, and Hoka.

Outgoing CFO Matthew Friend deemed it an “increasingly challenging operating environment, where sell-through remains challenged.”

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