Author: Anusuya Lahiri

Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) Google DeepMind is expanding in Singapore with a new research lab to accelerate real-world artificial intelligence applications via advanced research, top regional talent, and direct collaboration with the government.

DeepMind noted Singapore’s ambitious National AI Strategy 2.0, Smart Nation initiatives, and openness to global expertise make the city-state a prime hub for growth in the Asia-Pacific region — the world’s fastest-expanding market.

The new lab will strengthen Gemini development, advance inclusive AI for diverse Asian languages and cultures, and support deployments across Google products and Cloud customers.

Also Read: Google Looks To Germany For AI, Data Center Expansion As Alphabet Commits $6.4 Billion

DeepMind’s team in Singapore — which more than doubled over the past year — will work closely with public agencies, leading universities, and businesses to apply AI in science, cybersecurity, education, and startup innovation.

The company highlighted successful partnerships in Parkinson’s research using AlphaFold, public-sector AI testing with GovTech and CSA, multilingual AI advancements with AI Singapore.

DeepMind’s AGI Ambitions and Industry Challenges

DeepMind has become a key force in artificial intelligence by pushing breakthroughs in deep reinforcement learning and scientific discovery, all while pursuing its goal of building Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) that supports human progress.

In August, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis warned that inconsistent performance remains a major roadblock to AGI, noting that even top models like Gemini can ace Olympiad-level math yet stumble on simpler problems, and arguing that real progress will demand better testing and tougher benchmarks—not just bigger datasets and more compute.

Analyst Concerns Over Infrastructure and Market Outlook

Bank of America’s Haim Israel warned that AI’s explosive growth is outpacing global infrastructure, arguing that supporting next year’s expected surge in data-center demand would require more land than Singapore and more power than Japan, while also straining water supplies.

He urged the industry to look beyond small, short-term applications and recognize AI’s far broader potential in fields like drug discovery and climate science, even as future technologies such as quantum computing raise resource needs even higher.

Price Action: GOOGL stock was trading higher by 1.43% to $288.34 premarket at last check Wednesday.

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PayPal Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) stock gained on Tuesday after it announced an OpenAI collaboration, upbeat third-quarter 2025 results, and the initiation of a dividend plan.

• PPL is in a favorable position. See the full breakdown here

The Venmo parent reported a quarterly revenue growth of 7% year-over-year to $8.42 billion, topping the analyst consensus estimate of $8.23 billion. 

The adjusted EPS was $1.34, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $1.20.

Also Read: PayPal Expands Honey With AI Shopping Tools To Turn Searches Into Purchases

Transaction Metrics And Margins

Total payment volumes rose by 8% year-over-year, reaching $458.1 billion in the quarter. However, payment transactions declined by 5%, totaling 6.3 billion.

On a trailing 12-month basis, the number of payment transactions per active account decreased by 6%, averaging $57.6.

The total number of active accounts increased by 1%, reaching 438 million. Sequentially, active accounts rose by 0.1%, or 0.3 million accounts.

The operating margin improved by 33 basis points to 18.1%. The adjusted operating margin decreased by 19 basis points to 18.6%.

The company generated a quarterly operating cash flow of $2 billion, free cash flow of $1.7 billion, and an adjusted free cash flow of $2.3 billion.

PayPal held $14.4 billion in cash and equivalents as of September 30, with $11.4 billion in debt.

Dividend

PayPal’s Board of Directors approved the launch of a quarterly cash dividend program. It declared an initial dividend of 14 cents per share. The dividend is payable on December 10, 2025, to shareholders of record as of November 19, 2025.

The payout represents roughly 10% of PayPal’s adjusted net income.

PayPal CEO Alex Chriss said the company achieved another strong quarter and raised its guidance as growth accelerated across branded checkout, payment services, and Venmo.

OpenAI Deal

He stated that PayPal has returned to sustained growth and remains on track to deliver 6%–7% transaction margin dollar growth in 2025, excluding interest on customer balances. Chriss emphasized that PayPal is preparing for an AI-driven future through partnerships with Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google, OpenAI, and Perplexity.

On Tuesday, PayPal also announced plans to adopt the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) to expand payments and shopping capabilities within ChatGPT.

The move will enable millions of ChatGPT users to complete instant checkouts using PayPal, while PayPal will process payments for merchants through OpenAI’s Instant Checkout system.

Through this partnership, PayPal will integrate its wallet features—including multiple payment methods, buyer and seller protections, and post-purchase services such as tracking and dispute resolution—into ChatGPT’s commerce experience. It will also manage card payments using its delegated payments API.

Beyond commerce, PayPal is deepening its AI collaboration with OpenAI by deploying ChatGPT Enterprise for its 24,000 employees, enabling developers with Codex, and expanding internal use of OpenAI APIs to accelerate innovation and improve customer experiences.

Outlook

PayPal expects a fourth-quarter adjusted EPS of $1.27 to $1.31, compared to the analyst consensus estimate of $1.31.

PayPal expects a full-year 2025 adjusted EPS of $5.35-$5.39 (up from prior forecast of $5.15-$5.30). Current analysts estimate an EPS of $5.24.

PYPL Price Action: PayPal Holdings shares were up 16.68% at $81.97 during premarket trading on Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT), the world’s leading supplier of equipment, software, and services for manufacturing semiconductor chips, flat-panel displays, and solar products, announced on October 23 a plan to reduce its global workforce by approximately 4%.

Strategic Rationale

Following the news, the stock slipped in the premarket session on Friday. The workforce reduction is framed as a strategic move to reposition the company for future growth by enhancing productivity and competitiveness.

In an email to employees, CEO Gary Dickerson attributed the action to evolving business needs, stating that “automation, digitalization, and geographic shifts are redefining the company’s workforce needs.”

Also Read: Applied Materials Partners With GlobalFoundries To Accelerate Photonics

He continued, explaining that this coordinated action will accelerate the company’s existing plans to build higher-velocity teams, adopt new technologies, and simplify its organizational structure.

Financial Impact of Restructuring

Affected employees began receiving notifications on the same day. The company expects to incur one-time charges between $160 million and $180 million, primarily for severance and termination benefits.

The majority of these charges are slated for recognition in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, with the plan anticipated to be fully completed by the first quarter of fiscal 2026.

Strong Market Performance Fueled by AI

The restructuring comes as the semiconductor giant rides the surging wave of demand for AI infrastructure. Applied Materials’ stock has delivered impressive year-to-date returns, gaining over 40%, significantly outpacing the Nasdaq 100 index’s over 19% return. This performance is largely backed by the global movement toward AI integration across the data center and cloud space.

To capitalize on this momentum and enhance the performance of chips powering artificial intelligence, Applied Materials has launched a new suite of advanced semiconductor manufacturing systems.

Broader Tech Industry Context and Parallel Layoffs

Applied Materials is not alone in its corporate rationalization. Major technology firms, including Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), and Google parent Alphabet, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG), have been executing significant job cuts, in the hundreds and thousands, concurrently with aggressive investments in AI technology to unlock future value.

For instance, Meta confirmed on Wednesday that it is eliminating approximately 600 positions within its AI division to streamline operations.

This move is part of a broader restructuring following CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s reported dissatisfaction with Meta’s recent AI progress, despite the company recently investing billions in Scale AI, hiring a new Chief AI Officer, and creating a new “Superintelligence Lab” to accelerate its AI development.

Price Action: AMAT stock was trading lower by 0.68% to $226.91 premarket at last check Friday.

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Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) is aggressively accelerating its artificial intelligence deployment, a strategy bolstering its cloud business and fueling significant stock appreciation.

The company’s multifaceted AI push is marked by the launch of two new dense visual-language models within the Qwen3-VL family and the internal development of a conversational AI initiative codenamed “Plan C.”

This dual focus on advanced models and strategic cloud expansion positions Alibaba to drive robust revenue growth.

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Advanced Models and Edge AI Deployment

Alibaba’s Tongyi Qianwen team has unveiled two new dense AI large language models, the 2B and 32B, for its Qwen3-VL suite, substantially enhancing capabilities for visual-language understanding tasks.

These models are engineered for efficiency; the company emphasizes that both are lightweight enough to run on smartphones and are designed to be more “developer-friendly,” as reported by TechNode on Wednesday.

Notably, the Qwen3-VL-32B reportedly rivals the performance of larger systems, including OpenAI’s GPT-5 mini and Anthropic’s Claude 4 Sonnet, while the 2B model facilitates efficient deployment on edge devices.

Simultaneously, Alibaba’s Quark business unit is spearheading an internal AI project, “Plan C,” according to Chinese tech media Sina Tech.

The project, led by Quark’s core team with support from Alibaba’s Tongyi Lab, is centered on developing conversational AI products.

Sources indicate the team has been working on “Plan C” for months as part of a long-term effort linked to model breakthroughs, signaling a direct challenge to ByteDance’s chatbot, Doubao.

Cloud Growth Fuels Stock Gains

The market has reacted positively to Alibaba’s AI and cloud focus, with the stock gaining nearly 97% year-to-date as its strategic investments begin to unlock tangible value.

Analysts overwhelmingly attribute this rebound to the strong performance of Alibaba Cloud.

Goldman Sachs, for example, cited Alibaba Cloud’s full-stack AI capabilities, diversified chip supply, and international expansion as crucial growth drivers, prompting the firm to raise cloud revenue forecasts to 31–38% over the next three fiscal years.

Daiwa Securities highlighted cost optimizations, marketing reductions, and supply-side expansion as factors projected to reduce EBITA losses while forecasting 30% year-over-year revenue growth for Alibaba Cloud.

Furthermore, China International Capital Corporation (CICC) emphasized new AI models, applications, and hardware unveiled at the Apsara Conference, alongside supply-side advantages, as key drivers of sustained revenue and profit growth.

Price Action: BABA stock was trading lower by 0.34% to $166.10 premarket at last check Wednesday.

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Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone 17 series outsold the iPhone 16 lineup by 14% in the first 10 days of sales across China and the U.S., Apple’s two largest markets, according to Counterpoint Research’s China and U.S. third-quarter 2025 Smartphone Sell-Out Tracker.

The base iPhone 17 has driven demand in China as consumers responded positively to its strong value proposition, featuring a faster chip, better display, larger storage, and upgraded selfie camera at the same price as the iPhone 16.

The base model has driven strong sales, with overall sell-outs up nearly 33%. In China, consumer demand for the base model has nearly doubled compared to the iPhone 16.

Also Read: Apple iPhone 17 Pro, Pro Max Ship Times Stay Stable Globally: Analyst

In the U.S., the iPhone 17 Pro Max saw the fastest demand surge as major carriers raised device subsidies by 10% to target ultra-premium buyers through long-term financing plans, boosting Apple’s ecosystem loyalty.

Meanwhile, the eSIM-only iPhone Air slightly outperformed the iPhone 16 Plus. Apple opened pre-orders for the Air in China on October 17, a key step for eSIM adoption in the region, though its higher price and shorter pre-order window could limit its initial appeal.

Apple shares climbed on Monday, marking nearly a 7% gain over the past 12 months.

Analyst Commentary

Analysts have highlighted that Apple is gaining momentum from the strong demand for the iPhone 17. However, they felt investors may need to wait until results from the September and December quarters to gauge the full impact.

Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, said that the global iPhone’s 17 lead times indicate steady consumer demand. Three weeks after release, average wait times across eight countries were 2.29 weeks — about 13% longer than the iPhone 16’s 2.02 weeks.

Munster expects a slight miss in Apple’s fourth-quarter iPhone sales due to limited contribution from the new model, but anticipates substantial upside in fiscal 2026.

He also projects iPhone revenue to rise over 8% in fiscal 2026, exceeding Wall Street’s 5% consensus. He expects Apple’s guidance for the December quarter to “come in ahead of both the published estimates and the whisper number.”

JPMorgan on Robust Upgrade Cycle

Apple is riding strong demand for its iPhone 17 Series, fueled by loyal users upgrading to premium models and expanding traction in China, according to JPMorgan.

Analyst Samik Chatterjee said JPMorgan’s latest consumer survey points to a robust upgrade cycle led by existing iPhone owners, even as interest from Android users softens compared with last year.

Performance, design, and camera improvements remain the top drivers of upgrades, while AI features ranked lower in purchase motivation, Chatterjee noted.

Price Action: Apple shares were trading higher by 1.81% to $256.85 premarket at last check Monday.

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Goldman Sachs urged investors to focus on Chinese companies expanding overseas, citing a weaker yuan, cost advantages, and China’s strength in global supply chains as growth catalysts.

In a report led by analysts Si Fu and Kinger Lau, Goldman identified 25 top picks, including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA), Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL), and BYD Co Ltd (OTC:BYDDY) (OTC:BYDDF), as key beneficiaries of this “going global” trend.

Goldman said these companies — spanning e-commerce, capital goods, and healthcare — have already gained nearly 40% year-to-date, outperforming the Hang Seng Index’s 29% and the CSI 300 Index’s 16% rise, SCMP reported on Monday.

Also Read: Alibaba Stock Surges 95% As Company Doubles Down On AI, Cloud

Overseas Expansion to Boost Earnings Growth

The bank expects its overseas expansion to accelerate earnings growth by about 1.5% annually through 2028 as firms diversify beyond China’s saturated domestic market.

Goldman highlighted Alibaba’s overseas revenue doubling to 13% in 2023 from 7% in 2021 and CATL’s climbing to 30% from 21%, reflecting their rising global competitiveness.

While Goldman acknowledged that potential 100% U.S. tariffs under Trump’s trade agenda could trim short-term profits by around 10%, it said Chinese firms’ international diversification should offset the impact over time.

Alibaba Stock Soars on AI and Cloud Momentum

Alibaba is considered the tech barometer of China. The stock gained 97% year-to-date, topping NYSE Composite index’s over 12% returns as its cloud unit and AI model integration across its business segments and other enterprises fuel upside for the stock.

Goldman Sachs, Daiwa Securities, and China International Capital Corporation (CICC) expressed optimism over Alibaba’s cloud growth, AI breakthroughs, and early e-commerce recovery as key catalysts behind its rally.

Goldman Sachs raised its cloud revenue growth forecasts to 31–38% through fiscal 2028, citing advances in multimodal AI models and a diversified chip supply.

Daiwa Securities projected Alibaba Cloud revenue to climb 30% year-over-year in the second quarter of fiscal 2026 and expects operating losses to peak soon before narrowing on lower marketing and logistics costs.

CICC forecast 3.8% revenue growth for the same quarter and 30% cloud growth, saying new AI products and hardware unveiled at Alibaba’s Apsara Conference will support sustained profit gains.

Price Action: BABA stock was trading lower by 0.62% to $166.02 premarket at last check Monday.

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Photo by Tada Images via Shutterstock

Goldman Sachs urged investors to focus on Chinese companies expanding overseas, citing a weaker yuan, cost advantages, and China’s strength in global supply chains as growth catalysts.

In a report led by analysts Si Fu and Kinger Lau, Goldman identified 25 top picks, including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA), Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL), and BYD Co Ltd (OTC:BYDDY) (OTC:BYDDF), as key beneficiaries of this “going global” trend.

Goldman said these companies — spanning e-commerce, capital goods, and healthcare — have already gained nearly 40% year-to-date, outperforming the Hang Seng Index’s 29% and the CSI 300 Index’s 16% rise, SCMP reported on Monday.

Also Read: Alibaba Stock Surges 95% As Company Doubles Down On AI, Cloud

Overseas Expansion to Boost Earnings Growth

The bank expects its overseas expansion to accelerate earnings growth by about 1.5% annually through 2028 as firms diversify beyond China’s saturated domestic market.

Goldman highlighted Alibaba’s overseas revenue doubling to 13% in 2023 from 7% in 2021 and CATL’s climbing to 30% from 21%, reflecting their rising global competitiveness.

While Goldman acknowledged that potential 100% U.S. tariffs under Trump’s trade agenda could trim short-term profits by around 10%, it said Chinese firms’ international diversification should offset the impact over time.

Alibaba Stock Soars on AI and Cloud Momentum

Alibaba is considered the tech barometer of China. The stock gained 97% year-to-date, topping NYSE Composite index’s over 12% returns as its cloud unit and AI model integration across its business segments and other enterprises fuel upside for the stock.

Goldman Sachs, Daiwa Securities, and China International Capital Corporation (CICC) expressed optimism over Alibaba’s cloud growth, AI breakthroughs, and early e-commerce recovery as key catalysts behind its rally.

Goldman Sachs raised its cloud revenue growth forecasts to 31–38% through fiscal 2028, citing advances in multimodal AI models and a diversified chip supply.

Daiwa Securities projected Alibaba Cloud revenue to climb 30% year-over-year in the second quarter of fiscal 2026 and expects operating losses to peak soon before narrowing on lower marketing and logistics costs.

CICC forecast 3.8% revenue growth for the same quarter and 30% cloud growth, saying new AI products and hardware unveiled at Alibaba’s Apsara Conference will support sustained profit gains.

Price Action: BABA stock was trading lower by 0.62% to $166.02 premarket at last check Monday.

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Photo by Tada Images via Shutterstock

Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone 17 series outsold the iPhone 16 lineup by 14% in the first 10 days of sales across China and the U.S., Apple’s two largest markets, according to Counterpoint Research’s China and U.S. third-quarter 2025 Smartphone Sell-Out Tracker.

The base iPhone 17 has driven demand in China as consumers responded positively to its strong value proposition, featuring a faster chip, better display, larger storage, and upgraded selfie camera at the same price as the iPhone 16.

The base model has driven strong sales, with overall sell-outs up nearly 33%. In China, consumer demand for the base model has nearly doubled compared to the iPhone 16.

Also Read: Apple iPhone 17 Pro, Pro Max Ship Times Stay Stable Globally: Analyst

In the U.S., the iPhone 17 Pro Max saw the fastest demand surge as major carriers raised device subsidies by 10% to target ultra-premium buyers through long-term financing plans, boosting Apple’s ecosystem loyalty.

Meanwhile, the eSIM-only iPhone Air slightly outperformed the iPhone 16 Plus. Apple opened pre-orders for the Air in China on October 17, a key step for eSIM adoption in the region, though its higher price and shorter pre-order window could limit its initial appeal.

Apple shares climbed on Monday, marking nearly a 7% gain over the past 12 months.

Analyst Commentary

Analysts have highlighted that Apple is gaining momentum from the strong demand for the iPhone 17. However, they felt investors may need to wait until results from the September and December quarters to gauge the full impact.

Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, said that the global iPhone’s 17 lead times indicate steady consumer demand. Three weeks after release, average wait times across eight countries were 2.29 weeks — about 13% longer than the iPhone 16’s 2.02 weeks.

Munster expects a slight miss in Apple’s fourth-quarter iPhone sales due to limited contribution from the new model, but anticipates substantial upside in fiscal 2026.

He also projects iPhone revenue to rise over 8% in fiscal 2026, exceeding Wall Street’s 5% consensus. He expects Apple’s guidance for the December quarter to “come in ahead of both the published estimates and the whisper number.”

JPMorgan on Robust Upgrade Cycle

Apple is riding strong demand for its iPhone 17 Series, fueled by loyal users upgrading to premium models and expanding traction in China, according to JPMorgan.

Analyst Samik Chatterjee said JPMorgan’s latest consumer survey points to a robust upgrade cycle led by existing iPhone owners, even as interest from Android users softens compared with last year.

Performance, design, and camera improvements remain the top drivers of upgrades, while AI features ranked lower in purchase motivation, Chatterjee noted.

Price Action: Apple shares were trading higher by 1.81% to $256.85 premarket at last check Monday.

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Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) is adding to the living room experience with a brand-new lineup of party games.

This holiday season, viewers can transition from watching Kpop Demon Hunters to engaging in games with friends and family—all without leaving Netflix. The company is introducing a fresh way to enjoy gaming, designed to be as simple as streaming a show.

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All that’s required is a Netflix subscription and a phone. The new games include popular titles like LEGO Party!, Boggle Party, Pictionary: Game Night, Tetris Time Warp, and Party Crashers: Fool Your Friends.

Netflix stock gained over 36% year-to-date topping the Nasdaq 100 index’s (which includes Netflix) 20% returns. The streaming giant is expanding its gaming efforts with the launch of mobile games based on its popular series, including updates for “Squid Game: Unleashed” as the third season of the show premieres.

The updated “Squid Game: Unleashed” will introduce more ways to play and be available on Chromebooks and large-screen Android devices, marking a first for Netflix’s gaming offerings.

“Squid Game” season two set a record on Netflix, garnering 68 million views in its first week in December.

Meanwhile, Fortnite joins the “Squid Game” craze by introducing themed locations and interactive games like “Red Light, Green Light”.

Netflix is experiencing strong subscriber engagement, according to Alicia Reese of Wedbush Securities. Speaking on Bloomberg TV on Thursday, Reese called the company’s retention for the second quarter “shockingly strong.” Many users who previously canceled the service have returned, he says.

Despite price hikes, especially in the Premium Tier, Reese highlighted that user stickiness remains high with the new ad-supported tier. She attributed much of the strong retention to Netflix’s content recovery. Titles like Squid Game and WWE programming are key drivers for bringing back subscribers, he says.

Reese also credited the ad-supported tier for reducing churn.

NFLX Price Action: NFLX stock is trading lower by 0.31% to $1,210.50 premarket at last check Thursday.

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