Hello there.
To those who are working for the weekend, we salute you. For our weekend warriors out there, we pour one out. Cheers to another week in IPO paradise. 🍻
In this issue:
🚀 SpaceX's Wild Ride Just Got Wilder
⚡️ …but It’s Working Out for Morgan Stanley
💻 AMD Makes a Power Move Against Nvidia
🤖 100% of the Economy; 20% of the Grid
🎙️ China’s AI Challenge & The Battle for Control
A funny story came out this week about how Ray Dalio warned Elon not to go all-in on Mars exploration. Remember that era? How we were totally gonna colonize Mars by 2024? Well, he can’t say it’s a money problem now. More below. 👇
In partnership with Zeus…
The Smart Money Is Already Moving. Retail Investors Haven't Even Heard The Story Yet.
By the time a mining company is making nightly business news, the easy money has usually been made.
The real opportunity exists months—or sometimes years—earlier.
Right now, one of North America's emerging copper districts is attracting serious attention from major mining companies. While most investors remain focused elsewhere, Zeus Exploration has assembled land in the middle of the story and is approaching its first drill program.
It's early. It's speculative. Nothing has been proven.
But that's precisely the point.
Some of the market's biggest mining winners began as unknown explorers sitting on the right ground at exactly the right moment. Most never become mines—but the few that do can redefine an entire company.
Before the first drill hole changes the conversation, it's worth understanding why experienced resource investors are watching Zeus so closely.
🚀 It’s All About the Landing
SpaceX finally stopped the bleeding this week, snapping a brutal seven‑day losing streak after setting its very first earnings date for August 4th. But of course, there’s a catch.
Turns out, that date kicks off something called a "lock-up expiration." Basically, a bunch of insiders who got SpaceX shares early have been forced to hold onto them since the IPO. Now they can start selling.
We're talking potentially 911.5 million shares that could hit the market starting August 6. That's a lot of selling pressure, which is (partially) why the stock has already dropped about 43% from its peak back in June. Musk's net worth went from over $1 trillion to around $786 billion. Still rich, obviously, but that's a brutal haircut.
Short sellers have been having a field day. About a third of all available SpaceX shares are being shorted right now. Musk fired back on X, basically saying anyone shorting SpaceX long-term is playing with fire. Someone certainly is.
Meanwhile, the company scrubbed two rocket launches in a week because of engine issues. Not a great look, but also not the first time Elon’s taken one on the chin. Time will tell how loyal his fans are when their actual portfolio is on the line.
⚡️ The Tech Ticker
Morgan Stanley’s $100 million SpaceX IPO payday turned into a $70 billion wealth win, as the firm scooped up massive new assets tied to the IPO.
Ford is betting on Apple Maps for its next-generation EVs by embedding MapKit directly into its new EV platform, starting with a truck in 2027.
Google users can unlock accounts with a selfie video instead of a password, as the company rolls out biometric identity checks that users are divided on.
IBM posted Q2 revenue of $17.2 billion, up just 1% year-over-year, as mainframe sales plunged 42% amid client spending shifts toward AI infrastructure.
Oracle’s stock has plunged more than 50% since June even as analysts tout a potential 220% rebound, with massive infrastructure spend weighing heavily.
💻 AMD Takes on the Chip Champ
AMD has been stuck playing second fiddle to Nvidia in the AI chip game for years, but they just dropped a bombshell partnership with Anthropic that could actually change things.
Anthropic agreed to buy up to 2 gigawatts of AMD's Instinct MI450 chips for their data centers. That's a massive order. Not to mention, AMD's $5 billion investment could help Anthropic as they work toward going public at a rumored valuation of around $965 billion.
AMD CEO Lisa Su said her team has been working with Anthropic's engineers for a while now, and they've always wanted to be a key partner for the company's infrastructure. Now that’s good storytelling.
But let's be real: AMD still has work to do. Nvidia has a huge head start with software and developers who already know how to use their stuff. Whether AMD can actually compete long-term depends on whether their new chips perform as advertised when they ship in 2027.
AMD's stock was still down a smidge after the news. Revenue from this deal won't show up until 2027 at the earliest, so investors are basically being asked to be patient. We'll see if Wall Street can handle that.
🤖 All Eyes on AI
AI-driven data center growth could push US electricity use to 20% by 2035, raising concerns that households may face higher power bills.
Google’s Gemini app is nearing 1 billion monthly users, closing in on ChatGPT as daily usage triples year over year.
Deezer says more than 50% of daily uploads are AI-generated, prompting the music streamer to crack down on fraudulent and low-stream tracks.
Top American AI executives are sounding the alarm on Chinese models, warning about rising global competition and national security risks.
TSMC’s $200 billion US manufacturing push is squeezing margins, with political pressure from Trump driving higher production costs.
🤡 Meme of the Week
🎙️ China’s AI Challenge & The Battle for Control
In this episode of This Week in Tech, the hosts unpack a week where Chinese AI labs release increasingly competitive models, governments move to control access to frontier systems, and institutions everywhere wrestle with the consequences of rapid AI adoption.
📻 Tune in to:
Break down how new open-weight models from Chinese companies like Moonshot AI and Alibaba are challenging Silicon Valley.
Map out the growing struggle over who holds sway over AI systems as governments, technology companies, and regulators clash over control.
Dive into the broader societal impact of emerging technologies, from restrictions on teens to mounting concerns over privacy and surveillance.
🎧 Listen on:
⭐️ What did you think of today's edition?
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Till next time,
— Brandon and Blake
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