💰 OpenAI's just showing off now

What’s going on here?

OpenAI’s SoftBank-led funding round could value the company at $300 billion – nearly double the valuation it fetched in October, mere months ago.

What does this mean?

A hot commodity in the AI world, OpenAI has no problem with getting swooning suitors to pick up the tab. In fact, ChatGPT’s creator previously pulled in around $20 billion from a league of big-name backers, including Microsoft. This time around, the AI darling is looking to raise $40 billion in what would be Silicon Valley’s biggest-ever funding round. SoftBank seems besotted: the Japanese tech giant is set to invest up to $25 billion.

Why should I care?

For markets: Hey, big spenders.

OpenAI’s planning to push at least $15 billion straight into the Stargate Project: its joint venture with SoftBank, Oracle, and MGX that pledges to invest $500 billion in AI infrastructure over the next four years. The company is determined to build the foundations needed for AI systems to scale to their full potential – so they can, you know, work miracles and churn out perfectly cooked burgers. Big Tech seems to share the vision: Meta has earmarked up to $65 billion for that kind of AI spending this year, and Microsoft’s figure is closer to $80 billion.

The bigger picture: SoftBank’s timing is… interesting.

SoftBank has already promised $18 billion to Stargate. Combine that with the billions it’s considering throwing into this funding round, and the firm could be looking at one of its biggest investments ever. Only, warning signals are already flashing in the tech industry. Chinese firm DeepSeek rattled investors’ nerves this week when its AI system – trained for a pinch of the price that US developers have spent – dethroned America’s best in global App Stores. Freshly wary of underappreciated competition, investors started to worry that stateside spending might not pay off as healthily as hoped and ditched a bunch of AI-related stocks.

What’s going on here?

Exxon Mobil and Chevron – one of Warren Buffett’s favorite firms – reported results, and the latter fell short of its “Big Oil” reputation.

What does this mean?

As the biggest US oil producer, Exxon has been the industry’s star performer over the last four years. And these results only stand to bolster that reputation. Despite a drop in global oil prices, the firm pumped out enough slippery stuff last quarter to breeze past analysts’ profit expectations. That wasn’t the only thing making investors happy, either: Exxon handed out nearly $36 billion in buybacks and dividends last year, making it the S&P 500’s sixth-biggest cash distributor.

Chevron, for its part, made less profit than predicted last quarter. Slimmer margins landed its oil refining business with its first loss since 2020. But there was a glimmer of hope. Despite profit sliding, Chevron raised dividends by 5% – and it’s planning to spend less this year to save for more of those payouts.

Why should I care?

Zooming out: The US needs some good energy.

Everyone’s talking about energy right now – or, at least, more folk than usual. See, the US president is considering sparing energy imports from the 25% tariffs slated to hit Canada and Mexico. That should keep energy bills in check for everyday Americans and control costs for businesses, making the prices they charge more stable. And that could prevent US inflation from running too hot, helping the country steer clear of economy-stifling interest rate hikes.

The bigger picture: AI giveth and AI taketh away.

Nuclear energy has been turning a lot of heads lately. The power source could help satisfy AI-focused data centers’ seemingly insatiable energy demands – and it’s renewable to boot. Problem is, that connection means nuclear’s fate is influenced by confidence levels around AI systems and infrastructure in general. And when DeepSeek’s performance pushed investors to sell a ton of AI-related stocks this week, nuclear ones were no exception.