Bloomberg Tech
2026-05-07 · Hosted by Caroline Hyde, Ed Ludlow · Bloomberg / iHeartMedia
Executive Summary
Tech stocks ripped to fresh records as AMD surged ~17% on a blockbuster AI-fueled forecast and Nvidia rallied ~5% after announcing it would invest up to $500 million in Corning to secure optical fiber supply for AI data centers. Geopolitics added fuel as hopes of a US-Iran de-escalation pushed oil lower and risk assets higher, with the Nasdaq 100 up 1.6%. Disney posted its best day in a year (+7%) on streaming profitability and parks resilience, while Uber beat on Q2 bookings (+8%). The episode also covered Apple’s iOS 27 plan to let users plug in third-party AI models (Gemini, Claude), Microsoft considering walking back clean energy targets to fund AI compute, and Cathie Wood’s bullish view on Tesla, SpaceX, and orbital data centers.
Key Stories & Changes
1. AMD’s Blockbuster CPU/GPU Forecast Drives 17% Rally
AMD stock up ~17%, hitting a record high; market cap now ~$600 billion, up 300% over one year and >60% YTD
Lisa Su projected 70% growth in CPU business for the current quarter, doubling AMD’s CPU TAM forecast
Q1 guidance of $11 billion vs. Nvidia’s expected $70 billion
Goldman upgrade with price target raised to $450 (from $280); Bernstein doubled target to $525 (from $265)
Bullish drivers: Agentic AI driving CPU-to-GPU ratio shift from 1:4 historic to potentially 1:1; supply tight (Intel cited insufficient supply); enterprise server demand strong
Analyst Sunny Pajiri (FBR Capital): valuation rich (AMD ~2x Nvidia’s multiple at high teens cal-27), wants execution evidence on GPU before adding
2. Nvidia–Corning Optical Fiber Deal
Nvidia up ~4-5%, playing catch-up after recent underperformance
Corning up ~14% on news Nvidia will invest up to $500 million in shares
Optical fiber addresses AI data center bandwidth bottlenecks (copper at limits)
Jensen Huang’s strategy: deploy balance sheet to remove infrastructure bottlenecks
Corning a NY-State-based supplier; deal could increase production ~50%; existing $6B Meta relationship through 2030
3. Disney’s Best Day in a Year on Streaming + Parks
Disney up ~6-7%; new CEO Josh D’Amaro’s first earnings beat
Guided 4-12% EPS growth for 2026
Parks (60% of company profit) delivered 5% profit increase despite international visitation headwinds; per-person spending grew 5%
Cruise booking capacity up ~40% with new Disney Destiny and Adventure ships
Streaming operating income jumped ~88%; new strategy uses Disney+ as hub for content, sports, and games (Epic Games partnership)
ESPN: revenue up on subscriptions/NFL but operating income down on sports rights costs
4. Uber Beats on Q2 Bookings, +8.5%
CFO Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah: 21% top-line growth (third consecutive quarter)
44% YoY EPS growth; autonomous vehicles business scaling 10x YoY
Uber One program: ~50 million members, drives 50% of gross bookings
Expedia partnership targets travel/hotel adjacency (15% of mobility GMV from airport trips, 40% of US riders take trips outside home cities)
B2B business: $5B in gross bookings, growing 45%; targeting $10B and 1M organizations
5. Apple Opens iOS 27 to Third-Party AI Models
Apple to let users choose Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude, alongside ChatGPT in iOS 27
Reporter Mark Gurman: Apple acknowledges Siri/Apple Intelligence are not at par with rivals
Strategy parallels App Store: make defaults “good enough,” let users layer in superior third-party apps
Siri is being rebuilt using Google Gemini models (not Gemini functionality, just the engineering approach)
WWDC reveal June 8; rollout in September
6. Microsoft May Walk Back Clean Energy Targets
Microsoft considering delaying or abandoning ambitious clean energy targets due to AI compute race
Originally pledged 100% clean energy match annually for offices/data centers
Spinning up gas power plants; internal sense that hourly matching commitment is at risk
7. Other Earnings & Headlines
Infineon: Q3 revenue forecast ~$4.8 billion, beat expectations; benefits from data-center power supply demand
Samsung: officially entered $1 trillion club, second Asian firm after TSMC; KOSPI hit 7,000 first time
OpenAI: Greg Brockman testimony — expects to spend $50 billion on compute this year
Tesla/SpaceX terafab chip factory: estimated $55 billion, potentially $119 billion with full phases
White House preparing executive order for AI safety roadmap (related to Anthropic’s Mythos cybersecurity model concerns)
Morgan Stanley rolling out crypto trading on E*Trade at 50 bps (half of Robinhood)
8. Cathie Wood at Milken: Convergence Thesis
ARK CIO sees Elon Musk’s companies (Tesla, SpaceX, xAI) converging into vertically integrated empire
Predicts robotaxi cost falls to $0.25/mile by scale (vs. ~$3+ today); Waymo cost structure 50% higher than Tesla in 2030
SpaceX IPO at ~$75 billion demand; orbital data centers could 10-20x revenue
Bullish on AMD (3rd largest holding); sees Intel resurrection alongside CPU demand
Bullish on Tether/USDt under GENIUS Act; views deregulation + tax cuts as ROIC tailwind for US
Trends Identified
1. AI Bottleneck Migration Is Driving the Next Leg of the Rally
The market has rotated from worrying about GPU compute (Nvidia’s monopoly era) to celebrating every successive constraint that gets unlocked: memory, optical fiber (Corning), CPU compute (AMD), and now power/data centers in space. Each constraint name re-rates higher when its bottleneck status is recognized. This explains why AMD’s CPU TAM doubling is being treated as a generational story rather than a cyclical bump.
2. The Hyperscaler Vertical Integration Push Is Squeezing Nvidia’s Premium
Alphabet selling TPUs to other clouds, Meta and Microsoft developing custom chips, and Amazon’s Trainium/Inferentia all reflect a growing willingness by Nvidia’s biggest customers to reduce reliance on its products. Nvidia has underperformed the SOX (which is up ~60% since late March) as investors price in margin and pricing-power risk despite its monopoly position.
3. Streaming + IP Flywheel Has Become Disney’s Earnings Engine
Disney’s new CEO is centralizing programming (Disney+, Hulu, ESPN, games) into one flywheel that compounds across IP, parks, cruises, and merchandise. Streaming op income up 88% suggests the streaming losses era is over and that the bundle strategy is bearing fruit. The willingness to greenlight Abu Dhabi park, new Japan cruise, and global expansion despite geopolitical tension shows confidence in long-term franchise value.
4. Big Tech Is Walking Back ESG/Climate Commitments to Fund AI
Microsoft’s potential climate target retreat, combined with Musk’s data centers in space pitch (to escape NIMBY local backlash on Memphis/Mississippi), illustrates that AI compute demand is now overriding ESG commitments. Power has joined memory and fiber as a binding infrastructure constraint.
5. Apple’s Strategy Pivot: Become an AI Aggregator, Not a Builder
Apple’s plan to let third-party models power Siri features represents an explicit acknowledgment that it cannot catch up to OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google in foundation model development. The bet is that hardware + privacy + on-device silicon + curated model marketplace can preserve hardware revenue and grow services even if Apple loses the model wars. —-
Sentiment Analysis
Overall Market Sentiment: Risk-On / Euphoric
Tech stocks are at record highs on a confluence of AI infrastructure earnings beats and Iran de-escalation hopes. Speakers across the episode embraced the “early innings” framing for AI but acknowledged stretched valuations.
Risk Factors Highlighted
AMD Valuation Premium: AMD trades at ~2x Nvidia’s multiple on cal-27 numbers; stock has tripled in a year.
Memory Supply Squeeze on PC Side: Memory chip shortages hitting AMD’s PC business; could limit margin expansion.
Nvidia Customer Concentration Risk: Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon all developing custom AI chips, potentially compressing Nvidia margins and pricing power.
Hyperscaler CapEx Sustainability: Microsoft’s climate target rollback shows that even balance-sheet giants are stretching to fund AI compute.
Disney Sports Margin Compression: ESPN operating income falling on rising sports rights costs (NFL renegotiation looming); content investment may squeeze general entertainment budgets.
Apple AI Lag: If Apple ships another underwhelming Siri at WWDC/September, Gurman calls it “another disaster”; risk that third-party reliance becomes structural.
AI Compute Costs: OpenAI guiding $50 billion in compute spend in 2026 alone; sustainability of this spending pace is unclear.
Anthropic Mythos / AI Safety Regulation: White House EO incoming; could constrain model release cadence and competitive dynamics.
Geopolitical Re-escalation Risk: Risk-on tone is conditional on US-Iran de-escalation; not yet a finalized agreement.
NIMBY/Power Constraints on Data Centers: Memphis/Mississippi backlash showing local resistance; Musk’s space-DC pitch reflects how pinched land-based options are becoming.
This episode was covered in today’s The Market Signal — 2026-05-07, a cross-source synthesis of multiple podcast reports.