Can Europe Cut Out US Tech?
Europe may be turning its back on US cloud suppliers including Alphabet’s [GOOGL] Google Cloud, Microsoft’s [MSFT] Azure and Amazon’s [AMZN] AWS, Wired has detailed. Meanwhile, EU cloud firms Exoscale and Elastx have seen an uptick in customers amid a climate of uncertainty and privacy concerns. The UK, by contrast, may cut its big tech tax in a bid to stave off US tariffs, the BBC reported.
Beyond “Liberation Day”: What Investors are Watching
Markets are bracing for volatility related to Trump’s April 2 “Liberation Day” tariffs, Bloomberg noted. But it is not the only date that investors are anticipating. Options markets show spikes around March 31, when the Fed’s favored inflation gauge drops, and April 4, when key jobs data is released. Indeed, the market seems more focused on economic fundamentals than Trump’s rhetoric, as traders wait for real policy effects to emerge.
Better Without Meta
FuriosaAI has rejected an $800m takeover offer from Meta [META], opting to remain independent. The Korean artificial intelligence (AI) chip start-up, led by ex-Samsung [SSNLF] and AMD [AMD] engineer June Paik, develops processors that compete with those of Nvidia [NVDA] and Groq. Talks had been ongoing since earlier this year. FuriosaAI backer DSC Investment saw its shares drop 16% after the deal fell through.
SAP Edges Ahead of NVO
SAP [SAP] has overtaken Novo Nordisk [NVO] as Europe’s most valuable public company, reaching a market cap of €312bn.The German software giant’s shares have surged on strong cloud and AI-driven growth, while Novo Nordisk has slumped 18% this year following disappointing trials for its next-gen weight-loss drug, CagriSema. Read OPTO’s recent deep dive into NVO stock, alongside two other biotechs hoping for a sector bounce-back.
AI in India
Both OpenAI and Meta have held separate talks with India’s Reliance Industries [RELIANCE:NSE] on AI partnerships, The Information outlined. Subsidiary Reliance Jio may distribute ChatGPT, while Reliance has discussed selling OpenAI’s models via an application programming interface and hosting them locally to keep customer data in India. OpenAI has also explored cutting ChatGPT’s subscription price from $20 to just a few dollars.
Xiaomi Steps Up EV Drive
Xiaomi [XIACF] is selling up to $5.3bn in shares to fund its electric vehicle (EV) expansion, offering 750 million shares at a 4.2-7.4% discount to its last close. Investor demand met the offering size by Monday evening, Bloomberg reported. This follows BYD’s [BYDDY] $5.6bn raise and adds to Hong Kong’s strong year for share sales. Xiaomi is betting big on EVs to fuel future growth amid a broader market rebound.
Will the Wiz Deal Impact These 3 Cybersecurity Stocks?
In major cybersecurity news last week, Alphabet announced it will be spending $32bn on New York start-up Wiz, which provides cloud-based cybersecurity solutions to big tech firms. Coming after Wiz rebuffed a $23bn offer from the company last July, the deal should help Google Cloud to catch up with rivals Microsoft and Amazon’s AWS. OPTO unpacks how rival cybersecurity stocks could be impacted by the buy-out.
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