Intel Learns the Art of the Deal

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Hundreds of investing and finance newsletters hit my (and maybe your) inbox every week. This is the best of the best of tech from the past week. Every Monday, we’ll tackle policy, and every Wednesday, we’ll recap finance.

This week, on Tech Wrapped, we’ve got…

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It was a BIG week for Google and robots. We’ll break it all down below.

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Intel just pulled off the (second) deal of its life. Nvidia announced a $5 billion investment in its longtime rival, sending Intel shares up as much as 34% in premarket trading. The two will co-develop custom data center CPUs and PC chips, with Nvidia integrating Intel’s processors into its AI platforms. For Intel, it’s a chance to claw back relevance. For Nvidia, it’s a way to stay central no matter which CPU architecture wins.

Just two mega CEOs being bros:

The US government is grinning too. After scooping up a $9 billion Intel stake last month at $20.47 per share, Washington is now sitting on a paper profit of $4.5 billion, a 51% return in under 30 days. That’s the kind of gain hedge funds dream about. AMD, meanwhile, took the hit (dropped 5.8% on the news), with investors worried that it will lose out on both PCs and data centers.

If the deal clears regulators, Nvidia becomes one of Intel’s largest shareholders, right behind BlackRock and Vanguard. Prognosis: Intel just got a second life, and AMD just got a new headache.

Here are AltIndex’s stock ratings for each one of the three chip giants (not great):

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Disney is betting that the future of comics is scrollable. Its 2% stake in Webtoon ($WBTN) will fold Marvel, Disney, and 20th Century titles into a single subscription hub, giving it another streaming‑style revenue stream. Webtoon stock has nearly doubled this year, and Disney is up 25% as investors reward its push into digital fandom.

We’re sure Disney is happy for any form of good news in the wake of canceling Jimmy Kimmel’s show indefinitely this week. The network pulled the show after Kimmel’s comments about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s killer.

Back to tech. Nearly 30% of all web traffic now comes from AI bots, with Meta, Google, and OpenAI leading the crawl. That’s a headache for site operators but a jackpot for Cloudflare and Fastly, which are cashing in on demand for bot management. Cloudflare stock has nearly tripled in the past year as it becomes the gatekeeper of the AI data highway. See the CEO talk numbers on how the age of bots has arrived.

Meanwhile, Chinese tech stocks are on a tear. The Hang Seng Tech Index is up 42% this year, with Baidu, Tencent, and BYD all posting outsized gains. Beijing’s ban on Nvidia chips is forcing local champions to build their own, and investors are piling in while valuations still look cheap compared to US tech. The digital arms race is widening, and investors willing to pick winners on both sides could see outsized returns.

This episode of This Week in Tech runs through LLM limits, fashion-forward wearables, and the messy reality behind vibe-coded apps.

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That’s all for today. Write us and let us know your thoughts on the market, the newsletter, or the weather—we’d just love to hear from you.

Till next time,
— Brandon and Blake