tech

Rani Molla8/26/25

Apple has reportedly considered buying Mistral AI and Perplexity

The chorus of voices urging Apple to make a major AI acquisition to rectify its lagging position among its peers is getting louder, and it appears that Apple is at least listening. Apple executives have discussed acquiring either OpenAI rival Mistral AI (which has a $10 billion valuation) or AI-powered search engine Perplexity ($20 billion valuation), The Information reports — but has yet to make a move.

The iPhone maker has a lot of reasons to hesitate, which the report covers in depth, including a history of only small acquisitions, not wanting to overpay, and fears of culture clashes.

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, for his part, has been clamoring for Apple to acquire Perplexity to avoid having a “BlackBerry moment” in AI.

Apple’s Aversion to Big Deals Could Thwart Its AI Push

Apple’s Aversion to Big Deals Could Thwart Its AI Push

The iPhone maker has a lot of reasons to hesitate, which the report covers in depth, including a history of only small acquisitions, not wanting to overpay, and fears of culture clashes.

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, for his part, has been clamoring for Apple to acquire Perplexity to avoid having a “BlackBerry moment” in AI.

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Apple Store in China

Apple reports Q4 earnings and revenue slightly above Wall Street estimates

The iPhone maker reported its FY 25 fourth-quarter earnings Thursday.

Tesla just recalled its beleaguered Cybertruck for the 10th time since the vehicle was introduced two years ago. This time the company recalled about 6,000 of the “apocalypse-proof” vehicles due to what the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says is an improperly installed “optional off-road light bar accessory” that could become disconnected from the windshield while driving, and could “create a road hazard for following motorists and increase their risk of a collision.”

CEO Elon Musk once said he could sell up to 500,000 of the stainless steel behemoths a year. In the first three quarters of this year, the company has sold only about 16,000.

Microsoft: Forget what we said, we are going to keep spending on capex

Last quarter, the company offered guidance that its capex spending would be lower in the second half of the fiscal year. Yesterday it said spending would go up.

Microsoft Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary With Copilot AI Event

tech

Analysts lower Meta price targets after social media giant says AI capex will keep climbing

Meta may have posted record revenue Wednesday but the stock is deeply in the red in the wake of its third-quarter earnings report, after the social media company said that its capital expenditure on AI would continue to rise.

The earnings prompted a number of analysts to lower their price targets or downgrade the stock.

RBC Capital lowered its price target to $810 from $840. Bank of America Securities lowered its price target to $810 from $900. Barclays, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, and Wells Fargo also lowered their price targets on the company.

Earlier today, Benchmark downgraded its rating to a “hold” from a “buy.” Oppenheimer downgraded the company to “perform” from “outperform,” saying the “significant investment in Superintelligence despite unknown revenue opportunity mirrors 2021/2022 Metaverse spending.” Ouch.

Capex marks the spot

Big Tech capex approaches $100 billion and Dan Ives loves it

AI spending shows no signs of flagging.

Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon capex

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