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☆ Nvidia shares spike 26% on huge forecast beat driven by A.I. chip demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Nvidia reported first-quarter earnings for its fiscal 2024 on Wednesday, with a stronger-than-expected forecast that drove shares up 26% in extended trading. Nvidia's data center group reported $4.28 billion in sales, versus expectations of $3.9 billion, a 14% annual increase. Nvidia said that performance was driven by demand for its GPU chips from cloud vendors as well as large consumer internet companies, which use Nvidia chips to train and deploy generative AI applications like OpenAI's ChatGPT. However, Nvidia's gaming division, which includes the company's graphics cards for PC sales, reported a 38% drop in revenue to $2.24 billion in sales versus expectations of $1.98 billion. Net income for the quarter was $2.04 billion, or 82 cents a share, compared with $1.62 billion, or 64 cents, during the year-earlier period.

Persons: Jensen Huang Organizations: Nvidia, Wall Locations: Taipei

☆ Parrots, paper clips and safety vs. ethics: Why the artificial intelligence debate sounds like a foreign language
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

After the hearing, he summed up his stance on AI regulation, using terms that are not widely known among the general public. "AGI safety is really important, and frontier models should be regulated," Altman tweeted. Large language models, like OpenAI's GPT-4, are frontier models, as compared to smaller AI models that perform specific tasks like identifying cats in photos. Some are more concerned about what they call "AI safety." "There must be clear guidance on AI end uses or categories of AI-supported activity that are inherently high-risk," Montgomery told Congress.

☆ How to talk about A.I. like an insider
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

AI ethics describes the desire to prevent AI from causing immediate harm, and often focuses on questions like how AI systems collect and process data and the possibility of bias in areas like housing or employment. AI safety describes the longer-term fear that AI will progress so suddenly that a super-intelligent AI might harm or even eliminate humanity. Alignment is the practice of tweaking an AI model so that it produces the outputs its creators desired. Inference — The act of using an AI model to make predictions or generate text, images, or other content. Large language model — A kind of AI model that underpins ChatGPT and Google's new generative AI features.

On Tuesday, the U.S. government accused a former Apple employee, Weibao Wang, of stealing trade secrets from the company's self-driving car division, including the entirety of Apple's "autonomous" source code. Following that, he worked as chief technology officer at Neolix, a Chinese self-driving car company. Wang is the third former Apple employee from China to be accused of stealing trade secrets from Apple's self-driving car division. Xiaolang Zhang, who worked at Apple around the same time as Wang, pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets from Apple in August. Apple has reportedly been working on a self-driving car since at least 2015, although it has never discussed its goals or plans publicly and no car has been announced.

☆ Elon Musk says the Fed will be too slow to lower interest rates again
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in an interview with CNBC's David Faber on Tuesday that he believes the Fed was too slow to increase rates, and it will likely be too slow to lower them in the coming months. The Federal Reserve was slow to raise interest rates, and they're gonna be slow to lower them." Musk's opinion about the Federal Reserve's monetary policy gives a look into what a major company leader is seeing in response to higher interest rates. Musk says that the next 12 months will be difficult for Tesla and other companies from a macroeconomic perspective because of increased interest rates pinching consumer budgets. "You can think of raising the Fed rate as somewhat of a brake pedal on the economy, frankly," Musk said.

☆ Microsoft releases update that allows iPhone users to text from Windows
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Microsoft announced Monday that the latest version of Phone Link for Windows 11 PCs can receive notifications, send texts and answer calls from a user's paired iPhone. Most Americans use iPhones, and Apple's integration across its products has helped its Mac business take market share from Windows PCs in recent years. It works through Bluetooth, according to The Verge, and requires the iPhone to have Microsoft's "Link to Windows" app installed. A Phone Link-enabled Windows PC gets notifications from the user's iPhone and shows the messages in Windows. It doesn't support group texts through iMessage and doesn't allow users to send photos or videos, either.

☆ Google's new A.I. search could hurt traffic to websites, publishers worry
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Instead of "ten blue links," the phrase that describes Google's usual search results, Google will show some users paragraphs of AI-generated text and a handful of links at the top of the results page. But website publishers are already worried if it becomes Google's default way of presenting search results, it could hurt them by sending fewer visitors to their sites and keeping them on Google.com. Rutledge Daugette, CEO of TechRaptor, a site focusing on gaming news and reviews, said Google's move was made without considering the interests of publishers and Google's AI amounts to lifting content. According to Search Engine Land, a news website that closely tracks changes to Google's search engine, the AI-generated results are displayed above the organic search results in testing so far. CNBC previously reported Google's plans to redesign its results page to promote generated AI content.

☆ Google will label fake images created with its A.I.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Google will embed information called a markup inside images created by its AI models, in order to warn people that they were originally created by a computer, it said on Wednesday. "Image self-labeled as AI generated," reads one example warning provided by Google. One issue facing the AI industry is that there is no reliable way to determine generated images. Google's approach is to label the images when they come out of the AI system, instead of trying to determine whether they're real later on. Google held its annual developer's conference on Wednesday, where it announced a $1,799 folding phone, and additional AI features for other Google products, including an image generator.

Google kicked off its I/O developer conference at 1 p.m. It's where the Alphabet-owned firm typically unveils new gadgets and software that spur excitement among consumers and developers who use the company's software. Google is accelerating efforts to integrate AI into its products, with an internal "code red" being declared around the effort, CNBC reported. AI updates shown off at the event could include a new large language model called PaLM 2, additional Bard chat integrations into Google Search, and possibly adding generative AI features into Google Docs and Sheets, CNBC reported. Follow along with Google I/O through our updates below or by tuning in live on YouTube:

☆ CEO Tim Cook says layoffs are a 'last resort' and not something Apple is considering right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., smiles as he greets customers during the opening of the new Apple BKC store in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, April 18, 2023. Apple doesn't have plans for big layoffs, CEO Tim Cook told CNBC while discussing the company's earnings on Thursday, in a stark contrast from Big Tech peers like Alphabet , Meta , Microsoft and Amazon , which have cut thousands of employees this year. "I view that as a last resort and, so, mass layoffs is not something that we're talking about at this moment," Cook told CNBC's Steve Kovach. Apple slowed hired during the pandemic more so than many of its rivals. Correction: Apple reported $95 billion in total revenue after the bell on Thursday.

☆ Apple set to report quarterly earnings after the bell
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Apple is scheduled to report fiscal second-quarter results after the close of regular trading on Thursday. Here's what analysts are expecting:EPS: $1.43 per share, according to Refinitiv$1.43 per share, according to Refinitiv Revenue: $92.96 billion, according to RefinitivRevenue is expected to decrease 4.4% from $97.28 billion in the same quarter a year ago. The information it provided earlier this year suggested that sales would drop for a second straight quarter by roughly 5%. In the first quarter, PC shipments decreased almost 30%, according to IDC, while smartphone shipments were off 14%. Apple's report wraps up earnings season for tech's mega-cap companies, after Alphabet , Amazon , Meta and Microsoft all issued results last week.

☆ Qualcomm gives light forecast, phone chip sales fall 17%
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Analysts were expecting current-quarter earnings guidance of $2.16 per share, but Qualcomm said it expected it that to be around $1.80. Qualcomm reported second-quarter earnings on Wednesday that were in line with analyst expectations but saw sales from handset chips, a core business for the company, decline 17% on an annual basis. The biggest part of QCT's sales come from handset chips, which are the processors at the heart of most Android phones. Qualcomm reported $6.11 billion in handset sales, down 17% from last year. Qualcomm said it made $900 million in share repurchases and paid $800 million in dividends during the quarter.

☆ Apple expected to announce $90 billion in buybacks and dividends when it reports earnings
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

When Apple reports quarterly earnings on Thursday, the results are expected to be somewhat muted — the company already guided investors to a 5% revenue decline due largely to decreases in Mac and iPad sales. Wall Street expects that number to come in at $90 billion, equal to last year's authorization figure, based on a compilation of analyst reports. From 2012 through the end of 2022, Apple spent over $572 billion on share repurchases, the most of any company, according to FactSet data. Second to Apple in the buyback realm is rival Alphabet , with $178.5 billion in share repurchases over the decade. The Google parent just said its board authorized a $70 billion buyback for the year.

☆ AMD revenue drops 9% as PC chip sales decline sharply
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

AMD reported first-quarter results on Tuesday that showed revenue dropping 9% on an annual basis. While earnings and sales beat Wall Street expectations, AMD's guidance for the current quarter was light and shares dropped over 3% in extended trading. AMD reported $739 million in sales in the category, a 65% decrease from $2.1 billion in sales during the same period last year. AMD management also said that the category is likely to grow in the current quarter. Last week, Intel, AMD's primary competitor in the PC and server chip markets, reported that its overall sales dropped 36%.

☆ Apple and Google team up to stop unwanted AirTag tracking
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Apple and Google said on Tuesday that they were working together to prevent lost item trackers like Apple's AirTag from being used to track people without their permission. Apple's AirTag is intended to help people find lost items such as keys by displaying an item's nearly real-time location inside an iPhone app. In response, Apple previously built detection features into iPhones that allow users to detect unfamiliar AirTags in the user's area. Apple and Google said the features would be completed by the end of 2023 and then implemented "in future versions of iOS and Android." The change will also allow other lost item trackers, like those made by Samsung or Tile, to build similar iPhone and Android alert features.

☆ Earnings playbook: The second half of the season kicks off with Apple, Ford and a pharma giant
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Fred Imbert | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

What history shows: Data from Bespoke Investment Group shows Pfizer beats earnings expectations 87% of the time. Ford Motor is set to report earnings after the close, followed by a call at 5 p.m. What history shows: Ford earnings outperform earnings expectations 69% of the time, per Bespoke. AMD is set to report earnings after the close, with management scheduled to hold a conference call at 5 p.m. Friday Warner Bros Discovery is set to report earnings before the open, followed by a conference call at 8 a.m.

☆ Tech giants are pouring money into A.I. as they cut costs elsewhere
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

He said Google is using AI to improve the conversion rate of ads and reduce the amount of "toxic text" that goes into AI models. "There will be a small number of companies that want to invest that time and money and we will be one of them at Amazon," Jassy said. A concept he's particularly excited about is "AI agents," which often refer to AI programs that can carry out goals. "At this point we are no longer behind in building out our AI infrastructure," Zuckerberg said. Zuckerberg said the company would need to "continue investing," but would do so after it launches its generative AI products and gets a better grasp on the resources required.

☆ Intel reports largest quarterly loss in company history
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

It's also Intel's largest quarterly loss of all time, beating out the fourth quarter of 2017, when it lost $687 million. In the first quarter, Intel swung to a net loss of $2.8 billion, or 66 cents per share, from a net profit of $8.1 billion, or $1.98 per share, last year . For the second quarter, Intel expects to lose 4 cents per share on revenue of $12 billion. Still, the loss per share and sales were slightly better than soft Wall Street expectations. In the meantime, a business that used to print money is struggling, especially in PC chips, which used to be the company's strongest product line.

☆ Nvidia has a new way to prevent A.I. chatbots from 'hallucinating' wrong facts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Nvidia announced new software on Tuesday that will help software makers prevent AI models from stating incorrect facts, talking about harmful subjects, or opening up security holes. Nvidia's new software can do this by adding guardrails to prevent the software from addressing topics that it shouldn't. The announcement also highlights Nvidia's strategy to maintain its lead in the market for AI chips by simultaneously developing critical software for machine learning. Nvidia provides the graphics processors needed in the thousands to train and deploy software like ChatGPT. Nvidia has more than 95% of the market for AI chips, according to analysts, but competition is rising.

☆ Alphabet authorizes $70 billion buyback
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Google parent company Alphabet said on Tuesday that its board of directors authorized $70 billion in share repurchases. Alphabet announced $70 billion in share repurchases in April 2022. Class A shares are the originally issued Google shares that conveyed voting rights, while Class C shares are a newer class that has no voting rights. Alphabet stock rose more than 3% in extended trading after the company reported revenue that surpassed Wall Street expectations. Share repurchases have become a hot political topic in Washington, D.C. Investors like Warren Buffett are fond of share repurchases because they effectively make existing shares more valuable by reducing the number outstanding.

☆ Apple declares 'resounding victory' after decision reached in Epic Games appeal
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Apple CEO Tim Cook visits the Fifth Avenue Apple Store on September 16, 2022 in New York City. An appeals court on Monday mostly sided with Apple over its App Store rules in a suit with Epic Games. The decision signals that Apple's control over the App Store and the fees it charges likely won't significantly change as a result of an ongoing legal challenge by Epic Games. It culminated in a weekslong trial two years ago in California where Apple CEO Tim Cook and Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney testified. "Apple prevailed at the 9th Circuit Court," Epic Games CEO Sweeney said in tweets sent after the decision.

☆ Earnings playbook: Your guide to a busy week of earnings, featuring Meta and Amazon
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Fred Imbert | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +13 min

What history shows: GM has reported a better-than-expected bottom line in 29 of the last 30 quarters, per FactSet. McDonald's is set to report earnings in the premarket, with management slated to hold a call at 8:30 a.m. What history shows: History shows Google's parent company beats earnings expectations 68% of the time, with the stock averaging a gain of 1.6% on earnings day, per Bespoke. Meta Platforms is set to report earnings after market close, followed by a conference call at 5 p.m. What history shows: Bespoke data shows Intel beats earnings expectations 77% of the time.

☆ Elon Musk threatens to sue Microsoft over using Twitter data for its A.I.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Twitter CEO Elon Musk threatened to sue Microsoft on Wednesday, accusing the software giant of illegally using the social media company's data to train its artificial intelligence model. "They trained illegally using Twitter data," Musk tweeted. Microsoft develops its own so-called large language models (LLMs) and sells access to OpenAI's models. Training data from social networks is valuable because it captures informal, back-and-forth conversations. As these new AI models move from research labs and universities into the corporate world, the owners of the data are starting to make demands.

☆ Why India is so important to Apple
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Cook said in February that Apple had its best sales quarter ever for iPhones in India in the quarter ending in December. Most phones sold in India are priced below even the least-expensive new Apple iPhone. India could end up being a big winner as Apple looks for non-Chinese manufacturing options. Tim Cook, Apple's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) reacts as a man shows him Apple's Macintosh outside the Apple store at Jio World Drive mall, Mumbai, India on April 18, 2023. Apple was bullish on India back then, too: "India will be the most populous country in the world in 2022," Cook told CNBC's Jim Cramer at the time, saying it had "huge market potential."

☆ Goldman Sachs is watching for 'cannibalization' from Apple's new savings account
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

David Solomon, chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., during an event on day three of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 19, 2023. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said Tuesday he isn't worried about Apple's new savings account overshadowing Goldman's own Marcus offerings but that he's watching closely for "cannibalization." The new accounts carry Apple's brand and are administered through the iPhone, but Goldman Sachs is the company's financial partner. Apple builds features for the iPhone and its Wallet app, like its Apple Card credit card, while Goldman is the actual bank behind the company's financial services. Solomon said Goldman would welcome the deposits from Apple's savings account and would deploy them within its own client base.

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