Symbolic imageBank of America pledges $250bn for AI and energy infrastructure
Bank of America will deploy $250bn into AI and energy infrastructure, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Results from Cisco, Foxconn and Tencent showed the spending's reach and cost.
The paper said on Wednesday, 12 August that the money would go into data centres, chips and the power they need. It published no terms, timetable or split between AI and energy lending. The pledge follows Nvidia's pact with six Wall Street firms to assemble at least $500bn for AI sites, which rests on letters of intent and on Nvidia guaranteeing up to a quarter of individual projects.
Record orders at Cisco and Foxconn
Cisco reported a sharp jump in profit and beat its sales outlook, citing broad-based record demand, according to the WSJ and Bloomberg. The WSJ also reported that Foxconn is scaling up global AI server production.
Tencent pays for its own build-out
Bloomberg reported that Tencent's sales beat estimates on a surge in WeChat advertising and resilient games, while the WSJ said the group's AI spending ended its run of profit growth.
Investors examine the financing
Bloomberg pointed to AI-backed securities and to potential peak earnings setting up disappointing stocks, and reported on Thursday that Korean stocks had risen 22% in ten days as the chip rally regained steam.
Other opinions
All available reporting came from US financial outlets; on Tencent, Bloomberg led with the sales beat, the WSJ with the stalled profit growth.