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☆ Apple execs explain why its AI is different from competitors
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-11 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Nic Coury | AFP | Getty ImagesApple fully embraced artificial intelligence on Monday, as company executives explained the features and reasoning behind Apple Intelligence, the company's new AI software suite. Much of the AI development that has captured investor and technological interest has focused on building or securing ever-more powerful supercomputers equipped with Nvidia chips to develop even more power-hungry AI models. Apple's AI is mostly on your deviceApple Intelligence unveiled during Apple's WWDC2024 in Cupertino, Calif. on June 10th. Apple executives don't refer to this strategy as using one or multiple models, just "Apple Intelligence." Apple's AI can summarize and rewrite documents, generate small images, and translate conversations in real-time.

Persons: Tim Cook, John Giannandrea, Craig Federighi, Nic Coury, Apple, Federighi, Siri, Giannandrea, We're, we're, Apple's Organizations: Developers, AFP, Getty, Apple, Apple Intelligence, Microsoft, Google, Software, Nvidia, Apple Inc Locations: Cupertino , California, Cupertino , Calif

Apple 's about to kick off its annual Worldwide Developer's Conference where it's expected to announce its plans for AI. The company is expected to announce a partnership with OpenAI and reveal "Apple Intelligence," according to recent reports from Bloomberg. We'll also hear about the latest software updates for the iPhone, Mac, iPad, Apple TV and Apple Watch. Apple typically releases that software in developer preview ahead of a full launch for consumers sometime in the fall with the launch of the new products. You can also watch the live stream here:

Persons: OpenAI, WWDC, We'll, Craig Federighi, Atif Malik Organizations: Apple, Apple Intelligence, Bloomberg, Apple Watch, Citi Locations: Pacific

☆ Nvidia passes Apple in market cap as second-most valuable public U.S. company
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-05 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Nvidia passed Apple in market cap on Wednesday as investors continue betting on the chipmaker behind the artificial intelligence boom. Nvidia also hit a $3 trillion market cap milestone on Wednesday after shares rose over 5%. Microsoft is the most valuable publicly traded company, with a market cap of $3.15 trillion, as of Wednesday. Apple was the first company to reach a $1 trillion and $2 trillion market cap. Nvidia shares have gone parabolic as its AI business has developed, rising more than 3,290% over the past five years.

Persons: Jensen Huang, Apple Organizations: Nvidia, Technology, Apple, Microsoft Locations: San Jose , California, China, U.S

☆ Nvidia hits $3 trillion market cap on back of AI boom
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-05 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Nvidia also passed Apple to become the second-largest public company behind Microsoft. Apple was the first U.S. company to reach a $3 trillion market cap during intraday trading in January 2022. Nvidia, which was founded in 1993, passed the $2 trillion valuation in February, and it only took roughly three months from there for it to pass $3 trillion. In May, Nvidia reported first-quarter earnings that showed demand for the company's pricey and powerful graphics processing units, or GPUs, showed no sign of a slowdown. Nvidia reported overall sales of $26 billion, more than triple what it generated a year ago.

Organizations: Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Meta Locations: U.S

☆ Nvidia dominates the AI chip market, but there's more competition than ever
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-02 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Mizuho Securities estimates that Nvidia controls between 70% and 95% of the market for AI chips used for training and deploying models like OpenAI's GPT. Nvidia's position in the AI chip market has been described as a moat by some experts. Founded in 2019, D-Matrix plans to release a semiconductor card for servers later this year that aims to reduce the cost and latency of running AI models. "Nobody can deny that today Nvidia is the hardware you want to train and run AI models," Fernando Vidal, co-founder of 3Fourteen Research, told CNBC. "The key is that there are a lot of options there," Su told reporters in December, when her company launched its most recent AI chip.

Persons: Jensen Huang, Huang, Sid Sheth, It's, that's, Fernando Vidal, Lisa Su, Su Organizations: Nvidia Corp, Nvidia, Technology Conference, Microsoft, Apple, Mizuho Securities, Intel, AMD, Bank of America, 3Fourteen, CNBC Locations: San Jose , California

☆ Shares of Dell fall 16% as AI servers are sold at 'near-zero margins'
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-31 | by ( Ashley Capoot | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Shares of Dell Technologies fell more than 16% Friday after investors were discouraged by the company's lower-than-expected artificial intelligence server backlog and an estimated decline in margins. Bernstein analysts said the "principle disappointment" in Dell's results was that operating margins for its Infrastructure Solutions Group compressed year over year. Additionally, operating profits were flat compared with the same period last year, even though the company brought in around $1.7 billion in incremental AI server revenues. The analysts said this resurfaced concerns that Dell's AI servers are being sold at "near-zero margins." Bank of America analysts said Dell reported a strong quarter, and they reiterated their buy rating on the stock.

Persons: Michael Dell, Dell, FactSet, Bernstein, — CNBC's Michael Bloom, Kif Leswing Organizations: Dell Technologies, MWC, Mobile World Congress, Fira, Gran, Dell, Infrastructure Solutions, Bank of America, JPMorgan Locations: L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

☆ Dell shares fall despite growing AI server business
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-30 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies, is speaking at the Mobile World Congress 2024 in Barcelona, Spain, on February 27, 2024. Dell reported first-quarter earnings on Thursday that beat analyst estimates for earnings and sales, as the company has emerged as one of the top vendors for AI servers. When the company reported earnings in February, it reported earnings per share that were significantly higher than expectations. Dell reported $955 million in net income during the quarter, or $1.32 per diluted share, versus $578 million, or 79 cents, in the year-ago period. Dell's division including data center sales, called Infrastructure Solutions Group, saw sales rise 22% on an annual basis to $9.2 billion.

Persons: Michael Dell, Dell, FactSet, Jensen Huang Organizations: Dell Technologies, Mobile, Infrastructure Solutions, Dell, Nvidia, Solutions Locations: Barcelona, Spain

☆ CIO shares Nvidia alternatives to cash in on the AI theme: 'There's another way to play this'
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Weizhen Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Its shares jumped in extended trading but given the "blowout earnings," Nancy Tengler of Laffer Tengler Investments said she expected to see a higher move. "We think there's another way to play this," she said, adding these are namely buying into "old economy companies," as well as data center names. One such "old economy" name is Walmart , according to her. They've embraced not only digital solutions, but robotics, generative AI and their ad business in cloud computing, obviously in their e-commerce business," she said. Quanta Services , which builds infrastructure for electric power and renewables, as well as provides utility performance services, was another pick from Tengler.

Persons: Nancy Tengler, CNBC's, They've, Tengler, Kif Leswing Organizations: Nvidia, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Investments, Walmart, Carrier, Oracle, Broadcom

☆ Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's net worth swells from $3 billion to $90 billion in five years
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Jensen Huang, co-founder and CEO of Nvidia, during the Nvidia GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, California, on March 19, 2024. Five years ago, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang owned a stake in his chipmaker worth roughly $3 billion. After Thursday's rally, which pushed the stock to a record, his holdings now stand at more than $90 billion. Nvidia shares have more than doubled this year after tripling in 2023. OpenAI does most of its AI development on Nvidia GPUs.

Persons: Jensen Huang, Huang, OpenAI Organizations: Nvidia, Technology, Microsoft, Google, Meta Locations: San Jose , California

☆ Nvidia shares pass $1,000 for first time on AI-driven sales surge
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-22 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Earnings Per Share : $6.12 adjusted vs. $5.59 adjusted, per LSEG consensus estimates. : $6.12 adjusted vs. $5.59 adjusted, per LSEG consensus estimates. Revenue: $26.04 billion vs. $24.65 billion expected by LSEG Nvidia said it expected sales of $28 billion in the current quarter. Wall Street was anticipating earnings per share of $5.95 on sales of $26.61 billion, according to LSEG. Nvidia said its data center category rose 427% from the year-ago quarter to $22.6 billion in revenue.

Persons: Jensen Huang, Blackwell, Nvidia, David Paul Morris, Colette Kress, Lama, Kress Organizations: Nvidia, Nvidia Corp, Technology Conference, Bloomberg, Getty, Google, Microsoft, Meta Locations: San Jose , California

☆ Nvidia shows no signs of AI slowdown after over 400% increase in data center business
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-22 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Jensen Huang, co-founder and chief executive officer of Nvidia Corp., during the Nvidia GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in San Jose, California, US, on Tuesday, March 19, 2024. Nvidia's most important clients for its graphics processing units are the big cloud providers — Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and Oracle Cloud. For example, CoreWeave, a GPU cloud, is currently quoting $4.25 per hour to rent an Nvidia H100. Huang said Meta has declared its intention to spend billions on 350,000 Nvidia chips, even though the company isn't a cloud provider. Meta's cluster of servers is an example of "essential infrastructure for AI production," Huang said, or, "what we refer to as AI factories."

Persons: Jensen Huang, There's, Nvidia's, Colette Kress, Kress, Huang, Meta, Blackwell, Elon Musk's xAI Organizations: Nvidia Corp, Nvidia, Technology Conference, Web Services, Microsoft, Google, Oracle, NVIDIA, Facebook, Meta, Tesla Locations: San Jose , California

☆ When Nvidia beats estimates, these 6 AI stocks tend to rise
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-22 | by ( Ganesh Rao | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Six artificial intelligence-related stocks tend to react positively to Nvidia 's quarterly results, according to CNBC Pro analysis. Five U.S.-listed stocks — Super Micro Computer , AMD , Marvell Technology , Vertiv , and Synopsys — along with Japan-listed Advantest Corp have each risen between 6% and 33% in the past after Nvidia revealed bumper earnings. Super Micro Computer Super Micro Computer, a tech infrastructure company, has become one of the biggest winners of Wall Street's appetite for AI investments. Advanced Micro Devices AMD, the biggest competitor to Nvidia, has also seen its shares jump after Nvidia's earnings. The stock rose 7.5% after Nvidia revealed its last quarterly figures and 16.2% after the first quarter 2023 numbers were out.

Persons: Nvidia's, Synopsys, Leswing, Alex Koller Organizations: Nvidia, CNBC, U.S, Computer, AMD, Marvell Technology, Advantest Corp, CNBC Pro, Wall Street Locations: Japan, United States

☆ Nvidia is talk of the town at AI events leading into this week’s earnings
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

"We're still really early in the AI build," Niles told CNBC's "Money Matters" on Monday. "If you look at today for the AI build out, who's really driving that?" Lam Yik Fei | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesPrior to the recent AI boom, Nvidia was known as the primary maker of chips used for 3D gaming. That's not to say that Nvidia is at risk of losing a ton of the AI chip business to rivals. Piper Sandler analysts expect it to keep at least 75% of the AI accelerator market, even as companies like Google build their own custom chips.

Persons: Jensen Huang, Josh Edelson, Sundar Pichai, that's, Dan Niles, Niles, We're, CNBC's, Bernstein, Mark Zuckerberg, Huang, Lam, Fei, That's, Piper Sandler, Harsh Kumar, Blackwell, Hopper, Morgan Stanley, Joseph Moore Organizations: Nvidia, Intelligence, SAP Center, Afp, Getty, Google, Blackwell, Microsoft, Meta, Niles Investment Management, Cisco, Apple, Nvidia Corp, Bloomberg Locations: San Jose , California, Redmond , Washington, Taipei, Taiwan

☆ Dell surges 9% on optimism it has secured big AI server orders
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Dell is seeing accelerating momentum, especially in winning business to build AI servers, unlocking a new bull case for the stock, Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring wrote in a note on Wednesday. "All-in, we are hearing about more AI server momentum at Dell than at any other OEM," Woodring wrote, saying that he expected about $10 billion of AI server revenue in the company's fiscal 2025 — ending next February. Most AI servers are built around Nvidia's chips which have become prized in the technology industry because they are used to build and deploy advanced AI models from companies like Google , OpenAI and Meta . Dell sells servers using the newest Nvidia AI chips, including its H100 GPU and the latest Blackwell-generation chips. But the PC industry is on course to grow again and is outperforming lowered expectations, Woodring wrote, which will benefit Dell.

Persons: Michael Dell, Morgan Stanley, Erik Woodring, Woodring, Wednesday's, Jensen Huang, Huang, Michael, Dell Organizations: Dell Technologies, Mobile, Dell, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Google, Meta, Blackwell, Nvidia, Microsoft Locations: Barcelona, Spain

☆ Google and Apple partner to fight location tracker stalking
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

IPhone and Android devices with up-to-date software will receive a message telling them that a Bluetooth tracker is "found moving with you." Users can then have the tracker play a sound to make it easier to find, and access instructions about how to disable it. Since then, Apple has been working with Google to integrate alerts and warnings into iOS and Android to tamp down criminal misuse. The AirTag is also now just one of many Bluetooth trackers. Apple and Google allow third-party companies, such as Chipolo and Motorola, to build their own devices.

Persons: AirTags Organizations: Apple, Google, Bluetooth, Motorola

☆ Apple apologizes for iPad Pro ad showing hydraulic press destroying guitars, piano
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Apple took on Thursday the unusual step of apologizing for a short advertising video promoting the company's new iPad Pro tablet after the ad was roundly criticized on social media. Apple CEO Tim Cook posted the spot on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday. Apple has also decided not to run the ad on TV, Ad Age said. It isn't the first Apple iPad ad in recent years to annoy some customers. In 2018, some people said they were annoyed by an iPad Pro spot in which a child asks, "What's a computer?"

Persons: Tim Cook, Joko Widodo, Apple, Tor Myhren Organizations: Apple, YouTube, \ Media, Lab Locations: Jakarta, Indonesia

☆ Apple announces new iPad Pro with M4, new iPad Air tablets
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

watch nowApple on Tuesday announced new versions of its iPad Air and iPad Pro tablets, in a short video posted on its website. The iPad Pro, Apple's most expensive and advanced tablet, will come in two sizes, a 11-inch model and a 13-inch model, Apple said. The smaller iPad Pro starts at $999, and the larger 13-inch model starts at $1299 with 256GB of storage, a slight price increase from its predecessor. The new iPad models use a new Apple chip called the M4, an update from the M3 chips that currently power Apple's laptops. The iPad Pro comes with a 12 megapixel rear camera that can record 4K video, according to Apple.

Persons: Tim Cook, Apple, Todd Haselton, John Ternus, Todd Haselton Apple Organizations: Apple, CNBC

☆ Apple remains Buffett's biggest public stock holding, but his thesis about its moat faces questions
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-03 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

That's about four times bigger than Berkshire's second-biggest public stock holding, Bank of America , and makes the company the No. The bet on Apple and CEO Tim Cook has paid off handsomely for Buffett, who said in 2022 that the cost of Berkshire's Apple stake was only $31 billion. "So I called up Warren Buffett. "It's kind of more like an annuity and I think that's what Warren Buffett really sees as well." "When I buy Apple, I know that Apple is going to repurchase a lot of shares," he said in 2018.

Persons: Tim Cook, Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, behemoth, Buffett, He's, Cook, Apple, Warren, Ted Weschler, it's, Dan Eye, Buffett hasn't, Bernstein, Toni Sacconaghi didn't, Sacconaghi, Clayton Organizations: Warren Buffett Getty, CNBC, Berkshire, Apple, Bank of America, Buffett, Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, iPhone, Washington Post, Oracle, Fort Pitt Capital Group, Microsoft, The, Apple Watch, DOJ, Clayton Homes Locations: Omaha , Nebraska, Berkshire, Omaha, Cupertino , California, U.S

☆ Apple's falling iPhone sales don't bother Wall Street so long as margins, buybacks are increasing
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Instead of glaring too much at iPhone revenue, Wall Street chose to focus on the positive. Apple said iPhone sales suffered from a difficult comparison to last year, when sales were elevated after previous shortages. Annual iPhone revenue peaked in Apple's fiscal 2022. While Apple provided some guidance for total revenue, it avoided offering any sort of forecast for iPhone sales. "For the last couple of years we were doing $90 billion and now we're doing $110 billion," Maestri said on the call.

Persons: Tim Cook, Gene Munster, Munster, CNBC's, Apple, Luca Maestri, that's, Dow, Maestri, let's Organizations: Apple, Fifth, Wall, Wall Street, Android, Microsoft, Dow Jones Locations: New York City, There's

☆ Apple's China sales in focus ahead of earnings
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

In February, Apple said it expected sales similar to last year's $94.84 billion during the same period and flat iPhone sales. In the December quarter, sales dropped 13% in Greater China, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan. Analysts polled by FactSet expect $15.25 billion in China regional sales, which would be a 14% year-over-year decline. "In strong iPhone cycles, Apple's China revenues typically grow much faster than Apple overall, as Chinese consumers embrace the new phone," Sacconaghi wrote. Meanwhile, state statistics show iPhone sales falling 33% in February, the second consecutive month of declining shipments.

Persons: Tim Cook, Deirdre O'Brien, Apple, AAPL, Bernstein, Toni Sacconaghi, Sacconaghi, David Vogt, Aaron Rakers, There's, Morgan Stanley, Erik Woodring, Woodring Organizations: Apple, Analysts, FactSet, Huawei, Chinese Communist Party, Counterpoint Research, UBS Locations: China, Greater China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, repurchases

☆ Qualcomm gives better-than-expected revenue forecast as company pushes AI-powered smartphones
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-01 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Qualcomm reported second-quarter earnings on Wednesday that surpassed Wall Street expectations, and provided a strong guide for the current quarter. Qualcomm said it expected between $8.8 billion and $9.6 billion in sales in the current quarter, higher than Wall Street expectations of $9.05 billion. Analysts were looking for earnings guidance of $2.17 per share, versus the company's forecast of between $2.15 and $2.35. Qualcomm called out strong demand for "premium tier" smartphones that require the most advanced chips, especially in China. Qualcomm said that revenue from Chinese phone makers increased 40% on an annual basis during the quarter.

Persons: Cristiano Amon, Amon, — Organizations: Qualcomm Locations: Las Vegas , Nevada, iPhones, China

☆ AMD's data center business grew 80% but the stock is down
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

AMD reported first-quarter earnings and sales on Tuesday that were slightly ahead of Wall Street expectations, and provided an in-line forecast for the current quarter. AMD said its closely-watched Data Center segment grew 80% on a year-over-year basis to $2.3 billion thanks to sales of its MI300 AI chip, which competes with Nvidia's AI graphics processors. AMD said it had sold over $1 billion of the AI chips since it launched in the fourth quarter of 2023. AMD also makes central processors which are often paired with advanced AI chips in servers. AMD reported $1.4 billion in first-quarter sales, a 85% annual increase, suggesting that last year's PC slump is over.

Persons: Lisa Su, Su Organizations: AMD, Wall, Revenue, Intel Locations: Las Vegas , Nevada, U.S

☆ Intel used to dominate the U.S. chip industry. Now it's struggling to stay relevant
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-26 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +16 min

David Paul Morris | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesThe iPhone could have had an Intel chip inside. It would've made sense to use Intel chips, which ran on the best desktops at the time, including Apple's Macs. Braithwaite, who worked at Intel in the 1980s, said Intel's process engineers were the company's "crown jewels." Intel doesn't have a GPU competitor to Nvidia's AI accelerators, but it has an AI chip called Gaudi 3. For comparison, AMD expects about $2 billion in annual AI chip revenue.

Persons: Pat Gelsinger, Seth Wenig, Gelsinger, Biden, Nicholas Braithwaite, Akshara Bassi, It's, Steve Jobs, David Paul Morris, Apple, Paul Otellini, Walter Isaacson's, Otellini, Isaacson, Jobs, Apple didn't, Apple —, TSMC, Mikako Kitagawa, Joe Biden, Brendan Smialowski, Braithwaite, Gordon Moore, Moore's, Brian Krzanich, 7nm —, TSMC didn't, Jensen Huang, Josh Edelson, OpenAI, Gaudi, Intel's, it's, Bassi, CNBC's Jon Fortt Organizations: Intel, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Nvidia, Micro Computer, Qualcomm, Broadcom, Texas Instruments, AMD, Apple, Celesta, Meta, Microsoft, Getty, Samsung, Gartner, Asus, AFP, Semiconductor, Engineers, SAP Center, Afp, Companies, Blackwell, Habana Labs, Gaudi, FactSet, U.S Locations: New York, American, U.S, Chandler , Arizona, California, San Jose , California, Taiwan, Columbus , Ohio

☆ Intel shares fall after providing weak forecast for the current quarter
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Intel reported first-quarter earnings on Thursday that beat Wall Street expectations for earnings per share, but came up light in sales. Intel gave a weak forecast for the current quarter. That forecast compares to analysts' expected earnings per share of 25 cents, on $13.57 billion in sales. In the first quarter, Intel reported a net loss of $400 million, or 9 cents per share, versus a net loss of $2.8 billion, or 66 cents per share, last year. Intel said last month that it had reported a $7 billion operating loss in its foundry in 2023.

Persons: Pat Gelsinger Organizations: Intel, Summit, Revenue, Intel Foundry, Intel's Foundry, Intel's, Data Center, Nvidia, Gaudi Locations: Washington ,

☆ Apple sends invites to May 7 launch event, new iPads expected
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Apple will launch new products on May 7 in a online event, according to invites sent to the media on Tuesday. The event, with the tag line "Let loose," will be livestreamed on Apple's website at 10 a.m. Eastern time. Apple's launch events are usually pre-recorded. Apple is expected to release new iPads after no new models were announced in 2023. Apple could release upgrades to its high-end iPad Pro, as well as a bigger iPad Air, according to analysts and reports.

Persons: Tim Cook Organizations: Apple Locations: New York City

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