A most persuasive demonstration of its capabilities, if one may so describe it, stirred the hearts of investors, who, in a fit of collective enthusiasm, elevated the company’s shares by over 5% that day. Such a triumph, one might suppose, outshone the S&P 500 (^GSPC), which, in contrast, declined by 0.5%-a modest setback, to be sure.
Intel’s fortunes, it seems, have been buoyed by whispers of capital from entities both mortal and mythical-Nvidia, SoftBank, and the U.S. government’s spectral hand. Yet the true alchemy lies in the rumor mill’s latest offering: a potential investment from Apple. Bloomberg’s report, a parchment in the Library of Babel, suggests Lip-Bu Tan has approached the Cupertino oracle, seeking to weave their fates together in a tapestry of silicon and silicon.
Now, I know a thing or two about the thrill of a stock that seems like it’s going places, only to skid out of control. Analysts were optimistic-perhaps a little too optimistic-before the report. The used car market was supposed to be booming, with strong demand for everything from hatchbacks to SUVs. But, much like my last attempt at making a soufflé, things just didn’t rise as expected.
But hold your horses! Just when you thought Nvidia had the market all sewn up, along comes Alphabet (you know, the folks behind that little engine of mass distraction, Google, and the time-sink that is YouTube). The Silicon Valley giant has quietly been playing its hand, and wouldn’t you know it, they’re starting to give Nvidia a run for its money, all thanks to their custom-built AI chips- Tensor Processing Units (TPUs).
The plot thickens thus: two industry titans have signed a “landmark strategic partnership” to construct 10 gigawatts of AI data centers-enough computational muscle to power between 4 million and 5 million GPUs. One might reasonably ask whether the world requires yet another declaration of AI supremacy, but such pedestrian concerns are beneath the drama unfolding here.
Now, with that kind of run-up, most of these stocks aren’t exactly buying a round at the bar. But if you think the train’s left the station, think again. The AI market is predicted to grow at a compound annual rate of 29% through 2032, according to Fortune Business Insights. You might still have a ticket to hop on.
So, what’s going on here? A little stumble or something more? And will this October, cleverly dubbed “Uptober” by the eternal optimists, come riding in like a hero on horseback, rescuing the day? Well, let’s chew on three main factors that are acting like headwinds in a storm, keeping these cryptos from flying as high as they once did.
In the chaotic and somewhat absurd theater of technological progress, IonQ has garnered some attention. Yesterday, with the assistance of the Air Force Research Lab (no less), the company announced a breakthrough that would make even the most stoic of scientists pause. A conversion of photons from visible wavelengths, used for the entrapment of barium ions, into telecom wavelengths has been demonstrated in a prototype system. What this means, if we are to extract a morsel of sense from this technobabble, is that IonQ has found a way to transmit quantum information over long distances-through optical fibers that most of us would deem “ordinary.” But then again, “ordinary” is not the term one would apply to a company that seeks to deliver quantum computing across a vast and incomprehensible network of secure quantum channels.
Let’s consider, shall we, a whimsical little exercise in what might have been: imagine a modest $500 investment, stashed away five years ago in what was then known as Cree. The result today, if you can bear the suspense, is a paltry $16.42. Yes, that’s right, from riches to a small cup of coffee and change. How, you might ask, did this tragedy unfold?
