I'm really interested as to how AllianceBernstein thinks about pricing this in, if at all. How are you looking at the opportunity to access the Chinese market going forward. Well, I think China has always remained one of the most strategic markets and will remain so.And particularly in the world, if you think about how we think about the scale benefit the ecosystem, US has always been a big for a big part of the origination of innovations, particularly technology innovations. But China has done a phenomenal ...

Market Dynamics & Industry Trends - Demand is outpacing supply in the computing infrastructure space, particularly for parallelized computing, driven by the traction in artificial intelligence for both training new models and inference [1][3][4] - The industry is experiencing a systemic imbalance, leading to a planetary-scale buildout of computing infrastructure expected to support AI for the next 50 years [8][9][10] - Inference demand is continually increasing and now accounts for over 50% of compute usage, while training demand remains strong [12][13][28] - The newest GPU architectures are used for bleeding-edge training, with prior generations being utilized for inference, showing a generational shift in usage [15] Company Strategy & Business Model - The company focuses on delivering comprehensive supercomputer solutions, emphasizing that delivering 97% is insufficient [4][5] - The company is diversifying its client base beyond hyperscalers like Microsoft and penetrating additional layers of the enterprise space, including VFX and life sciences [16][17][18] - The company structures its business around long-term contracts to insulate from short-term spot price variance in computing [25] - The company has seen a 900 basis points (9%) decrease in the cost of capital in its latest delayed draw facility for non-investment grade clients [26] Operational Challenges & Infrastructure - The key bottleneck is the powered shell, encompassing building, cooling, and electricity distribution [5] - The company anticipates facing a cycle of shortages, moving from powered shell bottlenecks to silicon or networking shortages [6] - Hyperscale clients are extending and broadening their contractual relationships, indicating a broader effort to address the systemic imbalance [22][23]

Semiconductor Industry & Geopolitics - China is urging domestic companies to avoid using NVIDIA's H20 processors [1] - The U S government is potentially seeking a 50% revenue split on AI semiconductor sales from NVIDIA and AMD to re-enter China [1][36] - China may push back against H20 chips, potentially impacting demand and raising questions about other chips [1] - The U S administration may leverage export controls for new government revenues, potentially extending to other products beyond chips [1] - NVIDIA made a deal with the president, and analysts view it as a tactic in broader trade [1] - China is trying to protect its own domestic chip industry and seeking a better deal [5][28] - Circle's second-quarter revenue jumped 53% to $58 million [7] - Circle saw 90% year-over-year growth in USDC in circulation [8] - Circle's subscriptions and services fees grew 250% year-on-year [10] Tech Company Dynamics - Elon Musk accuses Apple of favoring OpenAI in the App Store [1][3] - Perplexity made an unsolicited bid of $345 billion to Google to purchase its Chrome browser [28][29] - GM is looking to restart development of new driverless cars [5]

This is dominated Google trending, by the way, and most other social platforms for most of the time I've been awake. This is big. Tell me more.Could you sleep last night. Were you able to. Or were you just so excited that you had to stay up thinking about it.That was that was Elon Musk related. Let's stick with tailored at least. I mean, look, she's she's the biggest pop star in the world, if not even really close.She just wrapped her Arab tour, which is the best selling concert in music industry history le ...

Back when we were stopping the flow of ships to China, It was America's national security concern about how China would use those chips. In the military context, the development 24 hours later after the president cut that deal, is China saying we have national security concerns and we want to champion our own domestic names. Who has the upper hand in this negotiation.Well, I think that for China, a lot of the signaling that it has been engaged in is largely performative. We know that the Chinese continue to ...

US-China Trade & Technology Dynamics - The US government's decision to allow NVIDIA and AMD to sell AI semiconductors into China involves a potential 50% revenue cut, benefiting NVIDIA and China, but potentially hindering US technological advantage [2] - China is urging its domestic firms not to use NVIDIA's H20 chips, aiming to protect its domestic semiconductor industry [1][5] - China's domestic AI chip capabilities are estimated to be a couple of years behind NVIDIA's H20 chip in terms of inference capabilities and running AI applications [3] - The US-China trade deal is becoming increasingly complex, with rare earth metals and other chips potentially used as leverage [9] NVIDIA's Position - NVIDIA needs to balance pleasing both the US and China, which is proving difficult [11] - China is a very important part of NVIDIA's business, representing billions of dollars in revenue, with potentially billions more at stake [10] - Restrictions on the H20 chip could lead to NVIDIA writing off billions of dollars [11] Strategic Implications - The US's decision to allow AI chip sales to China doesn't seem to warrant the dramatic change in national security policy, given existing concerns over exporting these chips [7][8] - China may restrict the sale of NVIDIA's chips to gain leverage in trade negotiations with the US [10] - The US may not be a winner in the deal, despite Trump's deal-making reputation [6][7]

Financial Performance - Revenue bump is driven by growth [1] - Saw a 90% year-over-year growth in US DC in circulation on the network [2] - Other revenue grew 250% year-on-year, adding a couple hundred basis points to margins [4] - Adjusted EBIT growth of 52% with a 50% adjusted EBIT margin [4] - In Q2, $6 trillion of transactions occurred on the network, with acceleration into Q3 [12] - Year-to-date growth of 49% as of August 10th [14] Business Strategy & Development - Circle positions itself as an Internet platform and network utility company, providing a full stack for financial institutions to leverage Stablecoin finance [6] - Building an application layer through Circle payments network and announced a new blockchain network ARC [3] - ARC is purpose-built for Stablecoin finance, with transaction fees paid in USDC [6] - Focuses on growing the money stock on the network, with optimistic views of 90% category growth for stablecoins over the next five years [13] - Primarily focused on organic growth and software-powered innovation, but has made three acquisitions this year to augment product development [16][17]

Investments & Holdings - The firm recently added to its Apple holdings at $202 per share, viewing it as a lucky opportunity [3] - The firm is happy with its Tesla holdings, which were added to at $240 during tariff concerns [3] - Tesla is a significant holding in the firm's growth strategy, though not in the "12 best ideas" portfolio due to Elon Musk's volatility [9] Tesla & Elon Musk - Elon Musk is described as someone "programmed for war," using tactics to gain attention and potentially concessions from Apple [2] - Elon Musk requested the Dojo project be shut down, and the engineering talent has been reassigned across their other chip assets [6] - The firm was watching the Dojo project but it was not factored into expectations for future earnings growth for Tesla [7] - The firm is waiting to see what is sustainable with Tesla, given Elon Musk's tendency to think, try, and restart projects [8] AI & Technology - The speaker uses Grok religiously and considers it the best solution, wanting to see more people utilize it and Tesla delve deeper into AI [5] - The firm is building a strategy focused on new frontier opportunities like quantum, nuclear, robotics, and genie, with Tesla being a central holding [6] - The firm is focused on quantum computing and the elements that will drive it [7] China & NVIDIA - NVIDIA took an $8 billion charge, but the Middle East opened up [13] - China is trying to get a better deal from the US and protect their own domestic chip names [15] - China responded to Jensen Huang's comments by stating they don't need NVIDIA's products, but the situation will likely settle in the middle [14] - The firm expects incremental revenues and a slight hit to margins regarding China and NVIDIA [14]

In aggregate what's at the core of my complaint. Yeah, he is claiming anti-trust behavior by Apple, saying that the company, as you point out, Ed, is favoring open air. It's putting open air and more prominent positions on the App store, you know, artificially in his mind, putting them higher on rankings lists.Now, of course, some of those rankings lists are editorially curated by Apple employees. That's been the case for four years. And it's always been a challenge for developers to try and get onto those ...

Market Dynamics & Geopolitics - The chip industry is navigating the impact of political factors, particularly concerning access to the Chinese market, which is one of the largest chip markets in the world [3][4][5] - Companies are trying to understand the "rules of the game" to maintain access to the Chinese market, potentially involving compromises or deals [2][5] - Restrictions on chip exports to China could impact the long-term growth and valuations of companies like AMD and NVIDIA [11][12] - China's potential shift towards domestic chip production could further impact the global chip market [11] Company Strategy & Risk Management - Companies are adopting a "read and react" approach to policy changes, rather than relying on forecasting [7] - Access issues to the Chinese market are expected to increase costs and complexity for chipmakers [13] - The fundamental narrative for investing in companies like AMD and NVIDIA remains strong despite these challenges [13] Intel's Situation - There are questions surrounding Intel's leadership and its ability to develop the right types of chips [14] - Potential leadership changes at Intel could be influenced by political factors [15][16] - Intel faces significant challenges in terms of corporate structure and innovation [17]