AI trade

China is considering permitting ByteDance and Alibaba to purchase new Nvidia chips, according to a report by The Information picked up by Reuters. The potential decision would mark a shift in Beijing's stance on US semiconductor access, with implications for Chinese tech firms' AI ambitions and for Nvidia's business in the Chinese market.

China may permit Alibaba to purchase Nvidia's newest chips, according to a report by The Information picked up by Bloomberg. The potential approval would mark a shift in Beijing's stance on US semiconductor purchases by Chinese tech firms amid ongoing export restrictions and US-China trade tensions. If confirmed, it would give Alibaba access to advanced Nvidia hardware for its cloud and AI operations.

Reports suggest China may permit major technology firms Alibaba and ByteDance to purchase Nvidia chips, easing earlier restrictions on US semiconductor access for Chinese companies. The potential shift would affect the country's artificial intelligence sector, where access to advanced chips has been a major bottleneck. It also comes amid ongoing trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing over export controls and technology.

Qualcomm has announced two new smartphone chips as it deepens its push into on-device artificial intelligence, positioning itself against rivals in the mobile processor market. Despite the product launch, the company's stock edged lower in after-hours trading, suggesting investors were not immediately impressed or had expected more from the announcement.

Citi is advising clients to treat any pullback in stocks as a buying opportunity, arguing that the AI-driven rally still has room to run as the US midterm elections approach. The bank's strategists say momentum in artificial intelligence-related shares remains strong despite stretched valuations, and that dips should be added to rather than feared. The call adds to a debate over whether the AI trade can keep powering record markets.

Investors are watching two key indicators this week that could shape both the AI-driven stock rally and the broader economy. With AI stocks carrying much of the market's gains, traders are looking to fresh economic data and earnings signals for confirmation that the rally has room to run, or warning signs that a pullback may be coming.

Retail investors are turning their attention to three cloud and AI-related stocks following Microsoft's expansion of its Copilot assistant. The list highlights companies positioned to benefit from growing enterprise demand for AI-powered productivity tools. Microsoft's Copilot push has become a key catalyst in the AI trade, and individual investors are looking for secondary plays in cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure that could ride the same wave.

Hedge funds are profiting from a popular dispersion trade as tremors in artificial intelligence stocks and oil markets widen the gaps between individual securities. The strategy, which bets on differences in performance among related assets rather than market direction, has been boosted by recent volatility. Increased divergence across sectors is making the trade increasingly attractive to fund managers seeking returns independent of broader market swings.

A new publication examines the economics of running open-weight AI models for inference, looking at how serving freely downloadable model weights compares with closed, API-based alternatives on cost. Discussion among technically minded readers is focusing on the trade-offs between self-hosting open models and paying commercial providers, and what that means for AI infrastructure spending.