Core Insights - The AI market driven by large models is accelerating with a new metric, Token consumption, becoming a "real benchmark" for AI application deployment [1] - The IDC report reveals a staggering growth projection, with the volume of large model calls on public cloud in China expected to reach 536.7 trillion Tokens in the first half of 2025, a nearly 400% increase from 114 trillion Tokens in 2024 [1] - The market landscape is becoming clearer, with Volcano Engine holding a 49.2% market share, expanding its lead from 46.4% in 2024 [1] Market Dynamics - Volcano Engine leads the Chinese large model public cloud service market with a 49.2% share, followed by Alibaba Cloud at 27.0% and Baidu Smart Cloud at 17.0% [2] - A different report by Omdia shows Alibaba Cloud leading with a 35.8% share when considering the entire cloud service chain, indicating a shift from infrastructure competition to deepening model applications [2] Token Consumption as a Metric - The choice of "Token call volume" as a core statistic reflects a rethinking of evaluation standards in the AI industry, focusing on actual model usage rather than just computational supply [3] - Token consumption is closely tied to application deployment, showcasing a more sustainable and exponentially growing model for the AI industry [4] Growth Catalysts - Two key technological breakthroughs have significantly impacted market growth: the first in July 2024, when the YoY growth rate for large model public cloud services exceeded 160% following cost reductions from the Doubao model [5][6] - The second breakthrough occurred in February 2025, marked by the popularity of the DeepSeek-R1 inference model, indicating a shift from model training to inference services [6] Volcano Engine's Competitive Edge - Volcano Engine's rapid growth in the large model business is attributed to its strategic, technological, and scale advantages [7] - The Doubao model family has a leading iteration speed in the industry, covering multiple modalities including text, image, audio, and video [8] - The performance of Volcano Engine's MaaS platform, "Volcano Ark," has been significantly enhanced, with output rates for the DeepSeek-R1 model being 2.6 times that of some competitors [9] Industry Penetration - The AI cloud service market is expanding from the internet sector into traditional industries, with Volcano Engine serving major clients across various sectors, including automotive and finance [10] - The market is expected to have hundreds of times growth potential, with multi-modal models and Agent applications driving future growth [11] Future Trends - Volcano Engine is continuously upgrading its products and services, recently launching several new models and a "smart model routing" service to balance performance and cost [11] - The daily Token consumption has surpassed 30 trillion, reflecting a growth of over 80% since May 2025 [11] - The competition in the "Tokens economy" will favor those who provide the best performance at the lowest cost, shaping a more mature ecosystem in the AI cloud market [12]

Group 1: Investment Insights - Billionaire Ken Griffin is selectively investing in AI stocks, notably increasing his position in Microsoft by 1,636% [4][2] - Citadel Advisors also significantly increased its stake in Nvidia by 414% and Amazon by 158% in Q2 2025 [3][2] - Microsoft has been a long-term holding for Citadel, with a stake valued at approximately $985 million at the end of Q2 [4][5] Group 2: Market Sentiment - Microsoft is highly favored among analysts, with 57 out of 58 recommending it as a buy or strong buy [6] - The stock has gained over 20% this year, with an average 12-month price target suggesting an upside potential of around 21% [7] Group 3: Company Performance - Microsoft reported revenue of $281.7 billion for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, reflecting a 15% year-over-year increase, with profits of $101.8 billion, up 16% [10] - The company is benefiting from the integration of OpenAI's GPT-5 and has expanded its AI partnerships, enhancing its product offerings [8][11] Group 4: Future Potential - The potential of agentic AI and quantum computing is highlighted as significant growth areas for Microsoft [12] - The relationship with OpenAI is viewed as a major advantage, especially with the popularity of ChatGPT and GPT-5 [11]

Core Insights - Capgemini has completed the acquisition of WNS, creating a global leader in Agentic AI-powered Intelligent Operations [1][2] - The acquisition is valued at $3.3 billion, with a cash consideration of $76.50 per WNS share [2] - Capgemini aims to leverage WNS's industry expertise and platforms to enhance its capabilities in transforming business processes [2] Financial Details - The total cash consideration for the acquisition amounts to $3.3 billion, excluding WNS's net financial debt, which was negligible as of March 31, 2025 [2][4] - Capgemini successfully priced €4.0 billion in bonds to finance the acquisition and refinance its financial debt [2] Strategic Vision - Both companies share a vision of utilizing agentic AI to transform business operations, focusing on efficiency and agility through hyper-automation [2] - The integration is expected to unlock long-term value for clients, employees, partners, and communities [2] Company Background - Capgemini is a global business and technology transformation partner with 350,000 team members across more than 50 countries [3] - The company reported global revenues of €22.1 billion for the year 2024 [3]

Core Insights - The latest research from Omdia indicates that enterprise software sales through leading cloud service marketplaces, primarily Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, are expected to surge from $30 billion in 2024 to $163 billion by 2030 [1] - This growth reflects an increasing adoption of marketplace procurement by enterprises and a significant rise in Agentic AI sales [1] - Omdia forecasts a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29.1% from 2025 to 2030 as more IT vendors, from large global software providers to independent software vendor (ISV) startups, increasingly utilize top cloud service marketplaces as their primary market channel [1]

Core Insights - Salesforce has lifted its long-term revenue forecast, now targeting over $60 billion in annualized revenue by 2030, driven by advancements in agentic AI [4][5] - The company is expanding its partnerships with major tech firms like Alphabet, Anthropic, and OpenAI, enhancing its AI-assisted CRM services [4][6] - Salesforce's free cash flow is projected to increase by 200% over the next five years, supporting aggressive stock buybacks [8][10] Revenue and Earnings Outlook - The long-term revenue target of exceeding $60 billion by 2030 surpasses analysts' expectations, with agentic AI anticipated to grow at a double-digit CAGR of 35% to 45% [5][6] - The agentic AI industry is expected to experience significant growth, benefiting Salesforce due to its existing client base, which includes approximately 90% of the Fortune 500 [6] Stock Performance and Forecast - Current stock price is $245.09, with a 12-month price target of $325.72, indicating a potential upside of 32.90% [9] - Analysts have begun a cycle of price target increases, with the highest target reaching $400, suggesting a bullish sentiment shift [11] Institutional Activity - Institutional investors own over 80% of Salesforce stock, with a favorable buying activity ratio of $1.50 bought for every $1 sold, indicating strong support for the stock [12] Technical Analysis - Recent price action shows bullish trends, with a potential move above moving averages that could drive the stock price to $288 in the short term [13][14]

Group 1 - Kyndryl will release its earnings results for the quarter ended September 30, 2025, after market close on November 4, 2025 [1] - The earnings conference call will be hosted by Chairman and CEO Martin Schroeter and CFO David Wyshner at 8:30 a.m. ET on November 5, 2025 [1] - A live webcast of the earnings call can be accessed on Kyndryl's investor relations website, with replays available for twelve months [2] Group 2 - Kyndryl is a leading provider of mission-critical enterprise technology services, operating in over 60 countries [3] - The company offers advisory, implementation, and managed service capabilities to thousands of customers [3] - Kyndryl is recognized as the world's largest IT infrastructure services provider, focusing on designing, building, managing, and modernizing complex information systems [3]

Core Insights - SoundHound AI, Inc. has been recognized as a Leader in Everest Group's 2025 PEAK Matrix® Assessment for Conversational AI and AI Agents in Customer Experience Management [2][5] - The evaluation highlights the evolution of conversational AI products into autonomous AI agents capable of managing multi-step tasks [3][4] Company Overview - SoundHound AI specializes in voice and conversational AI, providing solutions that enhance customer experiences across various industries including retail, financial services, healthcare, and automotive [8] - The company’s proprietary voice engine, Polaris, is noted for its superior word error rates and advanced conversational features [4][8] Product Features - The Amelia platform, particularly its latest version Amelia 7 launched in May 2025, offers agentic capabilities allowing AI agents to listen, reason, and act on complex tasks [5][6] - Amelia's AI agents can operate across multiple channels such as chat, text, and voice, utilizing advanced speech recognition technology [6][8] Technological Innovations - SoundHound AI's architecture integrates cognitive reasoning, orchestration, and execution to support complex enterprise AI use cases [5] - The platform includes a no-code agent designer for simplified deployment and a Supervisor AI layer for dynamic agent coordination [5] Market Position - The recognition from Everest Group underscores SoundHound AI's commitment to delivering innovative solutions that enhance customer interactions and operational efficiency [5][8]

Core Insights - SoundHound AI, Inc. has been recognized as a Leader in Everest Group's 2025 PEAK Matrix® Assessment for Conversational AI and AI Agents in Customer Experience Management [3][6] - The evaluation highlights the evolution of conversational AI products into autonomous AI agents capable of managing multi-step tasks [4][6] - SoundHound's proprietary voice engine, Polaris, is noted for its superior word error rates and advanced conversational features [5][6] Company Overview - SoundHound AI specializes in voice and conversational AI, providing solutions that enhance customer experiences across various industries including retail, financial services, healthcare, and automotive [8] - The company’s Amelia platform, particularly the latest version Amelia 7, offers agentic capabilities that allow AI agents to listen, reason, and act on complex tasks [6][8] - SoundHound's technology supports low latency and exceptional natural language understanding, enabling effective communication across multiple channels [7][8] Product Features - The Amelia platform utilizes an Agentic+ framework that combines reasoning and planning skills of large language models (LLMs) with deterministic flows [6] - SoundHound's AI agents can operate across various communication channels such as chat, text, and voice, enhancing their versatility [7] - The platform's innovations include a no-code agent designer for simplified deployment and a Supervisor AI layer for dynamic coordination of AI agents [6][8]

Core Insights - The company has launched a new website for its AI security monitoring platform, SARA, aimed at enhancing lead generation and expanding its market presence [1][5] - SARA has received industry recognition, including two awards at ISC West 2025, highlighting its capabilities in real-time monitoring and automation [3][6] - The company claims that its AI-driven solutions can reduce security costs for businesses by 35%-80% compared to traditional manned security services [6] Company Developments - The new website, www.saramonitoring.ai, provides comprehensive information about SARA's features, capabilities, and case studies [5][6] - SARA has demonstrated its effectiveness in reducing false alarms and improving response times through recent deployments with clients like OneWatch and HUB Enterprises [3][5] - The company has a strong leadership team with extensive experience in the security industry, enhancing its credibility and operational effectiveness [8] Market Position - The security and guarding services industry is valued at nearly $50 billion, and the company aims to redefine this market with its innovative AI solutions [6] - The company has a prospective sales pipeline that includes over 35 Fortune 500 companies, indicating strong potential for future growth [9] - The company’s solutions are designed to improve operational efficiency and ROI for clients across various sectors, including government, healthcare, and transportation [10]

This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter. Dive Brief: Basis Theory, the payments infrastructure provider, has raised $33 million in a new funding round, the company said in a press release Tuesday. The funding will support the company’s agentic e-commerce objectives and expand its enterprise-level payments for international companies. The company has 40 full-time employees, and plans to hire additional ...