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☆ Nvidia-backed GPU cloud provider CoreWeave surges to $19 billion valuation
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-01 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Nvidia-backed startup Coreweave is based in Roseland, New Jersey, with 160 employees. CoreWeave, a cloud infrastructure startup that rents out graphics processing units to companies, said Wednesday that it has raised $1.1 billion in funding. The new investment values the company at $19 billion, up from $7 billion months ago, a person familiar with the matter said. And during its earnings call on April 25, Microsoft said the company wasn't able to meet demand for AI cloud services. For now, CoreWeave only has three regions of data center infrastructure, all in the U.S.

Organizations: Nvidia, Computer, Microsoft, CNBC, Fidelity, Lykos Global Management, Amazon, Google Locations: Roseland , New Jersey, New Jersey, Paris, U.S

☆ Amazon's cloud margin widens on accelerating revenue growth
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Adam Selipsky, CEO of Amazon Web Services, speaks during the Bloomberg Technology Summit in San Francisco on June 22, 2023. Revenue from Amazon Web Services came out to $25.04 billion, according to the company's earnings statement. The growth marked a step up from the 13% increase Amazon reported for AWS in the fourth quarter. Analysts polled by StreetAccount had expected $7.52 billion in AWS operating income. The AWS operating margin widened to 37.6%, the widest at least since 2014.

Persons: Adam Selipsky, StreetAccount, Gartner, Axios, Anthropic, CFRA's Zino Organizations: Amazon Web Services, Bloomberg Technology Summit, Amazon, Revenue, AWS, Google, Microsoft Locations: San Francisco

☆ Super Micro pushes up full-year revenue forecast as it points to strong AI demand
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Lisa Su, chair and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, left, and Charles Liang, CEO of Super Micro Computer, speak at the AMD Advancing AI event in San Jose, California, on Dec. 6, 2023. Notwithstanding the after-hours move, Super Micro stock is up 205% so far this year, while the S&P 500 stock index has gained 6%. If not for a key component shortage, Super Micro would have delivered more during the quarter, Liang said on a conference call with analysts. In March, Super Micro took the place of Whirlpool in the S&P 500. Reddit, GameStop and Super Micro surge

Persons: Lisa Su, Charles Liang, LSEG, Liang Organizations: Devices, Super Micro Computer, AMD, Super, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Super Micro, Whirlpool, GameStop Locations: San Jose , California

☆ Eight newspaper publishers sue Microsoft and OpenAI over copyright infringement
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Eight U.S. newspaper publishers filed suit against Microsoft and OpenAI in a New York federal court on Tuesday, claiming the technology companies reuse their articles without permission in generative artificial intelligence products and incorrectly attribute inaccurate information to them. The group of eight newspaper publishers takes issue with ChatGPT and Microsoft's Copilot assistant — available in the Windows operating system, the Bing search engine, and other products the software maker produces. The legal challenge comes four months after The New York Times sued OpenAI over copyright infringement in the ChatGPT chatbot that the startup released in late 2022. The New York Times case also touched on the matter of OpenAI models regurgitating information from its articles. Correction: This article has been updated to reflect the correct day the lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI was filed.

Persons: Sam Altman, Microsoft's, OpenAI, Axel Springer Organizations: Economic, U.S, Microsoft, Bing, Southern, of, New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, Sun Sentinel, The Mercury, The Denver Post, Orange County Register, Pioneer Press of Minnesota, CNBC, New York Times, OpenAI's, Financial, Google Locations: Davos, Switzerland, New York, U.S, of New York, Florida, California, Orange

☆ Microsoft says cloud AI demand is exceeding supply even after 79% surge in capital spending
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

In its earnings report on Thursday, Microsoft said capital expenditures jumped 79% from a year earlier to $14 billion. "We do have demand that exceeds our supply by a bit," Microsoft CFO Amy Hood told analysts on the company's earnings call. During the fiscal third quarter, revenue in Microsoft's Azure cloud rose 31%, with 7 percentage points from AI. Microsoft intends "to scale to meet the growing demand signal for our cloud and AI products," she said. WATCH: Microsoft's capex increase for AI infrastructure is not a surprise, says Deepwater's Gene Munster

Persons: Amy Hood, Hood, Deepwater's Gene Munster Organizations: Microsoft, OpenAI, Nvidia, Amazon Web Services Locations: Bellevue , Washington

On Wednesday the Microsoft -backed company priced shares at $32 each, above its expected range of $28 to 31 per share. In selling 23.5 million shares, it raised $752 million. Rubrik shares are trading under the ticker "RBRK." Many technology companies appeared on public markets in the 2010s as central banks kept interest rates low. Rubrik, founded a decade ago, reported a $354 million net loss in the latest fiscal year, compared to a $278 million loss in the year prior.

Persons: Rubrik, It's, Bipul Sinha Organizations: New York Stock Exchange, Microsoft, Astera Labs

☆ IBM to acquire HashiCorp in $6.4 billion deal, reports another revenue miss
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that IBM was getting close to acquiring HashiCorp, sending shares upward. In 2021 HashiCorp shares started trading on the Nasdaq. HashiCorp shares moved 4% higher in extended trading following the acquisition announcement. Revenue from software, at $5.90 billion, increased about 6% and was below the $5.96 billion consensus among analysts surveyed by StreetAccount. Notwithstanding the after-hours move, IBM shares are up about 13% so far this year, outperforming the S&P 500 index, which is up 6% over the same period.

Persons: Arvind Krishna, Dave McJannet, Rob Thomas, IBM's, HashiCorp Organizations: Economic, IBM, HashiCorp, Street Journal, Bloomberg, Linux, Nasdaq, LSEG, StreetAccount, Weather Company, Francisco Partners Locations: Davos, Switzerland

Rubrik, a data-management software company backed by Microsoft , priced its IPO at $32 a share, according to a person familiar with the matter. Rubrik raised $752 million through the initial public offering, valuing the company at $5.6 billion. Rubrik now gets 91% of its revenue from subscriptions, up from 59% two years ago. Revenue increased less than 5% in the fiscal year that ended on Jan. 31, but annual recurring revenue from subscriptions jumped 47%. "Our key top-line metric is subscription ARR," Rubrik finance chief Kiran Choudary said in a videotaped presentation for the company's IPO roadshow.

Persons: Rubrik, Reddit, Kiran Choudary, Bipul Sinha, Sinha Organizations: Microsoft, New York Stock, Nasdaq, Astera Labs, Barclays, Carhartt, Venture Locations: U.S, Rubrik

☆ HashiCorp shares spike on report that IBM is in talks to buy the cloud software maker
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

HashiCorp shares jumped as much as 26% on Tuesday following a media report claiming IBM was in talks to acquire the cloud software maker. Citing unnamed sources, The Wall Street Journal said a deal could materialize in the next few days. Cisco held early acquisition talks with HashiCorp, according to a 2019 report. IBM shares slipped after publication of the Wall Street Journal article but quickly recovered. Read the full Wall Street Journal report here.

Persons: HashiCorp, Mitchell Hashimoto Organizations: IBM, Microsoft, Street, CNBC, Nasdaq, Revenue, Cisco, HashiCorp, Wall

☆ Earnings playbook: Your guide to trading a huge week of reports, including Meta Platforms
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-21 | by ( Fred Imbert | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Tesla is set to report earnings after the bell. What history shows: Bespoke data shows Tesla beats earnings estimates 63% of the time. What history shows: Boeing shares have risen in four of the past five earnings days, Bespoke data shows. Meta Platforms is set to report earnings after the closing bell. What history shows: Microsoft earnings have beaten earnings estimates in six straight quarters, Bespoke data shows.

Persons: Michael Wayland, FactSet, Tesla, TSLA, Emmanuel Rosner, Dave Calhoun, Peter Saleh, Saleh, Chipotle, Morgan Stanley's, Ford, Jim Farley's, Ronald Josey, Jordan Novet Organizations: General Motors, CNBC, Tuesday, GM, Wall, Motors, Investment, Deutsche Bank, EV, Boeing, Ford, Management, Ford Motor, Detroit, Investors, Citi, Meta, Bloomberg News, Apple, Microsoft Locations: California

An AWS spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the company has introduced more cost-effective options for moving data. As of March, AWS had removed Snowmobile from its website, and the Amazon unit has stopped offering the service, CNBC has confirmed. Andy Jassy, now Amazon's CEO, called it the Snowmobile, and said the company would be using the truck to help customers speedily transfer data to Amazon Web Services facilities. "We intend to make sure that Snowmobile is both faster and less expensive than using a network-based data transfer model," Barr wrote. Clients generally find that sending data to AWS online is more economical than using Snowmobile, the company said.

Persons: we've, Andy Jassy, Jassy, Jeff Barr, Barr, Maxar, There's, we're Organizations: AWS, CNBC, Amazon Web Services, Amazon, Microsoft Locations: Las Vegas

☆ LinkedIn betting it can take on TikTok and Instagram in influencer marketing
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-12 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Influencer marketing has become big business on TikTok and Instagram, where popular creators can make good money by helping brands promote their stuff. Its product, called Thought Leader ads, launched in a limited capacity last year. LinkedIn introduced Thought Leader ads last year but with limited use. By opening up Thought Leader ads, LinkedIn is letting anyone boost a post as long as the author grants permission. Social media marketer Brendan Gahan is so bullish on the format that he's focusing much of his efforts on helping companies use Thought Leader ads.

Persons: eMarketer, Max Willens, Dan Shapero, Ryan Roslansky, Brendan Gahan, Gahan Organizations: LinkedIn, Microsoft, eMarketer, Facebook, Mastercard, Social, Twitter Locations: TikTok, Singapore

☆ Microsoft will unveil new Windows and cloud AI features in May
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft has reported significant revenue growth from clients running AI models in its Azure public cloud, and the company wants to keep the trend going by rolling out new AI features for developers. The new head of Microsoft AI, Mustafa Suleyman, will take the stage alongside CEO Satya Nadella and other longtime executives during the show's opening keynote in Seattle. Suleyman — a cofounder of DeepMind, the AI startup that Google acquired in 2014 — joined Microsoft last month from startup Inflection AI. The software maker will also talk about new AI features "that allow users deeper interaction with their digital lives on Windows," according to one session description. At Build, Microsoft plans to discuss how Windows apps will be able to tap Arm-based neural processing engines, or NPUs, for AI.

Persons: Mustafa Suleyman, Nadella, Satya Nadella, Suleyman —, —, Dan Ives Organizations: Ltd, Economic, Microsoft, Microsoft's, DeepMind, Google, Windows, Intel Locations: Davos, Switzerland, Seattle

☆ Google announces custom Arm-based chips, following similar efforts at rivals Amazon and Microsoft
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-09 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Google is trying to make cloud computing more affordable with a custom-built Arm -based server chip. With the new Arm-based chip, Google is playing catch-up with rivals such as Amazon and Microsoft, which have been employing a similar strategy for years. Google has used Arm-based server computers for internal purposes to run YouTube advertising, the BigTable and Spanner databases and the BigQuery data analytics tool. Arm chips, which are popular in smartphones, offer a shorter set of instructions than x86 chips, which are commonly found in PCs. Axion offers 30% better performance than the fastest general-purpose Arm-based virtual machines in the cloud and 50% better performance than than comparable VMs based on x86, Google said.

Persons: Chirag, Gartner, Graviton, Alibaba, Thomas Kurian, Dekate, Christina Malbon Organizations: Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Gartner, Amazon Web Services, Chirag Dekate, CNBC, Oracle, Arm Holdings, AMD, Intel Locations: Las Vegas, Sprinklr

☆ Apple says App Store and other services are back online after an outage
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-03 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Apple on Wednesday said it had fixed an outage for its App Store on iOS and MacOS devices. The iPhone maker picked up 19% of revenue from its Services category, including some from the App Store, according to its latest quarterly report. For most applications, developers keep all revenue they generate through the App Store, but Apple receives a commission when people buy individual apps and make in-app purchases. Some people posted screenshots on social media showing error messages when they tried to open the App Store on iPhones. Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and other company services were also having technical issues on Wednesday, according to the page.

Persons: Apple, It's Organizations: Apple, Apple Music, U.S . Justice Department

☆ Zoom and Salesforce stand to benefit from Microsoft's unbundling of Teams and Office
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-01 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Microsoft's rivals won a reprieve on Monday, when the software giant said it would split up its Teams and Office bundles following scrutiny from European regulators. Analysts at Mizuho Securities wrote in a note on Monday that "while customers believe Zoom is a superior platform vs. Teams" and other vendors, "the bundling of MS Teams to Office 365 has always been enticing for customers to consider Teams." Last year, Microsoft generated almost $53 billion in revenue from Office, including Teams, up about 14% from 2022. Months later, the European Commission disclosed a probe into Microsoft's Teams and Office bundling.

Persons: Microsoft Corporation Satya Nadella, Slack, Satya Nadella, Salesforce, David Schellhase, Slack's, Stewart Butterfield Organizations: Microsoft Corporation, Economic, Salesforce, European Commission, Mizuho Securities, Mizuho, Microsoft, Financial Times, European Union, Microsoft's, CNBC, European Locations: Davos, Switzerland, Europe

☆ Rubrik files to go public as tech companies see thawing of IPO market
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-01 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Rubrik, a 9-year-old data security software vendor, filed to go public on Monday, the latest venture-backed company to make moves toward the public market after an extended lull dating back to late 2021. More than three-quarters of Rubrik's revenue went to pay for sales and marketing in the latest fiscal year. Following a dry spell that lasted over two years, the IPO market is showing signs of life in recent weeks. In March, social media company Reddit and data center technology vendor Astera Labs went public on consecutive days. Prior to that, the last two venture-backed tech IPOs in the U.S. were Instacart and Klaviyo in September 2023, but those deals received tepid responses on Wall Street and failed to crack open the window.

Persons: Rubrik Organizations: Dell, IBM, New York Stock Exchange, Astera Labs Locations: U.S, Klaviyo

☆ Microsoft picks company veteran Pavan Davuluri to lead Windows and Surface
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft said Monday it has selected company veteran Pavan Davuluri to lead its Windows operating system and Surface devices teams. Davuluri's promotion comes a week after Microsoft said it was hiring former DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman as the head of a new organization called Microsoft AI. The Windows team will continue to work closely with the Microsoft AI team on AI, silicon, and experiences.The Web Experiences team will report into Mustafa in the new Microsoft AI organization. Mike Davidson continues to lead Design and will work with Pavan and team on how to realign Windows design. They will join the Microsoft AI leadership team along with Jordi, Mike, and Rukmini, all reporting to Mustafa.We are excited for this team to help Microsoft AI achieve its bold ambition to build world-class consumer AI products.

Persons: Pavan Davuluri, Panos Panay, DeepMind, Mustafa Suleyman, Mikhail Parakhin, Parakhin, Kevin Scott, Rajesh Jha, Davuluri, Read, Satya, Shilpa Ranganathan, Jeff Johnson, Mustafa, Jordi Ribas, Andrey Proskurin, Fatima Kardar, Nick Lee, Rukmini Iyer, Paul Viola, Weiqing, Mike Davidson, Pavan, Ali Akgun, Kya Sainsbury, Carter, Qi Zhang, Rajesh Sundaram's, Jordi, Mike, Rukmini Organizations: Microsoft, Windows, Bing, WWE

☆ Microsoft debuts first Surface PCs with dedicated Copilot AI button
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-21 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Microsoft is releasing its first Surface PCs featuring a dedicated Copilot button on the keyboard for quickly accessing the chatbot, following through on a promise it made in January. The addition of the button, to the left of the arrow keys, represents the biggest change to the computer keyboard in decades. While Microsoft is not the largest PC seller — that distinction belongs to Lenovo — it does run the most popular operating system with Windows. Lenovo has announced its own PCs featuring Copilot keys, as have Dell and HP. When people type a few words in to the Copilot, which draws on AI models from Microsoft-backed OpenAI, servers in faraway data centers perform the necessary computing work to craft a response.

Organizations: Microsoft, Lenovo, Windows, Dell, HP, Business

☆ Cloud software buyers are getting frugal, leading to slower growth at former highfliers
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-19 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

In 2020, as data analytics software vendor Snowflake was hitting the public market, one of the key stats it was touting to investors was net revenue retention. Snowflake's NRR at the time was 158%, meaning its existing customer base from a year earlier had increased its total spend by 58%. "More pressure on churn (as companies look to reduce point solutions in favor of platforms) and more difficult upsells have pushed net retention down," Ball added. Twilio , which sells cloud-based communications software, reported NRR of 102% in February, with just 5% year-over-year revenue growth. Almost all of Twilio's revenue comes from its division that contains technology for sending text messages and emails.

Persons: Snowflake, Chris Taylor, NRR, Wall, Snowflake's NRR, Aidan Viggiano, Mike Scarpelli, Sridhar Ramaswamy, Frank Slootman Organizations: New York Stock Exchange, NYSE, Nasdaq, Representatives Locations: Snowflake, U.S, Twilio

Mustafa Suleyman, Co-founder Inflection.ai & DeepMind, speaking on CNBC's Squawk Box at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 17th, 2024. Microsoft said Tuesday it has hired Mustafa Suleyman, a co-founder of artificial intelligence startup DeepMind that Google acquired in 2014, to lead Copilot AI initiatives. Suleyman will become an executive vice president and CEO of Microsoft AI, reporting to CEO Satya Nadella. The new Microsoft AI group will work on Copilot, which appears in Bing, Windows and other Microsoft products. WATCH: We've hit 'peak hype' of the AI revolution, says DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman

Persons: Mustafa Suleyman, Inflection.ai, Suleyman, Satya Nadella, DeepMind, Elon Musk, Karén, Nadella, Mustafa, Demis Hassabis, Hassabis Organizations: Microsoft, Google, Windows, Consumer Locations: Davos, Switzerland, Bing

☆ HashiCorp shares jump on report that company is considering a sale
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

HashiCorp shares jumped 12% in extended trading on Friday after Bloomberg reported the software developer was considering a sale. The company has engaged an outside firm to explore interest from potential buyers, Bloomberg said, citing unnamed sources. As of Friday's close, HashiCorp was trading at $26.50, or 67% below its initial public offering price. Mitchell Hashimoto, a co-founder and former technology chief of HashiCorp, said in December that he was leaving the company. WATCH: HashiCorp CEO McJannet talks enterprise software

Persons: didn't, HashiCorp, David McJannet, Mitchell Hashimoto, Read, McJannet Organizations: Bloomberg, Nasdaq

☆ Adobe shares slip 10% on soft sales forecast
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen speaks during an interview with CNBC on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Feb. 20, 2024. During the quarter, Adobe abandoned its $20 billion acquisition of design software startup Figma after U.K. regulators found competitive concerns. Adobe will work with OpenAI around Sora, David Wadhwani, president of Adobe's digital media business, said on the earnings call. Adobe sees fiscal second-quarter earnings of $4.35 to $4.40 per share on an adjusted basis, with $5.25 billion to $5.30 billion in revenue. Leaving out the after-hours movement, Adobe shares have fallen 4% so far this year, while the S&P 500 index has gained 8% over the same time period.

Persons: Shantanu Narayen, OpenAI, Sora, David Wadhwani, LSEG, Wadhwani Organizations: CNBC, New York Stock Exchange, Adobe, LSEG, Firefly Services Locations: Sora

☆ Microsoft says new AI security chatbot pricing model lets customers 'buy what they need'
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-13 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft is rolling out an unorthodox pricing model for its new security chatbot that becomes available to the public on April 1. Microsoft considered input from early customers as well as the costs of tapping OpenAI's LLMs that process users' prompts, Vasu Jakkal, a corporate vice president at Microsoft, told CNBC. Microsoft charges for use of its Azure OpenAI Service based on the number of tokens a client uses. BP is an early customer of the new security service. Copilot for Security can answer questions by drawing on information from Microsoft's own security products and third-party providers.

Persons: Satya Nadella, Nadella, Andrew Conway, Conway, Vasu Jakkal, Chip Calhoun, Copilot, UnitedHealth Organizations: Microsoft, Security, Gaming, Activision Blizzard, Windows, Dynamics, CNBC, OpenAI, BP Locations: Seoul, Charlotte, Russian

☆ Oracle shares surge 12% and head for record close
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-12 | by ( Alex Koller | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle Corporation, rings the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, July 12, 2023. Oracle stock spiked more than 12% during intraday trading on Tuesday and is on pace for a record close, a day after the company reported fiscal third-quarter earnings that beat analysts' expectations. They're also on pace for the biggest gain since Dec. 10, 2021, when Oracle stock closed up 15.6%. Deutsche Bank lifted its price target on Oracle shares to $150 from $135, noting CEO Safra Catz reiterated fiscal 2026 guidance and strong cloud infrastructure results. Analysts at Bernstein Research, who have the equivalent of a buy rating on Oracle stock, bumped up their price target to $159 from $147.

Persons: Safra Catz, They're, Leswing, Jordan Novet Organizations: Oracle Corporation, New York Stock Exchange, Oracle, Deutsche Bank, UBS, Bernstein Research

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