The latest quarterly reports from the big four cloud service providers (CSPs) have been released in succession. According to a report from Commercial Times, not only has there been significant revenue growth, but capital expenditures for these CSPs have also surged compared to the same period last year, underscoring the ongoing momentum in AI investments.

Industry scources cited by Commercial Times estimate that capital expenditures by CSPs will surpass USD 240 billion by 2025, reflecting an annual increase of over 10%.

The report indicated that the increase in capital expenditures by CSPs is expected to boost demand for Taiwanese companies in the supply chain during the fourth quarter of this year and into next year, benefiting companies such as Quanta, Wistron, Wiwynn, and Inventec.

According to the report, Microsoft’s capital expenditures for the first quarter of fiscal year 2025 (the third quarter of 2024) reached USD 20 billion, higher than USD 19 billion of the previous quarter, reflecting a 78% increase year-on-year. Microsoft noted that the demand for AI now exceeds available production capacity, and they plan to continue increasing investment, expanding data center construction, and promoting AI services.

The report indicated that the market estimates Microsoft’s total expenditures for fiscal year 2025 will reach USD 80 billion, an increase of over USD 30 billion compared to the previous year.

Google’s capital expenditures in the third quarter reached USD 13.1 billion, an annual increase of 62%, which means that total capital expenditures in 2024 will reach USD 51.4 billion, an annual increase of 59%, and capital expenditures will continue to increase next year, according to the report.

Amazon’s capital expenditures for the third quarter reached USD 22.62 billion, reflecting an 81% year-on-year increase. This year, Amazon’s total capital expenditures have reached USD 51.9 billion, and full-year investments are projected to be as high as USD 75 billion. Furthermore, capital expenditures for next year are expected to be even higher, as the report indicated.

According to the report, as for Meta, capital expenditures in the third quarter were USD 9.2 billion, an annual increase of 36%. Moreover, Meta adjusted their capital expenditure forecast for fiscal 2024 to an upward revision of USD 40 billion. The report indicated that its capital expenditures will continue to grow in 2025.

The report highlighted that AI business opportunities will continue to benefit Taiwan’s major server ODMs. Companies such as Quanta, Wistron, Wiwynn, Inventec, and Foxconn all reported strong results in the third quarter and are optimistic about the fourth quarter and the year ahead.

According to the report, Quanta’s third-quarter revenue reached a record high, driven by strong demand for AI server orders. Quanta Chairman Barry Lam also expressed an optimistic outlook on the future of AI, noting that as large-scale CSPs develop generative AI applications, the scale of AI data centers is continually expanding, leading to a substantial increase in orders.

After demonstrating strong growth momentum in the first half of the year, Wistron has benefited from urgent orders in the second half. Additionally, some B200 series products utilizing the next-generation Blackwell platform are scheduled to be shipped after the fourth quarter. The report indicated that Wistron is quite optimistic about its performance for this quarter and next year.

Inventec plans to ship servers to customers primarily from US-based CSPs in the second half of the year. The report highlighted that orders from Google have increased as the company expands its purchase of AI servers based on its own TPU architecture, in addition to acquiring general-purpose servers for new platforms.

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(Photo credit: Microsoft)

Apple announced its financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2024, which ended on September 28. According to a report from Commercial Times, the company achieved record revenue for this period, surpassing Wall Street’s expectations.

In its press release, Apple indicated that revenue rose by 6 percent year over year, reaching USD 94.9 billion.

According to its press release, the company’s net income fell due to a one-time charge related to a tax decision in Europe. The quarterly diluted earnings per share were USD 0.97. However, when excluding this one-time tax charge related to the reversal of the European General Court’s State Aid, diluted earnings per share was USD 1.64, an increase of 12% year over year.

According to a report from CNBC, revenue from iPhone increased by 6%, making up about 49% of the company’s overall sales. The report quoted Apple CEO Tim Cook, who noted that sales of iPhone 15 were stronger than those of iPhone 14 in the same quarter last year, and that iPhone 16 is performing even better than iPhone 15. Additionally, Cook highlighted the positive feedback for Apple Intelligence, which launched this week.

Furthermore, its press release also mentioned that its services revenue reaches new all-time high. According to CNBC, Apple’s services segment, which encompasses online subscriptions like iCloud, revenue from Google searches, and AppleCare warranties for its hardware, experienced a 12% year-over-year growth, reaching nearly USD 25 billion in sales.

Apple’s CFO, Luca Maestri, stated that the company’s record business performance in the September quarter generated nearly USD 27 billion in operating cash flow, enabling them to return more than USD 29 billion to shareholders.

On the other hand, the CNBC report noted that as Apple faces renewed competition from local Chinese smartphone manufacturers like Huawei, its revenue in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong declined slightly year over year to USD 15.03 billion.

According to the report from CNBC, Apple expected sales growth of low to mid-single digits in the December quarter.

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(Photo credit: Apple)

According to a report from TechNews, the AI boom has significantly boosted the share prices of the “Magnificent Seven”—Apple, Microsoft, Google’s parent company Alphabet, Amazon, NVIDIA, Meta, and Tesla—resulting in a total market value exceeding USD 16 trillion.

Alongside this growth, the report highlighted that the salaries of the CEOs of these companies have also risen. Notably, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s compensation increased by over 60%, reaching an annual total of USD 79.1 million (approximately NTD 2.537 billion).

The Magnificent Seven of the U.S. stock market includes tech giants like Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, NVIDIA, and Tesla. These companies primarily focus on artificial intelligence, cloud computing, online gaming, and software and hardware technologies. With AI driving market growth, their stock prices have consistently hit record highs, pushing their total market value above USD 16 trillion, according to the report.

Citing statisitcs by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the report indicated that Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, ranks first among the CEOs of the Magnificent Seven Stocks. For the fiscal year ending in 2023, Cook’s total compensation amounts to USD 63.2 million, which includes USD 46.9 million in stock awards, USD 10.7 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation, and USD 2.5 million in other compensation, such as security costs and expenses for business and personal travel on private jets.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella ranks second with a total compensation of USD 48.5 million for the fiscal year ending in 2023. His compensation is largely tied to Microsoft’s performance. As of December 2023, Nadella owns 800,667 shares of Microsoft Corp. According to the Compensation Committee of the Microsoft Board of Directors, Nadella’s salary is set to reach USD 79.1 million in 2024, reflecting a 63% increase, primarily due to his success in steering Microsoft into the AI sector, as indicated by the report.

The third place goes to NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, who received USD 34.2 million in annual compensation, reflecting a 60% increase. This total includes USD 26.7 million in stock awards, USD 4 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation, and USD 2.5 million in other expenses. Thanks to the AI boom, Huang’s net worth has skyrocketed sixfold to USD 125.3 billion in just two years. He has also ranked among the top ten richest people in the world for the first time, as the report pointed out.

The fourth is Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Although his salary is only a symbolic USD 1, he receives USD 24.4 million annually, of which protection fees are as high as USD 23.4 million, including USD 9.4 million in direct security costs, and additional USD 14 million to “cover additional expenses related to the personal safety of Mr. Zuckerberg and his family.”

Fifth is Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, who receives USD 8.8 million annually. This includes a salary of USD 2 million and approximately USD 6.77 million for personal security. However, following several major layoffs at Google, Pichai’s salary has drawn criticism from employees worldwide, making it a controversial topic, as the report pointd out.

The sixth place goes to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who receives an annual compensation of USD 1.3 million. This includes a salary of USD 365,000 and a security fee of USD 992,764. When the value of vested shares is included, Jassy’s total compensation for 2023 amounts to approximately USD 29.2 million, as the report mentioned.

The seventh is Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Initially, his extraordinarily high salary of USD 56 billion for 2023 was not approved, resulting in the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations reporting it as 0. However, during Tesla’s shareholders’ meeting on June 13, a new 10-year compensation package worth USD 44.9 billion was approved.

(Photo credit: NVIDIA)

What if the struggling giant, Intel, has not be left out of the AI wave? What if it is able to team up with NVIDIA, the world’s second-largest company by market capital currently? Surprisingly, it used to have the chance. According to a report from the New York Times, former Intel CEO Paul Otellini proposed to acquire NVIDIA for USD 20 billion in 2005, but the board ultimately rejected the idea.

The New York Times report, citing sources familiar with Intel’s boardroom discussions, noted that even at that time some executives believed NVIDIA’s designs could become essential for data centers, which has proven true with the recent boom in AI.

However, the plan to acquire NVIDIA did not materialize, as it would have been Intel’s most expensive acquisition, and there were concerns regarding the purchase.

The report noted that after the board rejected the idea of acquiring NVIDIA, Intel opted to pursue an internal graphics project called Larrabee, led by Pat Gelsinger, Intel’s current CEO. Larrabee was a hybrid that combined graphics with Intel’s PC-style chip design. However, Intel discontinued the development of Larrabee in 2009

In subsequent years, after missing the chance to acquire NVIDIA, Intel purchased other AI companies, including Nervana Systems and Movidius in 2016, as well as Habana Labs in 2019, according to the report. However, none of these acquisitions have come close to matching NVIDIA, which now has a market cap exceeding USD 3 trillion.

The missed opportunity to acquire NVIDIA is not the only instance where Intel struggled to make the right decision in the AI market. According to a Reuters report citing sources, Intel had the chance to invest in OpenAI several years ago, but the investment was ultimately rejected by company executives.

Reportedly, Intel and OpenAI discussed collaboration several times between 2017 and 2018. At that time, OpenAI was still a nascent nonprofit research organization focused on developing relatively unknown generative AI technologies, according to the report in the Reuters.

Recently, according to a report from Wccftech, Intel has stepped away from competing with NVIDIA in AI computing power and the market of training large-scale AI models. Instead, the company is now entering a less saturated segment of the AI market, focusing on its new cost-effective AI accelerator, Gaudi 3.

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(Photo credit: Intel)

Apple CEO Tim Cook visited China for the second time this year. According to a report from Commercial Times, his visit may be aimed at boosting Apple’s business in the region, particularly given that Apple Intelligence currently does not support the China version of the new iPhone 16.

A report from South China Morning Post noted that Chinese Android smartphone vendors are already incorporating new AI features into their devices. On the other hand, Apple’s major rival in smartphones, Samsung, has also found an ally in the local market, as the report pointed out that earlier this year, Baidu’s AI model would be integrated into Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone series, the Galaxy S24.

The report also mentioned that during an earnings call in August, Cook stated that he was advocating the launch of Apple Intelligence in China, aiming to provide AI services to all Apple users.

According to Commercial Times, citing Cook’s official account on the social media platform Weibo, during his trip, Cook met with Chinese university students to discuss how Apple products can support sustainable farming practices.

Notably, according to a report from Reuters, Cook also met with Jin Zhuanglong, China’s Minister of Industry and Information Technology, on Wednesday in Beijing.

The report from Commercial Times also noted that this is Cook’s second visit to China this year. During his trip in March, he reaffirmed the company’s long-term commitment to the Chinese market. On that visit, Cook visited Apple’s new store in Shanghai, met with China’s Minister of Commerce, Wang Wentao, and connected with several major Chinese suppliers.

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(Photo credit: Tim Cook’s Weibo)