Mark Zuckerberg at UFC 300 at T-Mobile Arena on April 13, 2024, in Las Vegas (Jeff Bottari/Getty Images)

The AI trade catches fire after Microsoft, Meta earnings reports

Looks like optimism has taken over this afternoon.

4/30/25 4:23PM

Traders jumped headfirst into the AI trade after-hours on Wednesday, following glowing earnings reports from Meta and Microsoft.

Meta, for one, said it would spend more on AI-related data centers than the already gargantuan amount it had planned to, partly because it expects to do more data center projects and partly because it expects to pay higher prices for the infrastructure hardware.

Meanwhile, Microsoft posted blowout earnings that sent the stock soaring after-hours, with CEO Satya Nadella continuing to hammer home the importance of AI and the company’s capex for the quarter coming in 52% higher than the same quarter a year earlier.

AI-adjacent names that were up in recent after-hours trading:

Nvidia ⬆️ 3.2%
Super Micro Computer ⬆️ 0.8%
Arista Networks ⬆️ 6.3%
Arm Holdings ⬆️ 1.7%
Vistra ⬆️ 2.4%
GE Vernova ⬆️ 1.6%

Millie Giles

INSTA PLUS MAX

Meta is testing out premium subscriptions on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp

Ahead of its earnings, expected after the bell today, Meta has announced plans to trial a paid tier on its apps.

Meta Apps - Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Threads

Rani Molla3h

Amazon cuts another 16,000 roles, after laying off 14,000 workers in October

Amazon announced Wednesday that it was cutting 16,000 roles across the company, having laid off 14,000 workers only ~3 months ago.

“As I shared in October, we've been working to strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy,” Senior Vice President of People Experience and Technology Beth Galetti wrote in a press release. “While many teams finalized their organizational changes in October, other teams did not complete that work until now.”

CEO Andy Jassy previously said that the October layoffs were “about culture” rather than AI-related cost cutting. Galetti says layoffs, now totaling 30,000, won’t become a regular occurrence.

“Some of you might ask if this is the beginning of a new rhythm – where we announce broad reductions every few months. That’s not our plan.”

Update on our organization

CEO Andy Jassy previously said that the October layoffs were “about culture” rather than AI-related cost cutting. Galetti says layoffs, now totaling 30,000, won’t become a regular occurrence.

“Some of you might ask if this is the beginning of a new rhythm – where we announce broad reductions every few months. That’s not our plan.”

Jon Keegan18h

Anthropic reportedly doubles current fundraising round to $20 billion

Anthropic has doubled its current fundraising round to $20 billion on strong investor demand, according reporting from the Financial Times. The new fundraising round would value the company at a staggering $350 billion. That’s up 91% from September, when it raised at a valuation of $183 billion.

The company reportedly received interest totaling 5x to 6x its original $10 billion fundraising goal, and it’s expected to haul in several billion more than that tally before the current round closes.

Anthropic’s success with enterprise customers and the popularity of its Claude Code product are boosting the company’s momentum as it chases the current valuation leader of the AI startup pack: OpenAI.

Anthropic doubles VC fundraising to $20bn on surging investor demand

Produce At Whole Foods Market's Flagship Store

Amazon says it’s doubling down on opening Whole Foods stores. That sounds familiar.

The company says it’ll open 100 Whole Foods locations in the next few years. That sounds similar to plans Whole Foods’ CEO laid out in 2024 for opening 30 stores a year. Since then, it appears to have added 14, total.

Rani Molla19h

One year after the DeepSeek freak, the AI industry has adjusted and roared back

A look back at how the Chinese startup shattered conventions, changed the way Big Tech thought about AI, and blew a $1 trillion hole in the stock market that got filled right back up... and then soared to new levels.

Jon Keegan20h