Markets await new inflation data: Investors anxiously await Wednesday’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, with concerns rising about potential high inflation readings. Although the S&P 500 saw slight gains on Tuesday ahead of the release of the key CPI inflation data, financial stocks remain under pressure as investors prepared for major U.S. banks to begin reporting earnings on Friday. Small business optimism hit an 11-year low in March, citing inflation as a top concern, while larger companies seemed more resilient. Despite this, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite only saw modest gains. Full story.
Google launches a new chip: Google has launched its own CPU design based on the ARM architecture, which will reside in the Google cloud. The new chip, called Axion, promises up to 30% better performance and 60% better energy efficiency compared with other ARM-based chips. Google intends to use Axion chips to power its YouTube advertising sales business and aims to attract cloud computing customers away from competitors like Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure. The announcement was made at Google’s Cloud Next conference, with Axion processors set to be available later this year. Full story.
Biden pledges $6.6 billion for U.S. chip factory: In other semiconductor news, the Biden administration has pledged up to $6.6 billion to support the expansion of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s facilities in Arizona. The investment is tied to the CHIPS and Science Act, a $280 billion package aimed at strengthening U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and reducing reliance on Asian suppliers. TSMC’s commitment to the U.S. includes constructing a third facility, increasing total investment to $65 billion, and is expected to create thousands of jobs. Full story.
Elon Musk facing investigation in Brazil: Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has included Elon Musk in an ongoing investigation regarding the dissemination of fake news and has opened a separate investigation for alleged obstruction against the CEO. This decision follows Musk’s public criticism of the court’s actions, including comments on his social media platform that X would not comply with orders to block certain accounts. Musk accused de Moraes of suppressing free speech and suggested ways for users to bypass a potential shutdown of X in Brazil. Full story.
Court documents reveal Instagram’s massive revenue: A 295-page court document filed by Meta last week revealed that Instagram generated advertising revenue totaling $32.4 billion in 2021, which comprised 27% of Meta’s overall revenue that year. The documents also reveal that Meta invested 29% of total revenues into R&D in 2022 and 2023, which, it says, is more (proportionately) than Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple. The document is part of Meta’s ongoing battle with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over antitrust concerns. The FTC will need to respond to the latest filings by the end of May. Full story.