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.
1443 ET - After the 2022 release of ChatGPT, recent graduates from more-exposed majors to AI at Texas universities experiences a 1.7 percentage point drop in the probability of finding employment in Texas within a year of graduating relative to graduates from less-exposed majors, an analysis from the Dallas Fed finds. "Students from more-exposed majors who found jobs after 2022 earned 5 percent lower wages relative to earnings changes for less-exposed majors," the analysis says. (jessica.coacci@wsj.com)
1418 ET - YouTube may be able to take a bite out of Netflix's market share, as the streaming giant faces engagement headwinds, HSBC analysts say. YouTube has been gaining more customers who use the platform for TV, capturing a record 14.2% of U.S. TV time in July, the analysts say. Citing Bloomberg, HSBC also says YouTube has tightened its grip on top creators thanks to better payouts, and is now offering a "Shows" feature that mimics Netflix-style episodic series. This comes as people are engaging less with Netflix's original content, the analysts say. HSBC cuts Netflix to hold from buy. Netflix is down 2.2%. (katherine.hamilton@wsj.com)
1330 ET - Netflix is dealing with a declining reception to its original content, HSBC analysts say, downgrading the stock to hold. Total viewership hours of series that charted on Netflix's top 10 lists in July and August were down 17% year over year, with third-quarter numbers on track for a sequential decline, the analysts say. They think near-term recovery in Netflix's engagement is unlikely. People are less interested in Netflix's original content, and they are also suffering from streaming fatigue, as subscription prices have risen. Netflix will likely have to spend more to shore up engagement, the analysts say. Shares drop 2%. (katherine.hamilton@wsj.com)
1043 ET - BlackBerry just won its first customer design for Alloy Kore, its co-developed automotive operating system platform with Vector. TD Bank's John Shao notes in a report that the win is with Coretura, the JV between Daimler Truck and Volvo Group, which selects the platform as a key software foundation for its software-defined vehicle architecture. "This win is a strong starting point," says Shao, who believes that investors have been waiting for the first Alloy Kore design win since the beginning of the summer. He estimates that this agreement alone could contribute more than $10 million of annual revenue over multiple years, but the benefits of the win won't be immediate, given "development cycles associated with commercial vehicles, combined with the nature of a first-generation platform." (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)
0621 ET - China's ability to produce and export green technologies at a low cost has become a key part of renewable and electric vehicle rollouts globally, including Europe, according to Capital Economics in a research note. CE estimates China's export volumes of solar panels, EVs and lithium-ion batteries, where EU counts as a key consumer, have tripled--while prices have roughly halved since 2022. Emerging markets also import growing amounts of green tech from China, it says. "Efforts to now de-risk from China and cut the country from hi-tech supply chains will put ambitions to achieve net zero emissions further out of reach," CE says. (tracy.qu@wsj.com)
0502 ET - The popularity of Meta's new consumer-facing AI agent, Muse, is a sign that demand will grow for products across the AI supply chain, UBS strategists write. The successful launch shows that there are ways for AI companies to make money beyond selling the technology to large companies, they say. The AI product space is increasingly competitive, underpinning demand for computing power and AI infrastructure, the strategists add. "This should benefit high-quality semiconductor and hardware leaders." Meta stock edges up 0.4% premarket after an 11% surge in the last session. Chip makers Intel and Advanced Micro Devices fall 0.7% and 1%, respectively, premarket after double-digit gains Monday.(josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com)
0345 ET - Samsung Electronics' rapid expansion of high-bandwidth memory production could squeeze supplies of other general-purpose memory chips, KB Securities analysts say. The world's largest memory-chip maker is expected to allocate 33% of its total DRAM production capacity to higher-end HBM products for artificial-intelligence applications in 2026 and 40% in 2027, up from 27% in 2025, analysts led by Jeff Kim write in a note. By contrast, Samsung's general-purpose memory chips are likely to account for 65% of its total DRAM production capacity in 2026 and 59% in 2027, down from 73% in 2025, they note. Samsung's HBM4 products could account for about 80% of its total revenue next year, up from 40% this year, they add. (kwanwoo.jun@wsj.com)
0004 ET - Japan's data-center sector is entering a new phase as artificial-intelligence workloads become more power-intensive, Fitch Ratings says in a note. Access to electricity is increasingly influencing development timelines, site selection and project viability in Japan, the rating company says. Growing power and land constraints in Tokyo are encouraging a redistribution of future development within Japan toward locations better positioned to support AI infrastructure and rising electricity demand. Community resistance is becoming more visible in some urban developments, adding another layer of execution risk. Government policy is becoming increasingly supportive of broader geographic distribution of digital infrastructure, Fitch says. (kosaku.narioka@wsj.com; @kosakunarioka)
2316 ET - Australia is seen by Morgan Stanley analysts as well placed to benefit from constraints on how rapidly U.S. data centers can be built to meet surging artificial intelligence demand. They think that Australia could accommodate part of this demand overflow, pointing to its data sovereignty requirements and renewables-assisted capability to power the centers. Australia already ranks in the global top five for installed data-center capacity, they say in a note to clients. While large-scale and household batteries are increasing Australia's energy storage capacity and damping forward electricity prices, U.S. data-center energy costs are becoming increasingly expensive, they add. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)
1858 ET - Shopify plans to allow Meta's buzzy personal AI agent Muse to complete purchases on behalf of users with Shop Pay, its accelerated, one-tap checkout service. Deutsche Bank analysts say the companies' collaboration is further proof that leading AI platforms are integrating with Shopify's commerce infrastructure. "We believe the partnership helps refute the recent bear thesis that AI agents and personal shoppers could disintermediate Shopify and its large payments business," they say. The partnership shows the value of Shopify's structured product data, merchant connectivity, checkout and the underlying infrastructure required to complete an order, they say. Shares of Shopify close up 7.3%, at $137.92, on Monday.
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