Nuclear Stocks Soar on Big Tech Boost
Following on from a similar announcement from Alphabet’s [GOOGL] Google earlier in the week, Amazon [AMZN] has said it is investing in US nuclear developer X-energy as part of a collaboration to deploy small modular reactors to power its artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. X-energy revealed that Amazon would lead a $500m fundraising effort, alongside other investors including Citadel’s Ken Griffin. Oklo [OKLO] and NuScale Power [SMR] spiked 41.8% and 40%, respectively, on the news.
GM Doubles Down on Lithium
Legacy automaker General Motors [GM] has boosted its investment in Vancouver-based miner Lithium Americas [LAC] from $650m to $945m to secure a long-term lithium supply for electric vehicle batteries. This deal marks the largest investment by a US carmaker in a lithium project. GM will take a 38% stake in the Thacker Pass mine in Nevada. Shares of Lithium Americas surged 22% following the announcement, according to the Financial Times.
TSMC: In Very Good Health
On Thursday Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co [TSM] reported a 54% surge in net profit for Q3, driven by robust demand for AI servers. Net income reached NT$325.26bn for the quarter ending September 30, up from NT$211bn the previous year. The pace of year-over-year earnings growth accelerated as revenue surpassed TSMC’s prior guidance. The firm manufactures chips for over 500 companies, including for Nvidia’s [NVDA] latest AI processors and Apple’s [AAPL] iPhone chips.
Autonomous Driving IPO to Go Ahead
Founded in 2016 in Silicon Valley start-up Pony.ai is preparing to file for an IPO in the US as early as this week, Bloomberg reported, and is aiming to raise up to $300m. Guangzhou Automobile Group [GNZUF], a major Chinese automaker, is reportedly considering an investment in the IPO, having recently approved a $27m investment in the firm. Pony.ai operates self-driving fleets in both the US and China, including trucks and robotaxis.
DoE Deal Drives Up Biofuel Stock
Gevo [GEVO] surged 47.5% in post-market trading on Wednesday after announcing it had secured a $1.46bn loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy for its Net-Zero 1 project in South Dakota, Seeking Alpha reported. The facility aims to produce 60 million gallons per year of sustainable aviation fuel alongside protein, animal feed products and corn oil. Gevo CEO Patrick Gruber said this marked a significant step in transforming aviation with renewable, carbon-neutral fuel.
Can this Trading App Transcend its Origins?
Robinhood [HOOD] launched the world’s first commission-free trading and investing platform in 2013. Having established itself as the world’s most popular trading app, Robinhood now offers an increasingly diversified suite of products, including a self-custody digital wallet for storing and managing cryptocurrencies. On Foresight, the OPTO Substack channel, we unpack how, alongside regional diversification, the cryptocurrency market could be a driver of future gains for Robinhood.
SoundHound’s CFO on Voice AI
Nitesh Sharan, Chief Financial Officer at SoundHound [SOUN], a conversational and voice AI company, joined OPTO Sessions this week to discuss the company’s business model and prospects. “We really believe that voice will be the next horizon of how humans will increasingly interact with technology,” Nitesh said, and explained why SoundHound believes that the total addressable market for voice AI products potentially comes to $140bn.
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