TechCheck

In the battle of the titans, Apple and Meta have long been locking horns on products, privacy, and now the new era of headsets. In leaked audio from an internal all-hands meeting, there were reports that Zuckerberg criticized the Vision Pro, particularly its price tag. The meeting also revealed the tech giant is now working on a Twitter competitor, though many apps have tried and failed. 

Three different approaches may be emerging for how tech companies are trying to lure employees back into the office. Google – which had been using carrots like a Lizzo concert, is instead shifting to sticks – with a crackdown on office attendance and tracking badges. Salesforce, on the other hand, is trying out altruism – offering to donate $10 to local charities for each day an employee is in the office or attends a company event.  

If "data is gold" in the shift to AI, big tech companies that have been collecting data for decades might have a huge leg up -- if they can balance increased costs as they work on accommodating a new hardware and infrastructure shift. Plus, Roblox CEO Dave Baszucki says developers are flocking to its spatial computing platform, though Apple had only announced it was using Unity Software to bring apps and games to its headset. 

Sequoia Capital, one of the world’s largest and most successful VC firms, told investors today it will split into three partnerships, separating its China and India units. It’s been a tough first year for U.S. and Europe lead Roelof Botha – the tech market turned, and amid rising geopolitical tensions, he oversaw billions in devalued investments. 

There's a lot at stake for Apple as it hits all-time highs the same day it reveals its new mixed-reality headset, the Apple Vision Pro. Even though it’s eventually aimed at the general public, it’s first up to developers to create apps and games that will level up the product, differentiate it from other headsets, and make it enticing for consumers.   

Shares of MongoDB are surging almost 30% today after posting an earnings beat and offering strong guidance when its competitors aren’t, bucking the trend of a slowdown that PagerDuty and Salesforce are warning of. Plus, shares of telecom stocks are falling after a report that Amazon is in talks to offer a free mobile service for Prime customers. Amazon said it is not in talks to offer wireless anytime soon while T-Mobile and Verizon have said they’re not in discussions with the tech giant. 

Big tech has been carrying the market once again; without the 7 megacaps responsible for the market's gains, the S&P would be down for the year, instead of up 10%. Plus, Broadcom posts earnings after the close. The chip company has a high bar to meet after a surge analysts are calling “parabolic.”

Nvidia CEO and AI kingmaker Jensen Huang out with a vote of confidence for Intel, saying their test chips “look good.” It could mean advanced chipmaking is coming back home. Plus, Amazon workers are planning a walkout today, citing the company’s return to office policies and recent layoffs.

We may need a new "FAANG" to describe the tech basket powering market gains this year, and some analysts are suggesting the "Magnificent Seven," which include Nvidia and Tesla. Plus, during the mobile internet platform shift, semis were the first to be recognized by markets, then infrastructure, and finally software. That may point to what the next trillion dollar company is after Nvidia. 

AI is in its peak hype cycle stage, but this was the week it also started to matter to companies’ bottom line. Nvidia’s blockbuster quarter and then Marvell showed that AI is creating real revenue right now. But what about the real costs for all those Nvidia customers who are buying silicon to up their server game? We look at the different players and how investors are absorbing the changes.