Wall Street’s AI-Powered Spending Spree
Investors are doubling down on artificial intelligence, driving the S&P 500 toward record highs as demand for AI-driven products and services surges. Mega-cap tech names like Nvidia, Alphabet and Microsoft are leading the climb, with analysts vi
ewing any pullback as a buying opportunity.
Read more: macholevante.com
Big Tech isn’t just talking about AI—they’re investing heavily. Microsoft plans to spend $30 billion this quarter expanding Azure AI capacity, Alphabet has raised its AI infrastructure budget to $85 billion for 2025, and Apple is open to M&A to
accelerate its AI roadmap and grow its R&D and data center footprint.
Read more: macholevante.com
Palo Alto’s $25 B CyberArk Acquisition Secures the AI Era
Palo Alto Networks will acquire Israeli cybersecurity leader CyberArk in a $25 billion cash-and-stock deal—its largest ever—to blend privileged access management with AI-driven defense.
Read more: Reuters
Under the agreement, CyberArk shareholders receive $45 per share plus 2.2005 Palo Alto common shares, valuing CyberArk at a 29.2% premium. CEO Nikesh Arora says the move “plants the flag” in agentic AI protection and will boost revenue and margi
ns in fiscal 2026.
Read more: Reuters
Vast Data Nears $30 B Valuation with CapitalG & Nvidia Talks
New York-based AI infrastructure startup Vast Data is in advanced talks with Alphabet’s CapitalG and Nvidia for a funding round that could value it at up to $30 billion.
Read more: Reuters
Vast Data had $200 million in annual recurring revenue by early 2025 and projects $600 million next year. Having raised $380 million to date and turning cash-flow positive, it serves clients like xAI and CoreWeave and could pursue an IPO once th
e round closes.
Read more: Reuters
Meta’s Superintelligence Ambitions Shine in Q2 Results
Meta Platforms reported stellar Q2 results: $47.5 billion in revenue (up 22% year-over-year) and $7.14 earnings per share, both beating Wall Street forecasts thanks to AI-enhanced ad demand.
Read more: AI Invest
CEO Mark Zuckerberg highlighted ambitious plans to embed AI features across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger for nearly 3.5 billion daily users. With a consensus “Strong Buy” rating and promises of increased AI investments in data cen
ters and talent, Meta is poised for further growth.
Read more: AI Invest
GPT-5 Imminent: Altman’s Cautious Countdown
OpenAI is gearing up for GPT-5’s August 2025 launch, likening its development to the Manhattan Project due to its transformative potential and ethical implications.
Read more: Times of India
Early indications suggest GPT-5 will offer enhanced reasoning, true multimodal understanding of text, audio and images, and more reliable performance on complex tasks like coding. Developers and businesses are already planning integrations, mind
ful of responsible deployment.
Read more: Medium
Weekly AI Wave: From Deep Think to Showrunner
Google’s Gemini introduced “Deep Think,” for reflective, context-aware responses, and rolled out AI Overviews in Search to analyze PDFs and images. Its NotebookLM now generates multimedia video summaries.
Read more: Tom’s Guide
Microsoft Edge launched Copilot Mode as a proactive research assistant. OpenAI added Study Mode for tailored learning paths and Agent Mode to automate multi-step tasks. Showrunner debuted a platform to create full AI-driven animated TV episodes
from simple prompts.
Read more: Tom’s Guide
Google’s Age-Guessing AI Raises Privacy Alarms
In the EU, Google is testing an AI that infers users’ ages from search metadata to automate age gating on Search and YouTube, aiming to protect minors without burdening users.
Read more: Wired
Privacy advocates warn of opaque algorithms misclassifying adults or exposing teens, and question consent when decisions occur without explicit opt-in. The debate underscores the tension between AI’s protective potential and its risk of overreac
h.
Read more: Wired
Meta’s Vision: AI as Your Personal Superintelligence
Mark Zuckerberg champions “personal superintelligence” assistants that understand your goals, preferences and habits, aiming to empower individuals rather than replace jobs.
Read more: AI Native Foundation
To realize this, Meta reorganized its AI efforts under Superintelligence Labs, recruited top talent and ramped up data center and wearable investments—like smartglasses—to integrate AI seamlessly into daily life.
Read more: AI Native Foundation
Mistral Eyes $10 B Valuation with a $1 B Fundraise
European startup Mistral is in advanced talks to raise $1 billion at a $10 billion valuation, targeting a top spot among foundational model developers.
Read more: Aloa
The funding would bolster Mistral’s open-source leadership, expand its infrastructure, and attract top AI talent amid intensifying global competition.
Read more: Aloa
AI Spending Boom Fuels U.S. Economic Growth (and Raises Concerns)
Big Tech’s AI investments are projected to exceed $350 billion in 2025, driving demand for data centers, GPUs and other infrastructure—potentially adding 0.7% to U.S. GDP.
Read more: Washington Post
While this spending bump is hailed for innovation and job creation, skeptics warn that a downturn in AI funding could ripple through markets and retirement portfolios.
Read more: Washington Post
DeepMind’s Hassabis on AI’s Monumental Impact and Risks
DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis predicts AI could be “10 times bigger and maybe 10 times faster” than the Industrial Revolution, transforming fields from medicine to space exploration.
Read more: The Guardian
Despite his optimism, he cautions against misinformation, energy demands and workforce displacement, urging equitable global access and robust ethical oversight as AI reshapes society.
Read more: The Guardian
