Alphabet's Q2 revenue rose 24% to $119.8B, beating expectations, but earnings (excluding a $99B equity gain) missed due to high capital spending, causing a 3% after-hours stock drop.
Water UK warns the government that the UK lacks sufficient water for future datacentres, criticizing "fatally flawed" forecasts that exclude their high demand. This threatens AI growth plans, especially in water-stressed regions already facing hosepipe bans.
San Francisco's housing market is experiencing extreme overbidding, with over 140 homes selling for $1M+ above asking price in early 2026, a massive surge from previous years. The AI boom, company IPOs, and subsequent hiring are driving demand, leading to rapid sales and rising prices.
Tech giants like Google and Amazon are seeing increased carbon emissions due to AI investments, jeopardizing net-zero goals. Meanwhile, Meta is exploring new revenue streams like cloud computing and prediction markets amid stock decline and legal challenges.
A major AI datacentre complex in Scotland, promised to be powered by on-site renewables, has misrepresented its energy plans. Documents reveal developers and the government were aware of power provision issues, raising doubts about the UK's AI infrastructure ambitions.
Residents in Lanarkshire, Scotland, fear a planned AI datacentre complex will negatively impact their properties and green belt land, with concerns over misleading job and investment promises. The project, part of the UK's AI growth zone initiative, may rely on the national grid rather than solely on-site renewables, and job figures appear inflated.
Google's electricity usage increased by 37% in 2025, driven by AI data center expansion, marking its largest annual rise. Despite this, the tech giant reported a 2% reduction in operational carbon emissions through clean energy purchases, though total ambition-based emissions rose 18% due to supply chain factors.
Samsung Electronics and SK hynix will invest a combined 392 trillion won ($252.5 billion) in South Korea's Chungcheong region to build AI-focused facilities, including HBM and NAND flash fabs, as part of the government's strategy to boost AI-led growth and establish the area as a global IT hub.
A senior U.S. official identified South Korea's strict data localization and server isolation policies as obstacles to AI development, urging modernized regulations to foster cross-border data flows and benefit the public sector, particularly cyber defense.
Elon Musk suggested Earth's physical constraints like energy and infrastructure could limit AI growth. He proposed the Moon as a location for AI data centers, citing its lack of atmosphere and lower gravity, and also discussed future potential for Mars.
Broadcom reported strong quarterly results with significant AI semiconductor revenue growth, but its guidance fell short of market expectations, causing its stock to dip after hours. The company reiterated its AI revenue targets and announced new deals with major tech firms.
At Google I/O 2026, CEO Sundar Pichai revealed Google's massive AI transition, processing 3.2 quadrillion tokens monthly, Gemini app reaching 900M users, 13 products with 1B+ users, and 5 core products serving 3B+ users.
Alibaba's shares rose sharply in Hong Kong and New York after reporting strong Q1 growth driven by AI products and cloud computing, despite missing revenue estimates.
Google Cloud exceeded $20 billion in Q1 2026 revenue, a 63% year-over-year increase, driven by 800% growth in genAI products and 40% QoQ growth in Gemini Enterprise. CEO Sundar Pichai warned of compute constraints, noting the backlog doubled to $462 billion, with 50% expected to be fulfilled over 24 months.
Nvidia shares fell on Tuesday following a WSJ report questioning OpenAI growth targets, prompting options traders to make bullish bets expecting a 10% move by month-end. Call volume exceeded puts by more than 2:1, with $648 million of $818 million total spent on calls, while traders positioned for NVDA to reach $260 by March 2027 through call spreads.
