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Ken Griffin, the billionaire hedge fund manager and CEO of Citadel, recently turned heads after making a striking observation about Alphabet (GOOG 0.21%) (GOOGL 0.28%). During an interview at Stanford Business School, Griffin proclaimed that Alphabet wields comparable levels of computational power as the fifth-largest country in the world.

This is not mere hyperbole. Griffin’s remark underscores the vast scale of Alphabet’s technological infrastructure and its dominance in shaping the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution.

For investors, this comment is more significant than a memorable sound bite. It highlights Alphabet’s role at the center of AI’s growth, where demand for compute power and data processing is only accelerating.

Ken Griffin just made a bold statement about Google

When most people think of Alphabet, Google Search and YouTube are usually the first properties that come to mind. But the company’s influence stretches far beyond the internet.

Today, Alphabet operates across a diverse set of industries — ranging from cybersecurity through its investment in Wiz, to cloud computing with Google Cloud Platform, consumer electronics with Android, autonomous driving via Waymo, and even custom AI hardware with its tensor processing units (TPUs). In effect, Alphabet has quietly engineered one of the most powerful computing backbones in the world.

By comparing Alphabet’s resources to those of a nation, Griffin underscores the staggering scale of its capabilities in processing, storage, and advanced data workloads. For perspective, the world’s fifth-largest country in terms of electricity consumption falls between Japan and Russia — industrialized economies that power hundreds of millions of people.

If a single company like Alphabet commands that level of computational power, it signals just how central the company has become to the global digital economy.

Image source: Getty Images.

Alphabet is purpose-built for the AI infrastructure era

At the heart of Alphabet’s AI strategy is TensorFlow, its open-source framework for machine learning. TensorFlow is more than a toolkit — it’s an ecosystem powering advanced applications in natural language processing (NLP), robotics, computer vision, and more.

Griffin’s observation ties directly to this computational muscle: Alphabet’s vast infrastructure is the foundation for training and deploying AI models, at a scale few rivals can match. This isn’t simply about producing isolated AI-powered products — it’s about providing the tools, frameworks, and cloud infrastructure that enable developers, enterprises, and entire global communities to innovate.

That network effect is what strengthens Alphabet’s competitive moat. Just as Google Search became the default gateway to the internet two decades ago, Alphabet’s AI backbone is positioning the company as an enduring platform on which the next era of computing is built.

The impact on investors

Griffin’s comment underscores why Alphabet should no longer be seen merely as a cyclical play on digital advertising. Viewed through the lens of AI, Alphabet emerges as a long-term compounder — an essential force powering the AI economy. For investors, the takeaway is clear. Griffin’s perspective shines light on Alphabet’s deeply entrenched position across various corners of the AI landscape.

The company’s ability to marshal computational power on par with a nation highlights not only the durability of its entire business, but stresses the importance of its competitive advantages across both hardware and software — domains with enormous capital requirements and high barriers to entry.

GOOGL PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts

Yet despite its technological leadership, the stock continues to trade at a steep discount relative to other megacap tech peers based on forward earnings multiples.

This disconnect suggests that the broader market has yet to fully price in Griffin’s astute insight — leaving long-term investors with meaningful upside potential as Alphabet’s position in the high ground becomes even more pronounced, while rivals scramble to keep pace.

Memory-chip maker Micron (MU -2.68%) has historically been one of the most cyclical stocks in the chip sector. Memory is prone to boom and bust cycles as inventory levels and prices fluctuate according to supply and demand.

However, Micron has been one of the best performers in the semiconductor sector this year, a sign that investors may be underrating its momentum and that of the memory segment in the AI boom. Micron and its peers make high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips that are an essential component of AI, and that’s a key reason the stock has doubled this year, outpacing better-known industry players like Nvidia and AMD. That strength and momentum were on display in Micron’s fourth-quarter earnings report.

After raising its guidance in August, the company topped both its updated guidance and analyst estimates.

Image source: Getty Images.

Revenue in the quarter jumped 46% to $11.32 billion, which topped the consensus at $11.16 billion. The quarter capped off a year with similar growth and full-year revenue of $37.4 billion.

The company also fulfilled an earlier promise, made in March 2024, that Micron would be one of the biggest beneficiaries of AI in the semiconductor industry, and that it would deliver record revenue and significantly improved profitability for the year it just completed. It did just that.

In addition to the strong revenue growth, gross margin improved from 35.3% to 44.7%, reflecting the ramping up of high-value data center products and pricing strength in dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), which includes HBM.

Operating margin improved from 19.6% to 32.3% as it gained leverage on research and development and selling, general, and administrative expenses, and it reported adjusted earnings per share of $3.03, up from $1.18 in the quarter a year ago, and ahead of estimates at $2.86.

Micron stock was essentially flat on the report, but that seems to just be a reflection that high expectations were baked in after the stock rose roughly 40% in September coming into the report. Keep reading to see three reasons the stock can continue gaining.

1. Guidance shows results will get even better

Micron did not give guidance for the full fiscal year, but its outlook for the first quarter shows its momentum will continue into the current quarter.

It called for $12.2 billion to $12.8 billion in revenue, up 44% from the quarter a year ago at the midpoint and well ahead of the consensus at $11.83 billion. It also forecast gross margin to top 50% at 50.5% to 52.5% on an adjusted basis. The company’s gross margin has only been above 50% one other time before, during a boom in the late 2010s.

2. Supply remains tight

Supply/demand dynamics are kind in Micron’s business, so it’s good news that management sees supply remaining tight in the year ahead.

Micron was sold out of HBM capacity for this year by June 2024, and management continues to see a tight supply environment in fiscal 2026, especially as demand for AI capacity keeps accelerating.

That dynamic should support high prices for Micron’s products and strong margins into fiscal 2026. The company also said it expects to sell the remainder of its HBM supply for calendar 2026 in the coming months.

3. Micron is still a good value

Forward estimates on Micron have moved steadily upward, and should do so again following the latest earnings report. It now trades at a trailing price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 20, and a forward P/E of 12.5.

Compared to its peers in the AI sector, those are rock-bottom valuations, and it’s still growing faster than many of its chip stock peers. In fact, its revenue growth is now rivaling that of Nvidia.

The low valuation seems to reflect the previous boom-and-bust cycles in memory, but the AI era may have introduced a new paradigm for the sector. While the same underlying dynamics still exist, the size of the market now seems to be significantly larger, meaning Micron could have more years of booming growth ahead of it — good news for its investors.

TOKYO — When Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone powered though the final curve of the 400-meter final at world championships, she glanced to her right and saw something that hadn’t been there in a while.

Another runner.

She had a race on her hands.

The best way to explain how McLaughlin-Levrone became the first woman in nearly 40 years to crack the all-but-unscalable 48-second mark in the 400 is that the opponent she beat Thursday night on a rain-glistened track in Tokyo, Marileidy Paulino, broke 48 seconds, too.

“You don’t run something like that without amazing women pushing you to it,” McLaughlin-Levrone said.

The final numbers in this one: McLaughlin-Levrone 47.78 seconds. Paulino 47.98.

They are the second and third fastest times in history, short only of the 47.60 by East Germany’s Marita Koch, set Oct. 6, 1985 — one of the last vestiges from an Eastern Bloc doping system that was exposed years after it ended, but too late for the records to be stripped from the books.

McLaughlin-Levrone, who stepped away from hurdles to see what she might be able to do in the 400 flat, said she was every bit as focused on winning the title in a new event as going after a record that had always been thought unapproachable.

American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone reacts after winning gold medal in the women’s 400 meters final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Thursday.

(Eugene Hoshiko / Associated Press)

And Paulino, the reigning Olympic and world champion in this event, wasn’t just going to give it away.

This was an even race, the likes of which McLaughlin-Levrone hadn’t been part of in at least three years in the hurdles, as the runners rounded the stretch. McLaughlin-Levrone opened a gap of about four body lengths with 30 meters left, but Paulino was actually gaining ground when they both lunged into the finish line.

“At the end of the day, this wasn’t my title to hold onto, it was mine to gain,” McLaughlin-Levrone said. “Bobby uses boxing terms all the time. He said, ’You’ve got to go out there and take the belt. It’s not yours. You’ve got to go earn it.’”

Bobby is Bobby Kersee, the wizardly coach who helped transform McLaughlin-Levrone into the greatest female hurdler ever and might be doing the same in the 400. Brutal training sessions with one-time UCLA quarter-miler Willington Wright were part of the regimen.

“I felt that somebody was going to have to run 47-something to win this,” Kersee told The Associated Press. “She trained for it. She took on the challenge, took on the risk. She’s just an amazing athlete that I can have no complaints about.”

As the times came up on the scoreboard, the crowd roared. The enormity of the moment wasn’t lost on anyone.

Nobody had come within a half-second of Koch’s mark until this race. Third-place finisher Salwa Eid Nasar clocked 48.19, a time that would have won the last two world championships.

“It’s just amazing what the 400 has become the last couple years,” said Britain’s Amber Anning, who finished fifth in 49.36. “I love it, it makes me want to step up my game. To see it done, it gives hope to us that anything’s possible in the 4.”

Paulino, meanwhile, was more focused on her unique place in history than not winning the race.

“I’m thankful for having the opportunity to break 48,” she said. “I still feel like a winner. I’ve spent five years every day training for this.”

McLaughlin-Levrone took up the 400 flat in 2023, but injuries derailed her run at a world championship that year. She focused on hurdles last year for her second Olympic gold medal in the event, then came back to the flat for 2025.

When she ran 48.29 in the semifinal, she broke a 19-year-old American record and said she still felt she had “something left in the tank.”

Then, with a push from Paulino, she let it loose.

“Today was a really great race for track and field, and I’m grateful to put myself in position to bring an exciting event to our sport,” McLaughlin-Levrone said.

It’s still an open question as to whether she will stick around in this race long enough to go after Koch’s record, or return to the hurdles, where the number “50” hangs out there much like “48” did in the race she won Thursday night.

Nobody had thought much about 50 seconds in hurdles until McLaughlin-Levrone started breaking the record in that event on a semi-regular basis. Four years ago at the Olympics, she lowered it to 51.46 in the empty stadium in Tokyo.

American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone crosses the finish line, winning the women’s 400 meters final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Thursday.

(David J. Phillip / Associated Press)

She broke it three more times and then, in Paris last year, took it down by another .28 seconds to 50.37.

Over time, those races became mere matters of McLaughlin-Levrone against the clock.

This time, something different — a bona fide showdown for the gold medal that knocked down a once-unthinkable barrier in racing.

Whatever McLaughlin-Levrone’s next move is, it’s bound to be fast.

“I think, now, 47 tells her that she can break 50,” Kersee said. “Knowing her, she’s probably going back to the hurdles and try to take what she learned now in the quarter(-mile) and try to execute a plan to run 49.99 or better.”

Pells writes for the Associated Press.

Earlier this month, Apple CEO Tim Cook joined President Trump and senior Cabinet members in the Oval Office to announce the company’s plan to invest $100 billion into U.S. manufacturing over the next four years. This comes on top of Apple’s previously unveiled $500 billion domestic infrastructure commitment.

Apple’s ramped-up infrastructure efforts have clear implications for Broadcom‘s (AVGO -3.65%) long-term growth trajectory. As Apple expands its U.S. footprint, Broadcom stands to benefit not only from increased demand for chips but also from its emerging role in powering next-generation networking, connectivity, and artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

Let’s break down why Apple’s continued investment in infrastructure strengthens Broadcom’s strategic position, and how it accelerates the company’s ambitions in AI and beyond.

Broadcom has deep inroads with hyperscalers

While Apple may be one of Broadcom’s most visible partners, the company has also been quietly building deep ties with AI hyperscalers — Alphabet being a notable one.

Broadcom’s portfolio spans custom silicon, networking switches, and optical interconnects — the foundational layers that power modern data centers. These may not be headline-grabbing products, but they serve as the invisible scaffolding that enables AI models to train at scale and keeps data workloads flowing smoothly — avoiding costly compute and connectivity bottlenecks.

What makes Apple’s reliance on Broadcom so compelling is how it bridges two high-growth landscapes: consumer electronics (i.e., semiconductor components for the iPhone) and enterprise-grade AI infrastructure. Broadcom’s established relationships with hyperscalers validate its role as a provider of specialized, mission-critical technologies. Meanwhile, Apple’s endorsement amplifies that credibility — signaling to the broader AI ecosystem that Broadcom is a trusted partner.

In essence, Broadcom is solidifying its influence across the entire technology stack — from chips inside of consumer devices to the infrastructure driving next-generation AI applications inside hyperscale data centers.

Image source: Getty Images.

Broadcom is a quiet beneficiary of rising AI infrastructure investment

The explosion of AI workloads has only heightened the need for networking gear and the specialized chips that enable big tech to operate at scale. While Broadcom dominates many of these use cases, it rarely commands the same spotlight as Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing.

The reason is straightforward: Broadcom isn’t building GPUs that capture headlines. Rather, the company designs the connective tissue that allows GPUs, CPUs, and memory chips to communicate efficiently. Without Broadcom’s technologies, generative AI advancements would remain throttled by data transfer limits and networking bottlenecks.

Is Broadcom stock a buy right now?

While Broadcom lacks the same levels of excitement that have crowned peers like Nvidia as an “AI darling,” this hasn’t translated into a bargain stock price. On the contrary, Broadcom now trades at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 45 — well above its three-year average and essentially at the highest point of the current AI cycle.

AVGO PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts

Broadcom’s premium valuation tells a clear story: The market increasingly views the company as a structural beneficiary of ongoing AI buildouts. Although expectations remain high, Broadcom’s relationships with hyperscalers, as well as its alliance with communications leaders such as Apple help diversify the company’s ecosystem and drive home its broad depth across various applications and use cases.

Unlike Nvidia or AMD, Broadcom does not need to rely on generational product cycles to capture the attention of investors. Instead, the company’s appeal lies in its subtle, less-visible services that keep the digital economy humming along.

This quiet, indispensable nature makes Broadcom less vulnerable to hype-driven volatility while still offering meaningful upside given its exposure to myriad secular trends reshaping the technology landscape.

While the stock isn’t cheap, Broadcom represents a durable infrastructure play as the AI narrative continues to unfold. To me, Broadcom is a compelling opportunity to buy and hold over the long term.

The past couple of years have been something of a whirlwind for Palantir (PLTR -2.52%) stock investors. When the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution kicked off in late 2022, it played to the company’s strengths. With 20 years of data mining experience and AI expertise, Palantir quickly developed its Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP), which has become the premier software system helping businesses make data-driven decisions. By integrating with existing business systems and layering generative AI on top, Palantir provides actionable insights in near real-time. Since the release of AIP in April 2023, Palantir has become a massive multibagger, with the stock soaring 1,760%.

However, the stock’s frothy valuation and questions about the ongoing adoption of AI have investors climbing a wall of worry, with many looking for signs that the AI revolution is on track.

Nvidia (NVDA -0.01%) has just provided the surest sign yet that the relentless adoption of AI is continuing.

Image source: Getty Images.

Enviable results

Despite facing tough triple-digit comps, Nvidia’s results were robust by any measure. During its fiscal 2026 second quarter (ended July 27), the company generated record revenue of $46.7 billion, up 56% year over year and 6% quarter over quarter. This drove adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.05, which climbed 54% year over year.

For context, analysts’ consensus estimates were calling for revenue of $46.1 billion and EPS of $1.01, so Nvidia scaled both bars with room to spare.

A record-setting performance from the data center segment fueled the bullish results. The segment, which includes chips used for AI, data centers, and cloud computing, generated sales that surged 56% year over year to $41.1 billion, driven by the ongoing adoption of AI.

It’s important to note that export restrictions prevented the sale of H20 chips to China during the quarter, which weighed on the results. Those restrictions have since been rescinded, and Nvidia is working on a follow-up to the H20, based on its Blackwell architecture — reportedly dubbed the B30A. The company is in talks with the U.S. government to determine the limitations of the new data center chip for customers in China.

The icing on the cake was a new record-setting stock buyback plan. Nvidia announced a $60 billion share repurchase authorization, in addition to the $14.7 billion remaining on its previous buyback plan. Share repurchases are generally a sign of management’s confidence that the company’s stock is undervalued.

What does this all have to do with Palantir?

Beyond the good news for Nvidia investors, the results have broader implications about what’s happening across the AI landscape. Nvidia has long been the bellwether for AI adoption, and despite the market’s tepid response to its report, the results help put things into perspective.

While Nvidia’s 56% growth is impressive by any measure, it comes on top of 122% growth in the prior-year quarter. This helps to illustrate the continuing demand for AI infrastructure as more companies adopt this groundbreaking technology.

It also gives additional weight to Palantir’s equally robust results released earlier this month. In the second quarter, revenue surged 48% year over year (and 14% quarter over quarter) to $1 billion. This powered adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.16, which surged 78% year over year.

Yet the overall results mask the truly phenomenal performance by the company’s U.S. commercial segment, which includes AIP. Revenue for the segment soared 93% year over year to $306 million, while its customer rolls increased 64%, fueled by record demand for AIP. Future demand looks even brighter as the segment’s total contract value soared 222% to $843 million. Even more impressive is Palantir’s remaining performance obligation (RPO), or contractually obligated sales that aren’t yet included in revenue, which soared 77% year over year to $2.42 billion.

The fact that Nvidia’s industry-leading graphics processing units (GPUs) continue to sell like hotcakes shows the ongoing momentum of AI adoption, which bodes well for Palantir.

The biggest AI-centric problem facing most business leaders is the lack of expertise required to implement AI into their operations, while ensuring a reasonable return on their investment. Palantir’s quarterly reports are rife with customer testimonials that detail just that.

For example, after deploying AIP, Cleveland Clinic reported a 38-minute decrease in emergency room wait times, a 40% reduction in unused orthopedic operating room time, and a 75% reduction in time spent calculating bed capacity. That’s one of dozens of AIP success stories.

To be clear, there’s still the matter of Palantir’s valuation to consider. The stock is currently trading for 185 times next year’s expected earnings. While that’s an egregious valuation to be sure, it might seem like a bargain five to 10 years down the road. CEO Alex Karp recently revealed ambitious plans to 10X revenue in the coming years. Given the company’s current growth rate, it could achieve that lofty benchmark at some point over the next decade.

For investors wanting in on the action but put off by Palantir’s exorbitant earnings multiple, I’d suggest establishing a small position and using dollar-cost averaging to build out a stake.

With the Friday notices, 85 percent of Voice of America’s workforce had been slashed.

Layoff notices have been sent to 639 employees of Voice of America (VOA) and the United States agency that oversees it, effectively shutting down the outlet that has provided news to countries around the world since World War II.

The notices sent on Friday included employees at VOA’s Persian-language service who were suddenly called off administrative leave last week to broadcast reports to Iran following Israel’s attack.

Three journalists working for the Persian service on Friday, who left their office for a cigarette break, had their badges confiscated and weren’t allowed back in, according to one fired employee.

In total, some 1,400 people at VOA and the US Agency for Global Media, or 85 percent of its workforce, have lost their jobs since March, said Kari Lake, Trump’s senior adviser to the agency. She said it was part of a “long overdue effort to dismantle a bloated, unaccountable bureaucracy”.

“For decades, American taxpayers have been forced to bankroll an agency that’s been riddled with dysfunction, bias and waste,” Lake said in a news release. “That ends now.”

VOA began by broadcasting stories about US democracy to residents of Nazi Germany, and grew to deliver news around the world in dozens of languages, often in countries without a tradition of free press.

But President Donald Trump has fought against the news media on several fronts, with the complaint that much of what they produce is biased against conservatives. That includes a proposal to shut off federal funding to PBS and NPR, which is currently before Congress.

‘Death’ of independent journalism

Most VOA employees have been on administrative leave since March 15, their broadcasts and social media posts mostly silenced. Three VOA employees who are fighting the administration’s dismantling of VOA in court were among those receiving layoff notices on Friday.

“It spells the death of 83 years of independent journalism that upholds US ideals of democracy and freedom around the world,” plaintiffs Jessica Jerreat, Kate Neeper and Patsy Widakuswara said in a statement.

The Persian-language employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing legal case, was in the office Friday when colleagues were barred from re-entry. The person was afraid to leave for the same reason – even though authorities said their work had been halted – until receiving a layoff notice.

Steve Herman, VOA’s chief national correspondent who was in the process of retiring to take a job at the University of Mississippi, called the layoffs an “historic act of self-sabotage with the US government completing the silencing of its most effective soft-power weapon”.

It’s not clear what, if anything, will replace VOA’s programming worldwide. The Trump-supporting One American News Network has offered to allow its signal to be used.

Although plaintiffs in the lawsuit called on Congress to continue supporting VOA, Herman said that he is not optimistic that it will survive, even if a Democratic president and Congress take over. For one thing, every day it is off the air is another day for viewers and readers to get into another habit for obtaining news.

“I believe that the destruction is permanent,” Herman said, “because we see no indication in the next fiscal year that Congress will rally to fund VOA.”

By the time another administration takes power that is more sympathetic to the outlet, “I fear that VOA will have become forgotten,” he said.

EXCLUSIVE: Love Island 2025 star Alima Gagigo has opened up about the extraordinary moment she delivered her baby sister at home – and she’s determined to make a difference in the villa

Love Island stunner Alima Gagigo is already making headlines – and not just for her villa debut. In a story that’s as jaw-dropping as it is heartwarming, the 23-year-old Londoner has revealed she once delivered her baby sister at home using a shoelace to tie the umbilical cord.

The incident happened in January 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. Speaking exclusively to The Mirror, ahead of the brand new series kicking off on Monday June 9, Alima shared the extraordinary moment that proved she’s not just reality TV-ready – she’s resilient under pressure, too.

“Yeah! It was back in January 2020. My sister’s a COVID baby,” she said. “It was just me and my mum at home, and the labour was 15 minutes. I had to tie the umbilical cord with a shoelace while on the phone with paramedics. It was scary but amazing looking back.”

Alima is a wealth management client services executive living in Glasgow. Now, the educated beauty is swapping emergency home births for bikinis and bombshell drama in the sun-soaked Love Island villa, and she’s determined to make a difference while doing it. Representation, she says, is front and centre.

“100%. When I watched the show last year, seeing girls like Whitney made a difference,” Alima told us. “If I can be that person this year, it could give confidence to others who might want to go on the show in the future. Representation really matters.”

Alima, who describes her hair plans as “glueless wigs – closures instead of frontals,” is stepping into the ITV2 spotlight following in the footsteps of fan favourite love island star Whitney Adebayo, who starred on the 10th series joining as a bombshell. And it turns out Whitney’s already showing love for her fellow Islander.

“I actually didn’t know that – this is the first time I’m hearing it!” she said when told of Whitney’s online support. “I follow her and absolutely loved her journey. As another dark-skinned woman, I could really relate. Maybe she supports me because she knows what I might be going through.”

The support from her circle has also been overwhelming, with her family cheering her on from the sidelines.

“Everyone’s buzzing! Friends and family are super excited. My mum was especially excited – taking pictures and everything when she dropped me at the airport!”

And while Love Island’s latest season is already making headlines – ITV bosses recently confirmed they won’t shy away from showing sex on screen if it happens – Alima admits she is “going to stay true to myself.”

“On the outside, I don’t really do that kind of thing, so I don’t think I’ll be getting up to much in the villa either.”

That down-to-earth energy is exactly what fans are already loving. Alima, who says she’s “not really anxious” about how she’ll be perceived as a Black woman on the show, is focused on being authentic.

“Seeing girls like Whitney and Mimii [Ngulube] last year who were themselves and came across amazing gave me confidence,” she added. “I want to be fully myself, regardless of stereotypes.”

She’s not afraid to laugh either – especially when it comes to her biggest dating ick.

“Honestly, if someone rapped or sang to me and it was bad – I wouldn’t know what to say. If it’s good, then fair enough, but if not…awkward!”

As the 2025 series kicks off with a fresh group of hopefuls and more drama promised than ever before, Alima is clearly more than ready to hit the villa.

Catch Love Island every night at 9pm from Monday 9 June on ITV2 and ITVX

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