Squawk on the Street Metals Rebound, SoftBank's $40B Bet on OpenAI, Meta's AI Acquisition 12/30/25
Dec 30, 2025
Mike Santoli, a senior markets commentator at CNBC, provides insightful analysis on market trends and investment themes. He discusses the recent rebound in precious metals and the impact of a weaker dollar on commodities. Stacey Rasgen, a senior semiconductor analyst at Bernstein, dives into the AI-driven semiconductor cycle, emphasizing the significance of SoftBank's $40 billion investment in OpenAI. They explore the competitive landscape of AI hardware, including the dynamics between GPUs and TPUs, while touching on major industry players and their strategies.
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Precious Metals Rally Has Multiple Drivers
- Silver plunged 9% after margin hikes but still showed retail buying resilience via ETFs.
- Precious metals' rally ties to a weaker dollar and industrial demand, broadening beyond gold to copper and platinum.
SoftBank Finishes $40B OpenAI Bet
- SoftBank completed its $40 billion commitment to OpenAI, funding roughly $22.5 billion last week to finish the pledge.
- The investment takes SoftBank's ownership north of 10% while Microsoft remains the largest shareholder at about 27%.
OpenAI's Compute Needs Require Big Partners
- OpenAI projects massive compute costs over years, requiring multiple big balance sheets to fund data-center buildouts.
- Oracle, Microsoft and other partners will be critical to fulfill OpenAI's multi-year compute commitments.