The latest Market Talks covering Technology, Media and Telecom. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.
1113 ET - Bitcoin is trading up 0.4% to $63,712, managing to trade higher despite several sources of pressure. Strategy confirms a new sale of bitcoin, with 1,638 BTC sold at an average price of $63,957, worth roughly $105 million. This leaves Strategy with a stockpile of 842,138 BTC at an average price of $75,419. That's an unrealized loss of $9.9 billion for Strategy's bitcoin treasury. While previous sales of bitcoin announced by Strategy have pushed prices lower, fundamentals have shifted enough for bitcoin to stand firm this time. "Market conditions continue to improve beneath the surface," says Cex.io in a note, citing ETF inflows and lower liquidations. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
0720 ET - Software stocks represent a misunderstood opportunity, as markets underestimate the sector's resilience to competition from artificial intelligence, Peel Hunt analysts write. "We do not expect AI to kill software," they say. Markets are failing to understand the way software companies deliver value, they say. The sector's competitive moat isn't in code. Instead, software's core services are based on "human, tacit, and time-compounding factors" that AI can't replicate, they say. Rather than shrinking the sector's potential market, software companies can expand into more complex and deeply embedded offerings, they say. The Stoxx Europe Total Market Software and Computer Services index jumps 3.3%. (josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com)
0619 ET - The effectiveness of South Korea's policy measures to curb market volatility remains uncertain, though they may help remove some froth in the market, BNP Paribas' William Bratton says. He views the high concentration of memory-dominated tech sector and the sizable retail component of the Korean market as the drivers of its extreme volatility. Still, BNP Paribas expects the fundamentals of Korean memory companies to remain strong, with forward earnings forecasts continuing to be revised higher. The bank views Asia's memory sector as a long-term structural growth theme and a key beneficiary of supply shortages across the artificial-intelligence supply chain. "[We] remain bullish on the memory and storage ecosystem as we believe accelerated AI infrastructure deployments and prudent capacity additions have initiated a historic upcycle," the bank's tech analysts say. (jason.chau@wsj.com)
0613 ET - Alibaba's cloud business and improved AI model performance are supporting its shares recently, Citi analysts say in a research note. Alibaba's new Qwen3.8-Max model has "significantly improved benchmark scores," the analysts say. They note that as model developers speed up their model iterations, a "model-agnostic environment" where enterprises adopt multiple models for different tasks instead of locking into one single vendor, is emerging. While long-term success will require immense resources and a loyal customer base, companies with full-stack capabilities, from chips and cloud infrastructure to models and applications, like Alibaba, are better positioned to lead, they add. Meanwhile, positive cloud revenue read-throughs from AWS and Azure suggest strong cloud revenue for AliCloud as well, they add. Shares ended 7.0% higher at HK$125.20. (sherry.qin@wsj.com)
0611 ET - European software stocks are being excessively penalized by investors for their exposure to competition from artificial-intelligence agents, Deutsche Bank analysts write. Software shares rallied in July after heavy selling earlier in the year amid fears that AI agents would eat into incumbents' market share. Those concerns will continue to drag on sentiment around the sector, they say. However, markets' persistently gloomy terminal growth outlook for software companies is "potentially underappreciating the ability of incumbent software vendors to adapt" to AI. Elsewhere in technology, the analysts expect European semiconductor stocks to stabilize after a rocky July. U.S. hyperscalers' commitments to artificial-intelligence investments across earnings reports last week will support the sector, they say. Stoxx Europe Total Market Software and Computer Services index jumps 3.1%. (josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com)
0600 ET - MediaTek's custom AI chip revenue could surpass mobile chips in mid-2027, Daiwa analysts say in a research note. Though MediaTek's cash-cow mobile business looks to be weakening on memory cost inflation, its new AI business appears to be running ahead of expectations, they say. MediaTek said last week that it is set to begin mass production of its custom AI accelerator for data centers late this year, with related revenue projected to surpass US$2 billion in 2026. Daiwa projects MediaTek's AI ASIC revenue to reach US$15 billion and US$22 billion for 2027 and 2028, respectively. Daiwa upgrades MediaTek's rating to buy from hold and raises its target price to NT$4,088.00 From NT$2,454.00. Shares ended 10% higher at NT$3,910.00. (sherry.qin@wsj.com)
0555 ET - Telenor's second quarter saw a range of expected negative catalysts largely play out, and shares now look fairly valued, Barclays analysts write. The bank had expected the Norwegian telecommunications provider to face rising Finland competition and also some temporary Norway headwinds. These trends were confirmed, albeit with some one-off effects in Norway, Barclays says. Telenor downgraded its 2026 Ebitda outlook, citing the weakness in Finland and Norway. Given the share price is now at the bank's target price, and the bearish trends are now in the rearview mirror, Barclays upgrades its rating on the stock to equalweight from underweight. It lowers its price target to 135 Norwegian kroner from 140 kroner. Shares rise 0.8% to 134.80 kroner. (dominic.chopping@wsj.com)
0451 ET - Global cloud service providers are poised to break capital expenditure records, with spending among the top nine operators projected to hit $1.3 trillion by 2027, to fuel the next wave of artificial intelligence, according to a TrendForce report. Combined spending among the nine largest cloud providers is set to surge 90% in 2026, exceeding $886.7 billion, driven by demand for high-performance servers and custom-built chips. TrendForce raises its 2026 AI server shipment growth forecast to nearly 31%. Chinese tech giants, led by ByteDance, are also ramping up investment, it says. The firm expects this boom to continue, pushing infrastructure needs beyond basic computing into advanced cooling and power upgrades. (jie.yang@wsj.com)
0446 ET - SpaceX stock is under pressure as markets anticipate an increase in selling by company insiders after lock-up periods expire, Bernstein analysts write. Around 20% to 30% of locked shares will become eligible for sale on August 6, before staggered unlocks will free up more shares through the final two quarters. Around 40% of SpaceX stock will be tradeable by December 2026. SpaceX fell below its listing price last month amid volatile trade following its IPO. "We attribute the recent declines primarily to the potential impact of the coming lockup expirations," the analysts write. SpaceX will post its first earnings a s a public company after market close Tuesday. Shares are flat premarket. (josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com)
0236 ET - Taiwan's tech earnings so far confirm that AI infrastructure investment remains in the early stages of a multi-year expansion, Citi analysts say in a research note. Companies in the semiconductor supply chain, including TSMC, UMC and MediaTek, have raised guidance, increased capital expenditure or expressed improving visibility into 2027 AI demand. "Despite recent market turbulence, companies reaffirmed that AI investment cycle is broadening across the entire hardware ecosystem," they say. The AI beneficiaries will increasingly extend beyond computing to networking and power, they add. AI data center products will be supported by strong demand for high-efficiency power supplies, power distribution, liquid cooling and higher rack power density, they add, making Delta Electronics one of the key beneficiaries. (sherry.qin@wsj.com)
2231 ET - Share prices of Chinese suppliers in the smartphone sector hinge on their 2Q results and 2H outlooks, Citi analysts say in a research note. Apple's latest earnings call suggests that supply constraints will increase significantly with limited supply-chain flexibility in the September quarter, they note. While memory costs are likely continue to increase in 3Q, costs on certain non-memory components could fall, they say. Some 1H results of Chinese smartphone supply-chain companies could be "better-than-feared amid inventory build" ahead of the supply constraints, while pressure will likely increase in 2H, they add. (sherry.qin@wsj.com)
2157 ET - Malaysia's artificial-intelligence exposure is expected to broaden, with more companies participating across different layers of the AI infrastructure supply chain, CIMB Securities analyst Mohd Shanaz Noor Azam says in a note. He expects AI monetization to expand beyond chip manufacturing into inspection equipment, advanced packaging materials, silicon intellectual property, and silicon photonics. He also sees silicon photonics emerging as a key growth driver as expanding AI clusters drive demand for faster optical interconnects. He expects government support and industry collaboration to strengthen Malaysia's integrated-circuit design and advanced packaging capabilities, supporting higher value creation. CIMB maintains an overweight rating on Malaysia's tech sector, naming Vitrox and Malaysian Pacific Industries as its preferred picks.
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