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Luke Kawa

Nvidia, TSMC rise as the world’s most valuable company reportedly asks for more chips to meet Chinese demand

Nvidia and TSMC are modestly higher in premarket trading Wednesday after Reuters reported that the chip designer asked the Taiwanese chip manufacturing giant to boost production of its H200 AI chips.

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump said that Nvidia would be able to ship the best-performing processors from its Hopper generation to China, with 25% of the proceeds going to the US government. Per the report, Chinese companies have already placed orders for more than 2 million of these chips in 2026, roughly triple the 700,000 in inventory that Nvidia has in reserve. Reuters added that Nvidia is planning on selling these chips at around $27,000 apiece, which would amount to a more than $54 billion boost in revenues if it’s able to realize all this reported demand. The ability to do so will also depend on Chinese regulators green-lighting purchases. The chip designer’s success in 2025 has come despite being effectively shut out of the Chinese AI market for the year.

The outlet previously reported that Nvidia plans to begin sending these GPUs to China before the Lunar New Year holiday (which starts on February 17, 2026), and that Chinese companies are eagerly awaiting the opportunity to get their hands on these powerful chips.

During Nvidia’s Q3 conference call, which came prior to the Trump announcement, CEO Jensen Huang expressed confidence in his ability to meet demand for the company’s GPUs going forward, saying, “In many cases, we’ve secured a lot of supply for ourselves, because obviously, they’re working with the largest company in the world in doing so.”

Huang’s relationship with critical supply chain partner TSMC appears to benefit from a personal touch: during his November visit to Taiwan, he met with the chipmaker’s CEO, CC Wei, as well as other execs over hot pot, and called TSMC “the pride of the world” the next day.

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Lululemon’s stretch getting tested: Stock plunges after after outlook is cut

Lululemon shares are down double digits in premarket trading after the company cut its full-year sales and profit outlook, overshadowing a Q1 beat and raising fresh concerns about the brand’s turnaround efforts.

The company now expects fiscal 2026 revenue to be flat to down 1%, compared with its prior forecast for 2% to 4% growth. Guidance for full-year diluted earnings per share was dragged down to a range of $10.95 to $11.15, below the company’s previous guidance of $12.10 to $12.30 and well below Wall Street’s estimate of $13.26.

Key numbers for Q1:

  • EPS of $1.69 vs. the $1.68 expected.

  • Revenue of $2.47 billion vs. the $2.43 billion expected.

The modest top-line beat masked a widening divergence between Lululemons geographic markets. While international revenue rose 22% overall with a 30% increase in Mainland China, the bigger problem remains North America, where revenue fell 5%.

Interim co-CEO and CFO Meghan Frank acknowledged during the earnings call that recent product rollouts underperformed. A highly anticipated yoga campaign failed to generate its expected halo effect across broader product lines.

Profitability metrics took a major hit, with gross margins contracting by 410 basis points to 54.2% due to mounting tariff costs and promotional markdowns. Operating income consequently fell 37% year over year to $276.9 million.

“We experienced spikes of negative commentary in the media and on social channels with regard to our brand, which had an impact on traffic and overall top-line performance,” Frank said during the earnings call. “And second, not all of our product launches have met our expectations. While we have had several successful launches so far this year, we have seen others as we start Q2 not generate the anticipated guest response.”

Lululemons valuation has already been steadily compressing for years. While it was once one of retails richly valued stocks, investors have been questioning whether the company can return to the double-digit growth era.

The results also arrive during a leadership transition. Lululemon announced back in April that former Nike executive Heidi ONeill is set to take over as CEO in September, with investors looking to her to revive growth in North America and restore the brands growth.

As Lululemon faces both macroeconomic pressure and brand-specific challenges, its stock has dropped around 40% year to date.

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US job growth skyrocketed in May, blasting past expectations

The US economy added 172,000 jobs in the month of May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, sending 10-year Treasury yields higher.

The strong May job market surprised economists. Experts had predicted only 85,000 new jobs — just half the reported number. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%, as expected.

The job growth story is a hopeful spot for the economy as consumers continue to feel inflationary pressure from the Iran war.

Job gains were buoyed by the leisure and hospitality sector, which added 70,000 jobs, as well as local government, healthcare, and education.

Both the March and April jobs reports were revised upward, making them collectively 93,000 higher than previously reported.

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