Weekly Market Update - 25 March 2024

New Chips

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang showed off new chips aimed at extending his company’s dominance of artificial intelligence computing during the firm’s GTC conference in San Jose, California. A new processor design called Blackwell is multiple times faster at handling the models that underpin AI. That includes the process of developing the technology — a stage known as training – and the running of it, which is called inference. The Blackwell chips, which are made up of 208 billion transistors, will be the basis of new computers and other products being deployed by the world’s largest data center operators — a roster that includes Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Oracle.

Source: Bloomberg

Apple Scrutiny

Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are training their eyes on Apple, unnerving investors with fears over fines and threatening its market dominance. In the US, the Justice Department and 16 attorneys general sued the iPhone maker for violating antitrust laws. The company is also said to be facing probes about whether it’s complying with the Digital Markets Act in the European Union, with Alphabet’s Google also said to be in the spotlight there. Apple shares slid more than 4% Thursday, erasing about $113 billion in market value. It’s not the first time Apple has come under regulatory scrutiny and major tech companies in general have for years faced accusations of enriching themselves by suppressing competitors. But as Apple’s products have grown ever-more popular, authorities have also become more combative and wary of its power. Apple fired back at the US lawsuit by calling it “wrong on the facts and the law.”.

Source: Bloomberg

Reddit IPO

The highly anticipated public debut of social media company Reddit saw shares soar 48% above their $34 IPO price as investors embraced its vision of profiting from the growth of artificial intelligence. The IPO , which raised $748 million, is the fourth largest on a US exchange in 2024. Reddit’s more than two-year slog to listing reflects the ups and downs of the market, beginning with its initial confidential filing in 2021, and the debut comes at a time when US stock markets are trading at record highs. Reddit has been one of the internet’s top spots for meme-powered stock tips and anonymous hot takes, so it was not a surprise to many, therefore, that its debut was a little unique. Some super users, for instance, were invited to invest along with insiders at the IPO price of $34. The IPO has already made many wealthy, including the Newhouse family whose $10 million bet in 2006 is now worth over $2.1 billion.

Source: Bloomberg