Meta Platforms' ambitious push toward artificial general intelligence is stoking a high‑stakes talent war while raising concerns about runaway spending. According to Reuters, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has launched a Superintelligence Lab and is recruiting researchers from rivals such as OpenAI, signalling Meta’s determination to lead in cutting‑edge AI. Wall Street analysts expect the company’s second‑quarter profit to climb about 11.5 % to $15.01 billion even as revenue growth slows, but the investments are driving up costs. The company has pledged hundreds of billions of dollars to build AI data centers and recently paid $14.3 billion for a stake in Scale AI. Investors support the strategy but caution that more capital expenditure could weigh on margins. The report notes that Alphabet has likewise increased its capital spending to $85 billion as part of the broader AI arms race. Meanwhile, Meta’s advertising business is under pressure from proposed tariffs and intense competition from...
Japanese chip testing equipment maker Advantest significantly raised its full-year operating profit forecast as the AI boom drives demand for its testers. The Tokyo-based company now projects operating profit of 300 billion yen (about $2.02 billion) for fiscal 2025, up 24 % from its previous estimate of 242 billion yen. Advantest supplies test systems for semiconductors used in artificial intelligence and high-performance computing; strong orders from major chipmakers have boosted revenue and margins. The revised forecast was announced after better-than-expected quarterly results, underscoring how demand for AI chips is benefiting suppliers across the industry.