Spangle AI, a startup founded by former Amazon and Bolt executives, has raised $15 million in a Series A round to build an agentic infrastructure for ecommerce. The platform connects AI-driven product discovery with real-time conversion.
Instagram is denying a system breach after data from 17.5 million accounts was leaked online and users were hit with a wave of password reset emails. Meta says it fixed a bug causing the email spam, but the leaked data, though likely old, still poses a significant phishing risk to users.
A sophisticated Chinese-speaking threat actor has been caught exploiting a trio of VMware ESXi zero-day vulnerabilities, allowing them to escape virtual machines and gain full control of the underlying hypervisor.
Nvidia’s earnings mark more than a financial milestone, testing America’s technological edge as AI chips redefine markets and geopolitics. With record revenue projected, export curbs, AMD’s rise, and government stakes, the semiconductor race extends far beyond Wall Street.
Nvidia’s fiscal second-quarter earnings, due 27 August 2025, are poised to shape markets and geopolitics alike, with Wall Street projecting £35.7 billion in revenue—a 53% year-on-year surge—and 79p per share in adjusted earnings. As the linchpin of the AI boom, Nvidia’s results are a litmus test for the tech sector’s rally and America’s technological edge.
The stakes are colossal: AI chips power everything from cloud computing to military systems, making Nvidia’s performance a proxy for global innovation leadership. Yet, U.S. export curbs, potentially slashing £6.2 billion from China sales, underscore the intensifying US-China tech rivalry.
“Building leading-edge semiconductors is fundamental to our nation’s future,” declared President Donald Trump, framing chips as strategic assets.
Wall Street’s expectations are sky-high. CNBC highlights Nvidia’s near-flawless record, beating forecasts in 11 of 12 recent quarters per FactSet, with Stifel analysts raising price targets on robust supply chain signals. Bloomberg sees a 6% post-earnings stock swing, with nine target hikes lifting the average to £151, reflecting AI optimism.
Investors are betting that enthusiasm surrounding rapid advancements in AI, which has also boosted companies such as Microsoft, Amazon and Palantir, will continue to be a dominant factor in the coming years.
Nvidia’s dominance in AI hardware has driven AMD to accelerate its technological advancement, particularly in the AI accelerator sector. With Nvidia holding over 80% of the global AI accelerator market and leading in developer ecosystem support through CUDA, AMD has responded aggressively—releasing its MI300 series for data centres and capturing increased sales in AI workloads as an affordable alternative. This dynamic has forced AMD to ramp up R&D investment and pursue partnerships across cloud and enterprise, narrowing but not closing the gap in real-world AI deployments.
AMD reported its second-quarter 2025 earnings on August 5, 2025. The company posted a record $7.7 billion in revenue, with notable growth across server, PC processor, and gaming segments. The next AMD earnings report is scheduled for November 4, 2025
On Wall Street, both companies have performed strongly, but Nvidia’s year-on-year share price surge of nearly 44% is notably greater than AMD’s 11% gain over the last 12 months. Yet in 2025 year-to-date, AMD edges ahead with 37.8% returns versus Nvidia’s 29.2%. Despite the disparity, Nvidia’s annualised returns and profitability maintain clear sector leadership, while AMD’s growing AI portfolio now positions it as a credible challenger as institutional investors seek diversification beyond Nvidia’s dominant position.
“It’s not just a single stock,” said Arun Sai, multi-asset portfolio manager at Pictet Asset Management. “It’s very unusual — people read through it to the economy as a whole.”
Wedbush’s Matt Bryson told Yahoo Finance, “Everything seems to be going really well with the Blackwell product ramp-up and Nvidia getting chips into China … which has supported the upside for this quarter and moving forward.”
He has since raised his price target on Nvidia to $210 from $175.
Stock charts and momentum analysis suggest both Nvidia and AMD are benefiting from a powerful sector-wide rally, with each company registering robust returns and expanding market capitalisations. Nvidia continues to maintain its leadership in the AI chip space, driving exceptional revenue and margin growth, while AMD rides a wave of strong performance in AI inference and gaming—outpacing Nvidia in year-to-date returns but still trailing in long-term annual gains. Technical indicators such as operating margin, annualised returns, and industry benchmarks underscore Nvidia’s status as the linchpin of the AI hardware narrative, yet AMD’s surging share price, diversified portfolio, and rapid adoption make it an increasingly attractive alternative for investors seeking breakout opportunities.
Nvidia’s earnings signal whether the AI-driven rally—fueling the Nasdaq’s 1.2% recent gains—can sustain the Magnificent Seven’s valuations. A miss could spark volatility, fanning bubble fears, while a beat might propel tech indices higher.
More critically, AI is a geopolitical chessboard. The Trump administration’s £6.9 billion acquisition of a 9.9% Intel stake, announced 22 August, repurposes CHIPS Act funds to secure domestic manufacturing. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said,
“This historic agreement strengthens US leadership in semiconductors,” tying it to economic and security goals. Intel’s CEO Pat Gelsinger echoed, “We’re committed to ensuring the world’s most advanced technologies are American-made.”
This move aims to counter supply chain vulnerabilities exposed by Huawei’s chip shortages. This government intervention redefines tech’s landscape. Intel gains stability to compete with TSMC, but its 76% non-US revenue risks backlash from foreign buyers wary of US influence. Critics, including GOP senators, decry it as “state-owned enterprise” territory, echoing China’s model. The US’s 15% levy on Nvidia and AMD’s China sales further tightens the screws, denying Beijing £38.9 billion in advanced tech to curb military AI advances. This matters because chips are the new geopolitical currency, shaping economic and defence superiority.
Competing governments face stark choices. China, stung by curbs, accelerates domestic chipmakers like SMIC, potentially escalating subsidies or espionage. The EU, wary of dependency, may boost its Chips Act, while Japan’s SoftBank, with a £1.6 billion Intel stake, navigates US alliances. Taiwan’s TSMC, critical yet vulnerable, faces heightened invasion risks as chips become strategic flashpoints. Emerging players like India seek partnerships, but global competition tilts toward nationalism, prioritising security over trade.
Nvidia’s earnings thus transcend finance, spotlighting America’s AI lead amid government-driven strategies. As Trump eyes more corporate stakes, the private-public divide blurs, reshaping global tech dynamics.
At present, the semiconductor momentum is lifting both firms—there are no clear losers. Investors continue to reward innovation and earnings growth, with the sector’s upside fuelled by ongoing infrastructure buildout and rising AI demand. Analysts suggest the story is one of “multiple winners” so long as the market’s appetite for next-generation chips remains strong and each firm seizes the right growth opportunities.
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