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The company, after decades of merely suggesting how things might be made, has dared to venture into the messy, unpredictable realm of physical silicon. A most unusual development, one might add, like a bookkeeper suddenly deciding to become a blacksmith. This week, in San Francisco – a city perpetually on the verge of dissolving into the sea, both literally and metaphorically – they unveiled the Arm AGI CPU. A name, it must be said, that sounds suspiciously like a bureaucratic decree from a forgotten empire.

Fifty-point-five million shares traded. Which, if you picture it, is a lot of little digital transactions happening, all fueled by the vague promise of faster downloads. It makes you wonder what everyone’s downloading, doesn’t it? Probably cat videos. It always comes back to cat videos. Nokia’s been around since 1994, a veritable dinosaur in the tech world, and has managed a 525% climb since its IPO. My grandmother has a Nokia brick phone she refuses to part with, claiming it has “better reception.” She’s probably right.

Both companies have enjoyed a recent surge in performance, a phenomenon attributable to the aforementioned AI boom. However, like two spacecraft attempting to dock in zero gravity, their trajectories have diverged. One continues to climb, while the other has… well, not exactly fallen, but perhaps experienced a slight deceleration in its upward momentum. Which, then, presents the more compelling investment opportunity? Let’s attempt to unravel this digital conundrum.

Recent Securities and Exchange Commission filings disclose a material investment by Nvidia in Nebius, encompassing warrants to acquire, and direct ownership of, approximately 22 million Class A shares, representing a 7.7% to 8.3% equity stake. While not a controlling interest, this allocation suggests a strategic alignment, predicated on Nebius’ capabilities within the AI infrastructure landscape. The decision by Nvidia to deploy capital into a competitor, however nascent, merits further investigation.

The broader market, a creature of habit and occasional whimsy, offered little solace. The S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.37%) dipped a modest 0.37% to 6,556, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 0.84%) fared worse, falling 0.84% to 21,762. Within the crypto sphere, Circle’s brethren suffered alongside. Coinbase Global (COIN 9.75%) lost 9.76%, landing at $181.04, and Nu Holdings (NU 3.10%) retreated 3.34% to $14.19. A symphony of decline, orchestrated by the ever-present threat of regulatory intervention. Each company, a unique instrument, responding to the same discordant tune.

They offer loans of every stripe – personal, student, even mortgages, should one desire a roof over their head – alongside online brokerage services, and the usual depositories for one’s hard-earned (or, more often, borrowed) funds. They even own a business dedicated to the technology of banking, a curious nesting doll of a venture, providing the very gears and levers for other financial institutions. A most ambitious undertaking, indeed.

The sum itself – $77.99 million – feels less like a calculation and more like a breath held, then released. The position now stands at $361.99 million, an increase of $132.34 million since the last accounting. It’s a slow accretion, a patient gathering of stones against a rising tide. One pictures Icahn, not as a titan of industry, but as a meticulous gardener, tending to a particular bloom in the vast, often brutal, garden of the market.

I’m looking at Meta, the one formerly known as Facebook. I suspect they’ll be joining the others within three years. It’s not about magic. It’s about attention. People look at screens. Meta provides screens. They’re figuring out how to keep those eyes glued, and that, predictably, translates to money.

The weighted average purchase price, according to the SEC Form 4, was $49.70. A perfectly respectable number, though one suspects Mr. Chen wouldn’t be overly concerned with a few dollars here or there, given the recent performance of AXT.

Both, undeniably, offer a pathway into this burgeoning sector, yet their characters, their prospects, diverge considerably. To discern which merits a place in a discerning portfolio requires a closer examination, a weighing of potential against the immutable realities of the market.