Nvidia’s Bold Gamble: Embracing the Future of Robotics and Beyond

Nvidia’s upcoming focus

As 2025 approaches, Nvidia is confronted with challenging inquiries regarding whether the chip manufacturer fundamental to the artificial intelligence surge can maintain its staggering market performance.

According to the firm’s address at the Consumer Electronics Show on Monday — which showcased new initiatives for robotics and vehicles, alongside a fresh overarching vision for technology — investors seem to be convinced that the tech behemoth, and the A.I. expansion at large, has additional potential for growth.

Nvidia’s stock is climbing again in premarket trading on Tuesday, after achieving an all-time high on Monday in anticipation of the C.E.S. seminar. The chip titan’s market capitalization currently sits at $3.67 trillion, more than twice the combined market valuations of AMD, Arm, Broadcom, and Intel.

The T.LD.R. on the firm’s address: Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s celebrated co-founder and C.E.O. (who wore an upgraded version of his signature leather jacket for his address), unveiled tools for what is termed physical A.I., which includes methods to enhance robot training.

He further mentioned Nvidia would supply driver-assistance chips and software to Toyota, the globe’s leading automobile manufacturer, thereby expanding its roster of automotive collaborators. Additionally, his firm will assist Uber in developing its autonomous driving technology, utilizing the ride-hailing giant’s millions of daily rides to gather data for training A.I. models.

(He also revealed other offerings, including a personal supercomputer aimed at supporting A.I. researchers without relying on the company’s top-tier A.I. chips intended for data centers.)

Nvidia shared a confident outlook for leading A.I. in the tangible world, alongside data-center chips. Huang, addressing an audience of humanoid robots, stated that “the ChatGPT moment for general robotics is just around the corner.” He forecast that the market for such robots may hit $38 billion in the forthcoming decades.

More broadly, Huang depicted a future filled with millions of similar robots, self-driving vehicles, and automated manufacturing facilities.

Emphasizing the announcements: Nvidia’s business extends beyond data-center chips, a highly profitable sector that’s facing challenges from the company’s own top clients seeking to reduce their reliance on its A.I. processors. (Nevertheless, Microsoft’s newly announced $80 billion A.I. investment plan is anticipated to include acquisitions of Nvidia chips.)

It also implied that investors need not be overly concerned about the A.I. expansion coming to a halt anytime soon.

HERE’S WHAT’S TAKING PLACE

Crude oil prices surge following President Biden’s imposition of offshore drilling restrictions. The president on Monday prohibited new oil and gas exploration across over 625 million acres of U.S. coastal waters, contributing to further increases in the Brent and West Texas Intermediate benchmarks on Tuesday. Experts suggest Biden’s executive action is articulated in such a way that makes it challenging for the Trump administration to reverse its direction.

McDonald’s eliminates diversity goals for its workforce and suppliers. The fast-food chain has become the latest firm to revise its diversity, equity, and inclusion framework, as a conservative campaign gains traction in corporate America. However, the company will still link executive compensation to enhancing diversity within its workforce.

Shares in Tencent plummet after the firm is included in a U.S. military blacklist. The Chinese social media and gaming behemoth’s stock dropped nearly 10 percent at one point on Tuesday after the Defense Department classified it as a “Chinese military company” operating within the United States. Drone, shipping, and battery firms, including CATL, were also added to the roster, marking a heightened escalation in tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Two titans of the photo-licensing sector agree to merge. Stocks in Getty Images and Shutterstock surged in premarket trading on Tuesday after both companies declared their intention to join forces in a cash-and-stock agreement which values the combined enterprises at around $3.7 billion, inclusive of debt. This merger arises from growing demand for digital imagery — and competitive pressure on Getty and Shutterstock from A.I.-enhanced photo-creation tools and user-generated content.

Trump and Musk collaborate globally

President-elect Donald Trump has kept global leaders and investors in suspense.with a warning to enact a series of new tariffs from the outset.

In recent days, Trump has collaborated with Elon Musk, a significant associate, to disturb a wide range of international administrations — including the UK, Canada, Denmark, and Germany. This raises doubts regarding how extensively the administration intends to target vital U.S. allies and trade partners.

A summary:

• Canada’s political landscape was shaken on Monday with the resignation announcement of Justin Trudeau as prime minister. Trump had consistently taunted Trudeau, labeling him as the leader of what he termed the “51st state,” despite the Canadian prime minister traveling to Mar-a-Lago to persuade the president-elect to reconsider his tariff threats. (Trump stated on Monday via social media that if Canada were to unify with the United States, “there would be no Tariffs.”)

• Last month, Trump expressed his desire to see U.S. dominance over Greenland, reigniting speculation that he was keen on acquiring the Danish territory. (Not long after, Denmark initiated steps to protect the island.) On Monday, Trump announced that his son Donald Trump Jr. would travel to Greenland, heightening the curiosity surrounding the situation.

• Musk has indicated that Britain is not secure under Prime Minister Keir Starmer: “America should free the people of Britain from their oppressive government,” he stated on X. (The Tesla CEO has also experienced a fallout with Nigel Farage, a far-right figure and occasional ideological partner.)

• Musk has also intervened in politics in Germany and Italy — the latter’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, is a known associate of his — concerning immigration issues.

Could Musk’s social media provocations rebound on him and his business ventures? Potential ramifications could be significant: Authorities in Britain and the European Union are meticulously reviewing tech platforms that do not manage misinformation or posts that promote detrimental social behavior, which could lead to substantial fines, a reality Musk is undoubtedly cognizant of.

Or, as a vital Trump confidant, will the tech tycoon receive immunity?

The Trump and Musk offensives are impacting markets. Mohit Kumar, an economist at Jefferies, projected on Tuesday that stock indices are unlikely to replicate 2024’s exceptional performance. One reason provided: “High on the list of uncertainties are tariffs and fiscal measures of the Trump administration,” he mentioned.

• In other Trump-related news: Meta appointed Dana White, the C.E.O. of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and a supporter of the president-elect, to its board.

The Fubo agreement’s beneficiaries

Just a week into 2025, the media sector saw its first significant deal: Disney acquiring 70 percent of Fubo, the video service that had filed a lawsuit to block the media behemoth’s intention to form Venu, a sports streaming joint venture with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery.

The arrangement, which resolves that legal battle and will see Fubo merge with Disney’s Hulu Live TV service, has produced some substantial beneficiaries — and has raised some pertinent inquiries. DealBook’s Lauren Hirsch provides an analysis.

The most probable beneficiaries, assuming the arrangement is finalized:

Bob Iger: After years of speculation regarding Disney’s strategy for Hulu — the company now holds complete ownership of the streaming platform — Disney’s leader is effectively shedding what analyst Richard Greenfield indicated to DealBook was “the least compelling component” of Hulu.

Investors will be attentive to how quickly Disney initiates the process of reducing its stake in the Fubo-Hulu Live TV collaboration.

Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery: Both firms, along with Disney, will disburse a total of $220 million to Fubo. (Disney will additionally provide Fubo with a $145 million loan.) They appear to wager that the costs incurred to settle with Fubo will be lower than the advantages they anticipate receiving from Venu.

Edgar Bronfman Jr., Fubo’s executive chairman. The agreement reached on Monday confirms the media mogul’s choice to attempt to obstruct Venu.

While the extent of Bronfman’s ownership in Fubo has not been publicly disclosed, it is thought that he ranks among the company’s most significant individual shareholders. This also presents a new narrative for Bronfman following his failed attempt to acquire Paramount last year.

The inquiries:

Are Venu’s antitrust issues genuinely resolved? Fubo may have settled its litigation against the streaming initiative, but the Justice Department submitted a friend-of-the-court brief in this matter — and the Fubo settlement does not prevent the Justice Department from initiating its own lawsuit.

Advocacy groups are urging the Trump administration to closely monitor Venu. “For the past year, Fubo has led sports enthusiasts and industry analysts to assume they were genuinely interested in contesting Disney’s unlawful joint venture in sports streaming, only to cash a check and leave consumers and the entire streaming sector worse off,” Lee Hepner from the American Economic Liberties Project, which advocates for stricter antitrust regulation, stated on Monday.

What are the prospects for the new Fubo? Investors clearly exhibit optimism that the service will gain enhanced scale for competition. However, in spite of a 251 percent spike in the firm’s stock price on Monday, Fubo’s market valuation is approximately $1.7 billion — and it confronts well-funded competitors in live streaming, such as Google’s YouTube TV and the broadband giants Charter and Comcast.

THE SPEED READ

Deals

Politics and policy

• Michael Barr, the Fed’s vice chairman for oversight, announced he would step down from that position but will continue on its board of governors. (NYT)

• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau intends to sue Vanderbilt Mortgage, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway that lends to mobile-home purchasers, alleging it ensnares customers in perilous loans. (NYT)

• On the subject of the C.F.P.B., it is improbable that Republicans will abolish the agency. (NYT)

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