tech

California’s tech companies, the epicenter of the state’s economy, sent politicians a loud message this year: Back down from restrictive artificial intelligence regulation or they’ll leave.

The tactic appeared to have worked, activists said, because some politicians weakened or scrapped guardrails to mitigate AI’s biggest risks.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected a bill aimed at making companion chatbots safer for children after the tech industry fought it. In his veto message, the governor raised concerns about placing broad limits on AI, which has sparked a massive investment spree and created new billionaires overnight around the San Francisco Bay Area.

Assembly Bill 1064 would have barred companion chatbot operators from making these AI systems available to minors unless the chatbots weren’t “foreseeably capable” of certain conduct, including encouraging a child to engage in self-harm. Newsom said he supported the goal, but feared it would unintentionally bar minors from using AI tools and learning how to use technology safely.

“We cannot prepare our youth for a future where AI is ubiquitous by preventing their use of these tools altogether,” he wrote in his veto message.

The bill’s veto was a blow to child safety advocates who had pushed it through the state Legislature and a win for tech industry groups that fought it. In social media ads, groups such as TechNet had urged the public to tell the governor to veto the bill because it would harm innovation and lead to students falling behind in school.

Organizations trying to rein in the world’s largest tech companies as they advance the powerful technology say the tech industry has become more empowered at the national and state levels.

Meta, Google, OpenAI, Apple and other major tech companies have strengthened their relationships with the Trump administration. Companies are funding new organizations and political action committees to push back against state AI policy while pouring money into lobbying.

In Sacramento, AI companies have lobbied behind the scenes for more freedom. California’s massive pool of engineering talent, tech investors and companies make it an attractive place for the tech industry, but companies are letting policymakers know that other states are also interested in attracting those investments and jobs. Big Tech is particularly sensitive to regulations in the Golden State because so many companies are headquartered there and must abide by its rules.

“We believe California can strike a better balance between protecting consumers and enabling responsible technological growth,” Robert Boykin, TechNet’s executive director for California and the Southwest, said in a statement.

Common Sense Media founder and Chief Executive Jim Steyer said tech lobbyists put tremendous pressure on Newsom to veto AB 1064. Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that rates and reviews technology and entertainment for families, sponsored the bill.

“They threaten to hurt the economy of California,” he said. “That’s the basic message from the tech companies.”

Advertising is among the tactics tech companies with deep pockets use to convince politicians to kill or weaken legislation. Even if the governor signs a bill, companies have at times sued to block new laws from taking effect.

“If you’re really trying to do something bold with tech policy, you have to jump over a lot of hurdles,” said David Evan Harris, senior policy advisor at the California Initiative for Technology and Democracy, which supported AB 1064. The group focuses on finding state-level solutions to threats that AI, disinformation and emerging technologies pose to democracy.

Tech companies have threatened to move their headquarters and jobs to other states or countries, a risk looming over politicians and regulators.

The California Chamber of Commerce, a broad-based business advocacy group that includes tech giants, launched a campaign this year that warned over-regulation could stifle innovation and hinder California.

“Making competition harder could cause California companies to expand elsewhere, costing the state’s economy billions,” the group said on its website.

From January to September, the California Chamber of Commerce spent $11.48 million lobbying California lawmakers and regulators on a variety of bills, filings to the California secretary of state show. During that period, Meta spent $4.13 million. A lobbying disclosure report shows that Meta paid the California Chamber of Commerce $3.1 million, making up the bulk of their spending. Google, which also paid TechNet and the California Chamber of Commerce, spent $2.39 million.

Amazon, Uber, DoorDash and other tech companies spent more than $1 million each. TechNet spent around $800,000.

The threat that California companies could move away has caught the attention of some politicians.

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, who has investigated tech companies over child safety concerns, indicated that despite initial concern, his office wouldn’t oppose ChatGPT maker OpenAI’s restructuring plans. The new structure gives OpenAI’s nonprofit parent a stake in its for-profit public benefit corporation and clears the way for OpenAI to list its shares.

Bonta blessed the restructuring partly because of OpenAI’s pledge to stay in the state.

“Safety will be prioritized, as well as a commitment that OpenAI will remain right here in California,” he said in a statement last week. The AG’s office, which supervises charitable trusts and ensures these assets are used for public benefit, had been investigating OpenAI’s restructuring plan over the last year and a half.

OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman said he’s glad to stay in California.

“California is my home, and I love it here, and when I talked to Attorney General Bonta two weeks ago I made clear that we were not going to do what those other companies do and threaten to leave if sued,” he posted on X.

Critics — which included some tech leaders such as Elon Musk, Meta and former OpenAI executives as well as nonprofits and foundations — have raised concerns about OpenAI’s restructuring plan. Some warned it would allow startups to exploit charitable tax exemptions and let OpenAI prioritize financial gain over public good.

Lawmakers and advocacy groups say it’s been a mixed year for tech regulation. The governor signed Assembly Bill 56, which requires platforms to display labels for minors that warn about social media’s mental health harms. Another piece of signed legislation, Senate Bill 53, aims to make AI developers more transparent about safety risks and offers more whistleblower protections.

The governor also signed a bill that requires chatbot operators to have procedures to prevent the production of suicide or self-harm content. But advocacy groups, including Common Sense Media, removed their support for Senate Bill 243 because they said the tech industry pushed for changes that weakened its protections.

Newsom vetoed other legislation that the tech industry opposed, including Senate Bill 7, which requires employers to notify workers before deploying an “automated decision system” in hiring, promotions and other employment decisions.

Called the “No Robo Bosses Act,” the legislation didn’t clear the governor, who thought it was too broad.

“A lot of nuance was demonstrated in the lawmaking process about the balance between ensuring meaningful protections while also encouraging innovation,” said Julia Powles, a professor and executive director of the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law & Policy.

The battle over AI safety is far from over. Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda), who co-wrote AB 1064, said she plans to revive the legislation.

Child safety is an issue that both Democrats and Republicans are examining after parents sued AI companies such as OpenAI and Character.AI for allegedly contributing to their children’s suicides.

“The harm that these chatbots are causing feels so fast and furious, public and real that I thought we would have a different outcome,” Bauer-Kahan said. “It’s always fascinating to me when the outcome of policy feels to be disconnected from what I believe the public wants.”

Steyer from Common Sense Media said a new ballot initiative includes the AI safety protections that Newsom vetoed.

“That was a setback, but not an overall defeat,” he said about the veto of AB 1064. “This is a David and Goliath situation, and we are David.”

GYEONGJU, South Korea — The United States will share closely held technology to allow South Korea to build a nuclear-powered submarine, President Trump said on social media Thursday after meeting with the country’s president.

President Lee Jae Myung stressed to Trump in their Wednesday meeting that the goal was to modernize the alliance with the U.S., noting plans to increase military spending to reduce the financial burden on America. The South Korean leader said there might have been a misunderstanding when they last spoke in August about nuclear-powered submarines, saying that his government was looking for nuclear fuel rather than weapons.

Lee said that if South Korea was equipped with nuclear-powered submarines, that it could help U.S. activities in the region.

U.S. nuclear submarine technology is widely regarded as some of the most sensitive and highly guarded technology the military possesses. The U.S. has been incredibly protective of that knowledge, and even a recently announced deal with close allies the United Kingdom and Australia to help the latter acquire nuclear submarine technology doesn’t feature the U.S. directly transferring its knowledge.

Trump’s post on social media comes ahead of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose country possesses nuclear submarines, and after North Korea in March unveiled for the first time a nuclear-powered submarine under construction. It’s a weapons system that can pose a major security threat to South Korea and the U.S.

As Trump visited South Korea, North Korea said Wednesday it conducted successful cruise missile tests, the latest display of its growing military capabilities.

Pentagon officials didn’t immediately respond to questions about Trump’s announcement on sharing the nuclear sub technology with South Korea.

Megerian and Boak write for the Associated Press. Boak reported from Tokyo. AP writer Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report from Washington.

As one of the leading semiconductor companies, Broadcom (AVGO -1.24%) has handily outperformed the market recently. It’s up 51% year to date (as of Oct. 17), while the S&P 500 index has risen 13%.

Following such a rally, this might not seem like the ideal time to invest in Broadcom — the stock is trading near its all-time high. Given the tech giant’s growth, however, its stock can continue to climb. Here’s one reason why.

Image source: Getty Images.

A growing list of high-value partnerships

On Oct. 13, Broadcom and OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, announced a partnership on 10 gigawatts of custom artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators. Broadcom will be helping OpenAI design its own custom chips, and this is just the latest of several AI companies that are working with Broadcom for that purpose.

Broadcom makes custom AI chips for three major hyperscalers, believed to be Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. It’s seeing increasing chip demand from these companies, and CEO Hock Tan has also mentioned a fourth major customer that has placed $10 billion worth of orders. While there was speculation this mystery customer was OpenAI, Broadcom has now said that’s not the case.

Broadcom’s share price has been soaring, but it’s not fueled by hype. Revenue is on the rise, particularly its AI revenue, which increased 63% year over year to $5.2 billion in Q3 2025. Tech companies are increasingly turning to Broadcom for custom chips that better fit their needs and to avoid being overly reliant on graphics processing units (GPUs) from Nvidia.

During Broadcom’s last earning call, Tan mentioned that the company has an order backlog of over $110 billion, an indicator that its excellent revenue growth should continue. Don’t let the valuation deter you — Broadcom’s crucial role in AI development makes it one of the stronger tech companies to invest in.

“Frankenstein” has haunted Guillermo del Toro since he was a kid who barely reached the Creature’s knees. Back in 2011, the writer-director was already tinkering with a version of the monster that resembled a blend of Iggy Pop and Boris Karloff with jagged sutures, gaunt wrinkles and a crushed nose. Since then, Del Toro has made changes. The 2025 model is played by Jacob Elordi, a 6-foot-5 actor often cast as the ideal human specimen in movies like “Saltburn” and who here howls to life with handsome features and rock star swagger. But your eyes keep staring at his pale, smooth seams. He doesn’t look hand-stitched — he looks a little like a modern android.

Of course he does. The decades have given Del Toro time to think about what truly scares him. It’s not monsters. He loves all disfigured nasties, be they swamp creatures, eyeball-less ogres or bolt-headed Hellboys. It’s tech bros, like the ones weaseling into Hollywood, who give their every innovation a sterile sheen.

“Frankenstein” is the director’s lifelong passion project: He doesn’t just want to make a “Frankenstein” but the “Frankenstein,” so he’s faithfully set his adaptation in the past. But he’s adjusted the wiring so that 1850s Europe reminds us of Silicon Valley. The result is the best movie of his career.

This Baron Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) is a short-sighted egomaniac who barks over his critics while jabbing the air with his fingers. “I fail to see why modesty is considered a virtue,” he says with a snort.

And Del Toro has written Victor an enabler: a deep-pocketed investor named Henrich Harlander (Christoph Waltz) who struts into Victor’s science lecture hunting for a whizkid to crack the code to immortality. With his gold-heeled shoes and a confidence that he’s too rich to die, Waltz’s wealthy arms dealer is a 19th century take on venture capitalists like Bryan Johnson and Peter Thiel who’ve been poking into the feasibility of pumping their veins with young blood.

“Don’t be a reasonable man,” Henrich advises Victor. The assumption is — and remains — that tycoons and geniuses deserve to run rampant. Great success demands an indifference to the rules. And if you’re wondering whether money or brains has more power, there’s a scene in which Henrich uses a chamber pot and smugly orders Victor to “flush that for me.”

Del Toro is wired into the outrage in Mary Shelley’s sly 1818 novel, a nightmarish satire about men who care only about yelling “first!” without asking what horrors come next. Centuries ago, she warned of man’s ill-considered rush to create artificial intelligence. Today, Dr. Frankenstein’s descendants keep promising that AI won’t destroy civilization while ignoring Shelley’s point, that the inventor is more dangerous than his monster.

Victor, a stunted man-child who drinks milk served by a sommelier, is frozen in the I’ll-show-him stage of growing up with an abusive father (Charles Dance) who whipped him when he got a wrong answer on his schoolwork. Victor’s name, we’re reminded, means “winner,” a symbol of the pressure he’s under to excel.

Isaac plays him with a pitchman’s exuberance that sags as the corners of his mouth wrench down in disappointment. He’s hacked how to make a disembodied head moan in agony. But having rarely felt affection, Victor doesn’t know how to generate that emotion at all. Worse, it hasn’t occurred to him to think past the triumph of his product launch, that his Creature can’t be readily unplugged. The only kind characters in the movie are a rural blind man (David Bradley) and the moth-like Mia Goth, double-cast as Victor’s mother, Claire, and his brother’s fiancee, Elizabeth. A convent girl with a creepy streak, Elizabeth sees beauty in biology, leaning over a corpse’s flayed back to appreciate the intricacy of its ventricles. But the more she studies Victor, the less impressed she gets.

Because Shelley came up with “Frankenstein” as an 18-year-old newlywed who’d just lost a baby, her message gets boiled down to gender: Women birth life, men mimic it. Really, the feminine strength of the book lies in its foxy, shifting narration that opens with a prologue from an Arctic explorer who’s gotten his sailors trapped in the ice, before transitioning to Victor’s story and then the Creature’s. Like a hostess who secretly loathes her guests, Shelley encourages her characters to flatter themselves and expose their braggadocio.

Del Toro has kept that tactic and he’s kept the book’s structure. But within that framework, he’s changed nearly everything else to make Victor more culpable. Unlike the 1931 film, there’s no Igor and no excuse of accidentally using the wrong brain. This Victor does his own dirty work and what goes wrong is his fault. Meanwhile, Del Toro amps up the action, starting the film off with a ghastly great sequence in which Elordi’s Creature punches a sailor so hard his spine snaps into a backward somersault.

“What manner of devil made him?” the Captain (Lars Mikkelsen) exclaims. Victor guiltily explains why he played God.

Being a futurist isn’t bad. Henrich, an early adopter of daguerreotype cameras, shoots photographs of women posing with skulls like he’s paving the way for Del Toro’s whole filmography. But pompous Henrich and Victor don’t appreciate that their accomplishments are built on other’s sacrifices. When the cinematographer Dan Laustsen pans across a battlefield of dead soldiers, it feels like a silent scream. Henrich made his fortune killing these men; now, Victor will salvage their body parts.

Del Toro delights in the kinetic gusto of the tale, the grotesquerie of cracking limbs and blood sloshing about Victor’s shoes. In the laboratory, dead leaves and buzzing flies whirl through the air as if to keep up with the inventor’s wild ambitions and Alexandre Desplat’s swirling orchestral score. The production design by Tamara Deverell is superb as are the costumes by Kate Hawley, who shrouds Goth in dramatic chiffon layers and dresses laced to highlight her vertebrae. (This movie loves bones as much as Sir Mix-A-Lot loved backs.)

As Victor rudely flings around torsos and limbs, it’s clear that he only values life if it’s branded with his name. So yes, of course, Elordi’s Creature looks good. He’s been assembled from the choicest bits of man flesh to show off the talent of his creator, not so different from Steve Jobs caressing samples of brushed aluminum. When Elordi’s Creature pleads for a companion, a sliver of sculpted abs peeking out from under five hulking layers of wool and fur, you expect half the audience’s hands to shoot up and volunteer.

Elordi has adopted one or two of Karloff’s mannerisms: the arms outstretched in search of warmth, the lurching walk. You can see that he’s a tad lopsided on the left side, presumably because Victor couldn’t find matching femurs. Mostly, he’s his own monster, neither the calculating serial murderer of the book nor Karloff’s reactive, animalistic killer, but a scapegoat who finally starts leveling his foes with bone-breaking efficiency.

Towering over Victor by almost a foot, Elordi’s Creature dwarfs his creator physically, morally and emotionally. There’s anguish in his eyes, and when Del Toro shows us the world through his perspective, humanity itself appears anti-life, a pestilence that destroys without hesitation.

There’s a pack of digital wolves that just looks silly. Otherwise, you trust how intensely Del Toro has doted upon every detail. I was flummoxed by a row of servants flanking young Victor (Christian Convery) who appeared to be wearing gauzy bags over their heads. What are those for? My theory is it’s a tribute to the veil Karloff sported during lunch breaks, so as not to frighten any pregnant secretaries on the Universal lot.

Eschewing mobs of pitchfork-wielding villagers, Del Toro focuses on Victor’s inability to parent his unholy son. And while the end stretch gets a bit too stiff and speechy, particularly with a line that Victor is the “true monster,” I loved the moment when the Creature, venting on behalf of all frustrated children however big they‘ve grown, growls, “The miracle is not that I should speak but that you would listen.”

This deservedly anticipated “Frankenstein” transforms that loneliness into stunning tableaux of Victor and his immortal Creature tethered together by their mutual self-loathing. One man’s heart never turned on. One can’t get his heart to turn off. Ours breaks.

Technology stocks continue to help lead the market higher and remain a great space to find investment ideas. Let’s look at three top tech stocks to buy right now.

1. Nvidia

There has been a lot of news recently around new artificial intelligence (AI) chip challengers, but Nvidia (NVDA -4.33%) remains the company at the forefront of AI infrastructure. The company’s graphic processing units (GPUs) are powering most of the world’s AI workloads today, and that dominance doesn’t look to be slipping anytime soon.

Image source: Getty Images.

Nvidia is much more than a chipmaker. Its edge comes from its CUDA software platform, which it smartly provided for free to universities and research labs that were doing the early work on AI. That led to early AI foundational code being written for its chips and locked in a generation of developers into its ecosystem. Today, the company’s chips, networking, and software work together as one integrated tech stack, giving customers performance advantages.

The company’s huge commitment to partner with OpenAI is another sign that it’s not content to sit back. While other chipmakers have struck deals with OpenAi, Nvidia is the only company getting a significant equity stake in the AI model leader. Together, the two companies will work together to help shape where AI is going.

With demand for AI infrastructure still far outpacing supply, Nvidia’s growth story is nowhere near finished. Nvidia is arguably the most important stock in the market today, and one to own.

2. Alphabet

If there is one company that will challenge Nvidia as an AI leader, it’s Alphabet (GOOGL 0.62%) (GOOG 0.75%). The company has its fingers in multiple aspects of AI, with a unique positioned.

Arguably, no company has as complete of an AI tech stack as Alphabet. Its strength starts with its Gemini large language models (LLMs), which rival those of OpenAI. Meanwhile, the company has developed its own custom AI chips, called tensor processing units (TPUs), that were designed to optimally run its cloud computing infrastructure. The chips are in their 7th generation, and far ahead of most other custom AI chips.

Its software stack, which includes Vertex AI, meanwhile, is top-notch. Alphabet even owns the largest private fiber network in the world, which ensures low latency. Its pending acquisition of cloud cybersecurity company Wiz also adds to its vertical offering.

Right now, this vertical AI integration is helping power revenue growth and operating leverage at Google Cloud. Last quarter, Google Cloud revenue climbed 32% to $13.6 billion, while its operating income more than doubled to $2.8 billion. Meanwhile, it’s using its Gemini model to help power its search and AI chatbot offerings, as well.

Fears that chatbots would eat into Google’s search business have faded as the company blended its Gemini models directly into its core products. Features such as AI Overviews, Circle to Search, and Lens have made search more dynamic, leading to more queries, while its new AI mode lets users easily shift from AI-powered search to a traditional AI chatbot. Alphabet is no longer just playing defense when it comes to search and AI; it’s clearly playing offense, and it is well-positioned to win given its distribution and data advantages.

Alphabet is also making early progress in new areas such as robotaxis through Waymo and in quantum computing, which could eventually open new growth streams. Between search, cloud, and its AI push, Alphabet is a growth stock to buy right now.

3. GitLab

Compared to the two stocks above, GitLab (GTLB 1.11%) is certainly flying under the radar. However, this is a company that has been seeing strong growth. It’s grown its revenue by between 25% to 35% for eight consecutive quarters, including 29% last quarter, and more strong growth could be in store as the company continues to evolve.

GitLab started as a platform for developers to securely write and store code, but has evolved into a full software development lifecycle solution. Its Duo AI agent has the potential to be a big growth driver, as it helps automate repetitive work that eats up most of a developer’s day. Freeing up time to actually write code means more software projects, which drives more demand for GitLab’s tools.

Meanwhile, the company is starting to shift to a hybrid seat-plus-usage pricing model. This could be a huge growth driver for Gitlab, as it lets the company capture more revenue from usage and the increased value its offering is now bringing to its customers. A usage model also counteracts the biggest bear argument against the stock, which is that AI will reduce the number of coders.

That bearish argument has driven the stock to an attractive valuation, with it trading at a forward price-to-sales (P/S) multiple of 6.5 times 2026 analyst estimates. For a company with approximately 90% gross margins growing revenue near 30%, that’s a huge bargain.

Bold claim, I know. But the Clown Motel is special. Owner Vijay Mehar has taken an old motel and filled it with clowns. Paintings, murals, dools, ceramic figures. Many of them frowning or shrieking.

What guests love, Mehar has learned, is fear, loathing, painted faces, circus vibes and hints of paranormal activity. To be afraid, basically.

“America’s Scariest Motel,” say the brochures by the register. “Let fear run down your spine.”

The 31 guest rooms teem with enough clown imagery to eclipse a Ringling Brothers reunion. The gift shop is vast and troubling. (Clown knife, anyone?)

And then there are the neighbors. The motel stands next to the Old Tonopah Cemetery, most of whose residents perished between 1900 and 1911, often in mining accidents.

Some guests sign up for ghost hunt tours or explore the cemetery after dark. Others settle in with a horror movie, perhaps one of the several made on site, along with countless Youtube videos.

When I visited in late 2024, Mehar said hundreds of people stop by the motel on busy days, mostly focusing on the gift shop and the crowded, dusty shelves of the lobby-adjacent clown museum.

“When we came here, there were 800 or 850 clowns,” Mehar said. “Right now, we have close to 6,000.”

Throughout the motel’s corridors, walls and no-frills guest rooms (rated at 3.5 stars by Yelp and Trip Advisor), the clowns continue against a color scheme of purple, yellow and red, augmented by polka dots of blue and green. Rates start at $99.

If you book Room 222, which highlights Clownvis (Elvis as a clown, basically), the motel warns that you may be awakened in the wee hours by a mysterious “malevolent entity.”

The hotel also advises all guests that, despite monthly pest-control visits, they may encounter “UFI’s (Unwanted Flying Insects),” because rooms open to the outdoors. (This part of Nevada is known for its many Mormon crickets.)

On Tuesday, Oriental Harbor Investment Master Fund disclosed selling 59,274 shares of ProShares UltraPro QQQ (TQQQ -1.88%) in an estimated $5.4 million trade, according to a recent SEC filing.

What Happened

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Oriental Harbor Investment Master Fund sold 59,274 shares of ProShares UltraPro QQQ during the quarter. The estimated transaction value was $5.4 million. The fund’s TQQQ position now stands at about 1.2 million shares, valued at $124.2 million.

What Else to Know

Following the sale, TQQQ represents 9.6% of the fund’s reportable assets under management.

Top holdings after the filing:

• NASDAQ:NVDA: $236.2 million (18.3% of AUM)
• NASDAQ:GOOGL: $224.1 million (17.4% of AUM)
• NYSEMKT:FNGU: $144.6 million (11.2% of AUM)
• NASDAQ:TQQQ: $124.2 million (9.6% of AUM)
• NASDAQ:META: $99.5 million (7.7% of AUM)

As of Tuesday’s market close, shares of TQQQ were priced at $101.13, up 33% over the past year, outperforming the S&P 500 by 20 percentage points.

ETF Overview

Company Snapshot

• TQQQ’s investment strategy seeks to deliver daily performance consistent with the fund’s objective through the use of financial instruments.
• Underlying holdings are composed of the 100 largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
• The fund structure is non-diversified.

ProShares UltraPro QQQ is an ETF that seeks daily returns consistent with its investment objective by tracking the Nasdaq-100 Index. By employing financial instruments, the fund aims to achieve its daily return objective.

Foolish Take

Hong Kong–based Oriental Harbor Investment Master Fund pared back its position in ProShares UltraPro QQQ last quarter, selling roughly $5.4 million worth of shares. Despite the reduction, TQQQ remains a core holding, accounting for nearly 10% of the fund’s reported assets. The ETF continues to rank just behind Nvidia, Alphabet, and FNGU, reflecting the fund’s deep concentration in leveraged and technology-driven strategies.

TQQQ, which seeks three times the daily performance of the Nasdaq-100 Index, has soared 33% in the past year, outpacing the S&P 500 by about 20 percentage points. Its top underlying exposures—Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon—mirror Oriental Harbor’s own equity bets, creating both alignment and amplification across the portfolio.

While leveraged ETFs like TQQQ can magnify gains, they also heighten risk when markets turn volatile. For Oriental Harbor, trimming the position may be a prudent rebalancing move after strong returns, especially given its already substantial exposure to the same megacap tech names through direct holdings and other leveraged funds like FNGU. The strategy suggests discipline, not retreat, as the fund locks in profits while maintaining a high-conviction tilt toward tech-fueled growth.

Glossary

ETF: Exchange-traded fund; a pooled investment fund traded on stock exchanges, similar to stocks.

UltraPro: Indicates an ETF aiming for leveraged returns, typically providing a multiple of the daily performance of an index.

Assets under management (AUM): The total market value of assets a fund manages on behalf of investors.

Non-diversified: A fund that invests a large portion of assets in a small number of holdings, increasing concentration risk.

Leveraged ETF: An ETF using financial instruments to amplify returns, often targeting a multiple of an index’s daily performance.

Dividend yield: Annual dividends paid by an investment, expressed as a percentage of its current price.

Underlying holdings: The individual securities or assets that make up a fund’s portfolio.

Nasdaq-100 Index: An index of the 100 largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Daily return objective: The fund’s goal to match or multiply the performance of its benchmark index each trading day.

Financial instruments: Contracts such as derivatives or swaps used to achieve specific investment outcomes.

Outperforming: Achieving a higher return than a specific benchmark or index over a given period.

Reportable assets: Assets that must be disclosed in regulatory filings, such as those reported to the SEC.

Earnings season is right around the corner, and several of tech’s biggest names look to keep their momentum going. Each of these companies posted strong results last quarter, and there are good reasons to believe that strength can continue into the final stretch of the year. These stocks look attractive, not just heading into earnings, but for the long haul as well.

1. Nvidia

Nvidia (NVDA 2.87%) has been at the center of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, and last quarter’s results showed just how strong demand for its chips has been. Its data center revenue surged 56% year over year, despite the company lacking access to the Chinese market, as companies and governments around the world continue to rapidly build out their AI infrastructure.

That trend does not look like it’s slowing, with cloud computing companies continuing to spend big on data center infrastructure and Oracle announcing massive AI data center spending plans. Nvidia, meanwhile, continues to dominate the AI infrastructure market, where its graphics processing units (GPUs) are used to power AI workloads and have an over 90% market share. Its CUDA software platform continues to give it a wide moat in the space, as most early AI code was written on it, and developers favor it.

With data center spending remaining strong and AI demand still outpacing supply, Nvidia’s growth trajectory looks intact. The company has already proven that it can deliver consistent upside surprises, and it’s positioned better than any of its peers to capture profits from the next leg of the AI infrastructure buildout.

2. Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms (META 1.25%) has transformed itself into one of the biggest AI beneficiaries in tech, and that evolution showed up clearly in its last earnings report. The company posted 22% revenue growth in the second quarter, driven by an increase in ad impressions and higher prices. The number of daily active users across its family of apps also climbed by 6% year over year to 3.48 billion, proving that it can still draw in new users despite the maturity of its platforms.

AI has been the key driver behind Meta’s resurgence. It has been using AI to improve how its algorithms recommend content, which is keeping users more engaged. That, in turn, increases the amount of ad inventory it can sell. At the same time, its AI tools for advertisers are helping companies create and target their marketing campaigns more effectively, which boosts Meta’s ad pricing power.

Meanwhile, it is just starting to introduce ads to its biggest untapped assets, WhatsApp and Threads, both of which have huge growth potential. All these things should help keep the company’s earnings momentum going.

Meta also isn’t sitting still when it comes to innovation. It recently debuted its new Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, sales of which could give its Q4 revenue a boost. These augmented reality glasses could also be a precursor to its eventual vision for things like “superpersonal intelligence” and the metaverse, which are longer-term bets.

Image source: Getty Images.

3. Microsoft

Microsoft (MSFT 0.77%) capped off its fiscal 2025 with one of its best quarters in years, showing just how well it’s executing across both cloud computing and AI. In its fiscal Q4, which ended June 30, revenue from its Azure cloud platform jumped by 39%, marking its eighth straight quarter of growth above 30%. Meanwhile, its Intelligent Cloud division as a whole grew by 26% to nearly $30 billion. That strength is being driven by companies accelerating their AI spending, with Azure being one of the biggest beneficiaries.

Meanwhile, Microsoft’s early investments in OpenAI continue to give it an edge. Its Copilot AI tools, now integrated across Office products, are increasingly being adopted by enterprises to increase worker productivity. These products are still in their early innings, which means there’s plenty of runway for growth left. Revenues from Microsoft 365 rose more than 20% last quarter, and even the company’s personal computing segment saw renewed growth, led by Xbox and search advertising.

Microsoft is spending aggressively to expand its data center capacity to meet the flood of AI demand, which should keep growth strong in the quarters ahead. With Azure continuing to increase its sales in a rapidly growing cloud market, and with Copilot adding a valuable new layer of recurring revenue, Microsoft looks like one of the most reliable performers heading into this earnings season and a top long-term holding for investors.

WASHINGTON — President Trump said Friday that he’s placing an additional 100% tax on Chinese imports starting on Nov. 1 or sooner, potentially escalating tariff rates close to levels that in April fanned fears of a steep recession and financial market chaos.

The president said on his social media site that he is imposing these new tariffs because of export controls placed on rare earth elements by China. The new tariffs built on an earlier post Friday on Truth Social in which Trump said that “there seems to be no reason” to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea.

Trump said that “starting November 1st, 2025 (or sooner, depending on any further actions or changes taken by China), the United States of America will impose a Tariff of 100% on China, over and above any Tariff that they are currently paying.”

The announcement after financial markets closed on Friday risked throwing the global economy into turmoil. Not only would the global trade war instigated by Trump be rekindled at dangerous levels, but import taxes being heaped on top of the 30% already being levied on Chinese goods could, by the administration’s past statements, cause trade to break down between the U.S. and China.

While Trump’s wording was definitive, he is also famously known for backing down from threats, such that some investors began engaging in what The Financial Times called the “TACO” trade, which stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out.” The prospect of tariffs this large could compound the president’s own political worries inside the U.S., potentially pushing up inflation at a moment when the job market appears fragile and the drags from a government shutdown are starting to compound into layoffs of federal workers.

The president also said that the U.S. government would respond to China by putting its own export controls “on any and all critical software” from American firms.

It’s possible that this could amount to either posturing by the United States for eventual negotiations or a retaliatory step that could foster new fears about the stability of the global economy.

The United States and China have been jostling for advantage in trade talks, after the import taxes announced earlier this year triggered a trade war between the world’s two largest economies. Both nations agreed to ratchet down tariffs after negotiations in Switzerland and the United Kingdom, yet tensions remain as China has continued to restrict America’s access to the difficult-to-mine rare earths needed for a wide array of U.S. technologies.

Trump did not formally cancel the meeting with Xi, so much as indicating that it might not happen as part of a trip at the end of the month in Asia. The trip was scheduled to include a stop in Malaysia, which is hosting the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit; a stop in Japan; and a visit to South Korea, where he was slated to meet with Xi ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

“I was to meet President Xi in two weeks, at APEC, in South Korea, but now there seems to be no reason to do so,” Trump posted.

Trump’s threat shattered a monthslong calm on Wall Street, and the S&P 500 tumbled 2.7% on worries about the rising tensions between the world’s largest economies. It was the market’s worst day since April when the president last bandied about import taxes this high. Still, the stock market closed before the president spelled out the terms of his threat.

China’s new restrictions

On Thursday, the Chinese government restricted access to the rare earths ahead of the scheduled Trump-Xi meeting. Beijing would require foreign companies to get special approval for shipping the metallic elements abroad. It also announced permitting requirements on exports of technologies used in the mining, smelting and recycling of rare earths, adding that any export requests for products used in military goods would be rejected.

Trump said that China is “becoming very hostile” and that it’s holding the world “captive” by restricting access to the metals and magnets used in electronics, computer chips, lasers, jet engines and other technologies.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment.

Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, said Beijing reacted to U.S. sanctions of Chinese companies this week and the upcoming port fees targeting China-related vessels but said there’s room for deescalation to keep the leaders’ meeting alive. “It is a disproportional reaction,” Sun said. “Beijing feels that deescalation will have to be mutual as well. There is room for maneuver, especially on the implementation.”

The U.S. president said the move on rare earths was “especially inappropriate” given the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza so that the remaining hostages from Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack can be released. He raised the possibility without evidence that China was trying to steal the moment from him for his role in the ceasefire, saying on social media, “I wonder if that timing was coincidental?”

There is already a backlog of export license applications from Beijing’s previous round of export controls on rare earth elements, and the latest announcements “add further complexity to the global supply chain of rare earth elements,” the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said in a statement.

Gracelin Baskaran, director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., said China signaled it is open to negotiations, but it also holds leverage because to dominates the market for rare earths with 70% of the mining and 93% of the production of permanent magnets made from them that are crucial to high-tech products and the military.

“These restrictions undermine our ability to develop our industrial base at a time when we need to. And then second, it’s a powerful negotiating tool,” she said. And these restrictions can hurt efforts to strengthen the U.S. military in the midst of global tensions because rare earths are needed.

Trump’s trade war

The outbreak of a tariff-fueled trade war between the U.S. and China initially caused the world economy to shudder over the possibility of global commerce collapsing. Trump imposed tariffs totaling 145% on Chinese goods, with China responding with import taxes of 125% on American products.

The taxes were so high as to effectively be a blockade on trade between the countries. That led to negotiations that reduced the tariff charged by the U.S. government to 30% and the rate imposed by China to 10% so that further talks could take place. The relief those lower rates provided could now disappear with the new import taxes Trump threatened, likely raising the stakes not only of whether Trump and Xi meet but how any disputes are resolved.

Differences continue over America’s access to rare earths from China, U.S. restrictions on China’s ability to import advanced computer chips, sales of American-grown soybeans and a series of tit-for-tat port fees being levied by both countries starting on Tuesday.

Nebraska Republican Rep. Don Bacon said “China has not been a fair-trade partner for years,” but the Trump administration should have anticipated China’s restrictions on rare earths and refusal to buy American soybeans in response to the tariffs.

How analysts see moves by U.S. and China

Wendy Cutler, senior vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute, said Trump’s post shows the fragility of the détente between the two countries and it’s unclear whether the two sides are willing to de-escalate to save the bilateral meeting.

Cole McFaul, a research fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, said that Trump appeared in his post to be readying for talks on the possibility that China had overplayed its hand. By contrast, China sees itself as having come out ahead when the two countries have engaged in talks.

“From Beijing’s point of view, they’re in a moment where they’re feeling a lot of confidence about their ability to handle the Trump administration,” McFaul said. “Their impression is they’ve come to the negotiating table and extracted key concessions.”

Craig Singleton, senior director of the China program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a think tank, said Trump’s post could “mark the beginning of the end of the tariff truce” that had lowered the tax rates charged by both countries.

It’s still unclear how Trump intends to follow through on his threats and how China plans to respond.

“But the risk is clear: Mutually assured disruption between the two sides is no longer a metaphor,” Singleton said. “Both sides are reaching for their economic weapons at the same time, and neither seems willing to back down.”

Boak and Tang write for the Associated Press. AP writers Stan Choe in New York and Josh Funk in Omaha, Neb., contributed to the report.

Data by YCharts

The S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.58%) rose 0.58% to 6,753.72, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 1.12%) jumped 1.12% to 23,043.38. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI -0.00%) was essentially flat, slipping 0.0026% to 46,601.78. Technology strength drove broader gains even as yields held relatively firm.

In commodities, gold surged past $4,000/oz for the first time, fueled by safe-haven buying amid the ongoing government shutdown and rising hopes for Fed rate cuts.

The government shutdown continues to cast a shadow on economic visibility, elevating the role of inflation data and central bank signaling in driving markets. Meanwhile, rate cut expectations remain alive, supported by dovish cues in Fed minutes and underlying macro softness.

Looking ahead, traders will be watching whether the shutdown delays key releases like CPI or PCE, which in turn could ripple into timing for future Fed moves and even impact things like the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) announcement.

Market data sourced from Google Finance on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025.

What if you woke up one day and discovered your monthly income had shrunk to a tenth of what it used to be? That nightmare became the reality of Ibrahim Abdullahi, a phone repairer and PoS handler in Arewa Market, Abuja, North Central Nigeria. One minute, he had a booming recharge card-selling business; the next, his profit dwindled to a fraction of what it once was.

Ibrahim’s financial decline had nothing to do with his efficiency or work ethic. The market itself changed with the adoption of the virtual top-up (VTU) service between 2011 and 2013, enabling people to purchase data and airtime digitally via USSD, mobile banking applications, ATMs, and the web. Leading telcos such as MTN and Airtel first introduced the service. 

VTU quickly became mainstream, and by 2021, Ibrahim’s business had collapsed. 

“I used to sell about ₦100,000 worth of recharge cards in a day, but when people stopped buying paper recharge cards, I wasn’t able to sell up to ₦10,000 daily,” he recounted with eyes fixed on the phone he was repairing, as if any glance away might cost his income. 

But for people like Ibrahim, whose livelihood depended on the physical scratch cards, the change was devastating. Soon, as expected, the once-lucrative trade vanished, leaving sellers with lost profits even as they scrambled for alternatives. Three years ago, Ibrahim closed shop.

Across Nigeria, entire lines of work are being erased by new technologies, echoing a global trend.

The casualties 

Scratch-card sellers are not alone.

Wuraola Adebisi* used to be a call centre agent in the ‘90s. With low mobile-phone penetration, people depended on her service for communication and were charged per second. In 1999, she gained admission and left for tertiary education, hoping to return to the business afterwards.

However, even before she got her diploma, mobile telephony was introduced in 2001, ending the monopoly of Nigerian Telecommunications Limited, which was the sole provider of the common wired telephony, but also keeping call centre agents like Wuraola out of business. 

“The call centre business left by itself because people now had phones in their hands,” she said.

These changes, while detrimental to those who lose, are a natural part of the way the world evolves. A survey conducted by HumAngle in Nigeria also shows this trend: 15 per cent of respondents attributed their job loss to the advent of technologies such as artificial intelligence and banking digitisation.

Globally, this is not unusual. The World Economic Forum projects that 92 million jobs will vanish worldwide by 2030 as innovation reshapes economies. But it also projects 170 million new roles, highlighting that while some professions fade, others emerge.

“While tech evolution may render some jobs obsolete, it also unlocks new opportunities in emerging fields like digital entrepreneurship, virtual assistance, cybersecurity, data analysis, amongst others,” Ponfa Miri, Team Lead of Langtang Innovation Hub, a non-profit tech skills training institute based in rural Plateau State, told HumAngle. 

This balance between loss and opportunity is already visible in Nigeria.

When scratch-card sellers lost their jobs, business people across the country found alternatives via other digital-enabled businesses like PoS operations, where agents sell cash to consumers. There are about 1,600 PoS operators per square kilometre in the country, according to the International Monetary Fund.

“I switched to the PoS and phone repair business because it was digital,” said Ibrahim. 

Yet, it was not simply a random switch. For phone repairs, particularly with the rising diversity of smartphones, he needed to learn new skills. The HumAngle survey found that 79.3 per cent of respondents are learning at least one digital skill, with 33.3 per cent doing so solely to adapt. 

The challenge, then, is not only about jobs disappearing, but about who has the skills and access to compete for the new ones.

Inside the digital divide

This rapid adaptation has its limits. As of May, internet penetration reached 48 per cent, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission. However, this still leaves a majority without essential connectivity, which UNICEF identifies as the first step towards acquiring digital skills. In conflict-hit communities like Birnin Gwari in the country’s North West, telecom shutdowns have lasted for over three years. 

Not only are several left without internet, but many who have access to it complain that poor national connectivity hinders their ability to carry out their jobs properly. 

Telecom operators argue that the interruption or slow speed is sometimes caused by power shortages or vandalism of infrastructure by armed groups, locals, or construction companies. For everyday Nigerians, however, these explanations do little to ease the frustration. The impact is felt most by small operators who depend on steady connectivity to survive.

Blessing Adejoke*, another who shifted from scratch-card sales to PoS, said: “People don’t like it when they’re looking for money, and it takes a long time for the PoS machine to connect. It’s not always a big problem, but earlier this year I nearly lost a full day of making money because my machine refused to go online.”

Connectivity and power shortages weigh heavily on operators like Blessing and on millions trying to learn or work digitally. With over 89 million Nigerians living below the poverty line, opportunities in the digital economy remain largely out of reach for the poor and displaced, HumAngle’s survey found.

The consequences are visible in the unemployment rate. A Nigerian Economic Summit (NES) Group study showed joblessness climbed to 5.3 per cent in early 2024, marking the third consecutive quarter increase. Young people, entering the tech-driven job market for the first time, account for 8 per cent of that rise.

With such situations, privilege often determines access. 

Haruna Bello*, a recent graduate, credits her private-university education and paid digital skills training for securing an internship that pays more than the minimum wage. 

“Before I applied for the role, my mum paid for a private course to help me boost my CV. I don’t remember how much it cost, but it was over ₦60,000,” she said. 

Haruna believes that her lucrative role could only be obtained through private-funded efforts and expenses, two things many Nigerians can’t afford due to the growing poverty rate. The result is a massive employment disparity between the rich and the poor, where a larger percentage of Nigerians remain unemployed, hired in low-income positions, or running small-scale businesses. 

To reduce these notable issues, the government has set out to introduce programmes that may lessen the digital gap, but these have yet to be far-reaching.

Government’s shallow fixes

In 2023, Nigeria’s minister for communication, innovation, and digital economy, Bosun Tijani, launched the 3 Million Technical Talents (3MTT) Fellowship to equip 3 million Nigerians with tech talents within four years. The programme, which has held two cohorts, has trained about 117,000 people. In isolation, the number may seem grand, but in reality, it barely scratches the surface of the estimated 100 million Nigerians who are digitally illiterate. 

Authorities at the sub-national level have also attempted to bridge the gap. For instance, the Plateau State Government in 2019 launched Code Plateau, a programme similar to 3MTT, over 1000 young people were trained, but the initiative abruptly closed after a political transition.

With progress so limited and the rise of more advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, optimism quickly gives way to doubt. 

“Who Nigeria help?” Wurola laughed when asked about government aid. Our survey respondents feel the same way: 40 per cent said they need government support to compete in today’s job market. 

However, some experts say the government cannot do it alone. Non-profit and private initiatives, especially those at the grassroots, remain vital to Nigeria’s digital transition.

“By working together, we can bridge the divide and create a more inclusive future, empowering individuals to thrive in the new economy,” said Ponfa, whose organisation has trained hundreds of rural women and young people in digital literacy and entrepreneurship.

Whether or not those programmes are created or enhanced, one thing is certain: the labour ecosystem is ever-changing, and many will have to find ways to adjust to it if they hope to stay afloat. As Wurola puts it, “This is the tech age. We had the Stone Age, we had the Iron Age. So, this is the age of tech, you can’t beat it. This is where we find ourselves, whether good or bad.”

*Names marked with an asterisk have been changed to protect the identities of sources. 

Google said it plans to lay off dozens of workers at its Sunnyvale offices, following job reductions at other large tech firms.

Google notified the California Employment Development Department on Monday that it will lay off 50 workers in Sunnyvale, according to a notice obtained by The Times.

Tech companies are cutting jobs in preparation for a possible recession, as well as anticipating efficiencies gained from artificial intelligence, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at Oregon-based advisory services firm Enderle Group.

“We’re preparing for a bit of a downturn and companies often like to cut ahead of bad news like that so they can keep their financials solid,” he said.

In August, Salesforce said it cut 4,000 support roles due to AI helping automate tasks. Other tech businesses, including Intel, Microsoft and Meta have also reduced staff while investing more in AI this year.

CNBC reported on Wednesday that Google laid off more than 100 people in design-related roles in its cloud division.

In Google’s notice that it filed with the state, the jobs affected by the cuts included roles in user experience, software engineers and business program managers. The layoffs in the cloud division were first reported by Business Insider.

“AI is pretty good at coding right now and anything to do with design … as long as someone can describe what it is they want, that significantly increases the productivity of the folks you have in design,” Enderle said. “Unless you’re increasing the workload just as dramatically, you’re going to have too many people.”

Google, which is based in Mountain View, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Times staff writer Queenie Wong contributed to this report.

Many investors don’t readily think of dividends and tech together, but there’s more than meets the eye with this union.

Talk to enough experienced dividend investors and chances are they’ll rattle off sectors like consumer staples, healthcare and utilities as some of their favorite payout destinations. Odds are equally good that they won’t mention technology.

That’s understandable, because the 12-month distribution rate on the largest exchange traded fund (ETF) tracking the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 Index is a piddly 0.48%Obviously nothing to write home about, but that data point obfuscates tech’s status as a rising payout growth spot. In fact, in dollar terms, Microsoft (MSFT 0.78%) and Apple (AAPL 0.42%) are two of the biggest dividend payers in the S&P 500.

Image source: Getty Images

Apple and Microsoft are widely held stocks, but in what amounts to a pleasant surprise for equity income investors, the duo is an appetizer in the tech dividend equation. Seven-course meals are available with the First Trust NASDAQ Technology Dividend Index Fund (TDIV 0.79%) and the ProShares S&P Technology Dividend Aristocrats ETF (TDV 0.81%).

Similar tickers, but different methodologies. So, let’s examine how these ETFs live up to their tech dividend billings.

TDV: A familiar playbook

As its name implies, the ProShares S&P Technology Dividend Aristocrats ETF has Dividend Aristocrats DNA. The TDV follows the S&P Technology Dividend Aristocrats – a collection of tech companies that have increased payouts for at least seven straight years.

With tech and dividends still considered newlyweds, that index requirement sounds confining, but TDV holds 38 stocks. That roster size is aided by index flexibility that allows for “tech-related” companies. Mastercard (MA 0.42%) and Visa (V 1.39%) being prime examples.

If there’s a rub with TDV’s plumbing, it’s that the dividend increase streak requirement precludes some big names from entering the index. For example, Alphabet (GOOG -0.98%) and Nvidia (NVDA 0.24%) are dividend payers, but they haven’t increased payouts for seven straight years, so they’re not yet candidates for TDV admission.

TDV has points in its favor, including equally weighting its holdings. That means the ETF can be an income-generating complement to stakes in tech funds that weigh components by market capitalization – many of which have rosters where a small number of stocks command whopping percentages of the portfolios.

TDIV: Tech dividend flexibility

While TDV’s dividend increase streak mandate has a country club membership feel to it, the First Trust NASDAQ Technology Dividend Index Fund has its own elements of exclusivity. The fund follows the Nasdaq Technology Dividend™ Index, which has several rules dividend investors need to acknowledge. Those include requiring member firms to have paid a dividend over the past year, no payout cuts over that time and a minimum yield of 0.50%.

By eschewing the payout increase streak protocol, TDIV sports a significantly larger roster than its rival – 94 holdings to be precise. There’s another big difference between the tech dividend ETFs. TDIV holdings are dividend value-weighted. In plain English, the ETF’s index places added emphasis on stocks with big dividends and massive market caps. Hence, Broadcom (AVGO 0.88%), Oracle (ORCL 0.84%) and Microsoft combine for nearly a quarter of the ETF’s weight. TDIV has a different way of doing things, but it’s hard to argue with its performance since inception in August 2012.

There are other marquee differences between TDIV and its nearest competitor. Notably, the First Trust ETF can hold international stocks, some of which have been additive to performance, and 20% of its portfolio can be allocated to communication services stocks. The latter point is pertinent because if Alphabet and Meta Platforms (META -1.08%) increase their payouts enough to drive their yields to 0.50%, those stocks would be eligible for TDIV admittance, perhaps increasing the ETF’s growth profile along the way.

Different tech dividend strokes for different folks

For fee-conscious investors, TDV is an appealing option because its annual expense ratio is 0.45%, or $45 on a $10,000 position, compared to TDIV’s 0.50%, but fee tussles aren’t the end ETF comparisons. Smart investors know there’s more to the story.

The ProShares ETF may be more appropriate for investors seeking documented dividend dependability via an instrument that as currently constructed, leans into mature, older guard technology companies. Plus, the fund’s equal-weight methodology may be attractive at a time when so many cap-weighted indexes are heavily concentrated in a small number of stocks.

On the other hand, TDIV is perhaps the better choice for growth investors that want a dash of income. Past performance isn’t a guarantee of future returns, but it shouldn’t be ignored that over the past three years, TDIV’s returns and volatility traits stacked up well against some traditional tech ETFs, indicating its flexibility and index mechanics play in investors’ favor.

Oct. 2 (UPI) — Officials for San Francisco-based Perplexity AI on Thursday announced the tech startup’s Comet browser that is powered by artificial intelligence is free to download and available globally.

Perplexity initially launched the Comet browser in July for its Perplexity Max subscribers and created a waitlist for others, which now includes millions of potential users, according to CNBC.

The browser features a “sidecar assistant” that helps users to more effectively browse the World Wide Web and can summarize and explain content on particular web pages, TechCrunch reported.

Paid Max subscribers also can access a “background assistant “that helps Comet users to multitask while online.”

Additional Comet browser tools for free users include Discover, which aggregates news and content for individual users, and Shopping, which helps with price comparisons for online shoppers.

Spaces is another Comet tool and helps to organize projects and manage their progress, and a Finance tool assists with budgeting, tracking spending and staying abreast of investments.

A Sports tool offers updates schedules, scores and sports news, while a Travel tool provides information on potential destinations, travel and accommodation costs.

Those who continue to subscribe to Perplexity Max can access AI models and use an email assistant that helps to draft and respond to emails and keep inboxes organized.

The Comet browser competes directly with Google, OpenAI, Anthropic and others that have launched AI-driven web browsers and comes after Perplexity officials tried to buy Google.

The tech firm in August made a $34.5 billion offer to buy Google’s Chrome browser, which Google first launched in 2008.

Perplexity was valued at $18 billion at the time, but company officials said they had financial backing from others when making the unsolicited offer that Google declined.

Perplexity made the offer after the Justice Department encouraged Google to sell its Chrome browser after a federal antitrust lawsuit concluded that tech firm has monopolized online search and text advertising.

Tech remains the market’s growth engine, and artificial intelligence (AI) is the theme driving the biggest dollars. With third-quarter earnings season beginning and enterprises locking in 2026 IT budgets, October is a crucial month for separating hype from execution. Investors want to see which companies can turn AI enthusiasm into lasting revenue streams and which have the balance sheets to weather volatility.

Three standouts look well positioned: Nvidia (NVDA 2.54%), the dominant force in AI chips powering data centers worldwide; Microsoft (MSFT 0.63%), the cloud and productivity leader weaving AI into every layer of enterprise software; and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 0.31%), the challenger carving out share in the fast-growing accelerator market.

Image source: Getty Images.

Each offers a different way to invest in the next wave of technology adoption. Read on to find out more about these three dominant tech giants.

Riding the AI infrastructure wave

Nvidia remains the leading force in AI infrastructure, and its Q2 fiscal 2026 results underscore that dominance. The company reported $46.7 billion in revenue, up 56% year over year, with data center revenue reaching $41.1 billion, also up 56%.

In the same quarter, Nvidia benefited from a $180 million release of previously reserved H20 inventory, reflecting adjustments to past allocations. Over the first half of fiscal 2026, Nvidia returned $24.3 billion to shareholders through buybacks and dividends, demonstrating that even a high-growth company can deliver capital returns.

Momentum still looks strong. Nvidia’s ability to integrate hardware and software, plus its relationships with hyperscalers, provide a structural advantage that’s hard to replicate. As enterprises finalize 2026 budgets this October, any upward surprises in guidance — especially regarding next-generation architectures — could fuel further upside.

That said, risks remain: U.S. export controls, particularly on H20 chips, create uncertainty; inventory adjustments have already been part of recent quarters; and rivalry from AMD or cloud providers developing custom AI chips may erode margins over time.

The AI-infused cloud anchor

Microsoft offers one of the safest ways to invest in AI transformation. In Q4 fiscal 2025 (ended June 30, 2025), the company posted $76.4 billion in revenue, up 18% year over year, and net income of $27.2 billion. Across the full year, revenue reached $281.7 billion, growing 15%. Azure and other cloud services within the Intelligent Cloud segment grew 39%, showing strong AI-driven demand.

October is a key month because many enterprises finalize budgets for the next year. Microsoft’s Azure with AI integration is positioned to capture cloud and infrastructure spending. The breadth of Microsoft’s portfolio — spanning cloud, operating systems, productivity, and enterprise services — helps buffer volatility in any one area.

Embedding AI features across Office, Teams, and Dynamics further gives Microsoft the ability to monetize AI broadly, rather than focusing on a single niche. That said, expectations are steep: Any softness in cloud growth or regulatory scrutiny could significantly impact the stock.

A challenger with upside

AMD offers the contrarian play in AI chips. The company posted record Q2 2025 revenue of $7.7 billion with gross margins around 40%. On a non-GAAP basis, operating income hit $897 million with net income of $781 million. While these numbers pale next to Nvidia’s, that’s exactly the point: AMD trades at a fraction of Nvidia’s valuation despite pushing deeper into AI and data center accelerators.

As AMD’s strategy bears fruit, the market upside could be significant. Record Q2 revenue shows demand is real, not hype. If export restrictions ease or new products like the MI400 series gain traction, AMD could rerate as a legitimate infrastructure competitor. The company offers outsized return potential for positive surprises. But challenges remain: Margin pressure from write-downs, dependency on China regulatory clarity, and intense competition in AI accelerators all pose risks.

Three approaches to the AI boom

These three stocks represent the full spectrum of tech investing: Nvidia for pure AI dominance, Microsoft for diversified safety, and AMD for challenger upside. As Q3 earnings approach and 2026 budgets crystallize, October will reveal which companies can sustain their momentum.

The AI boom isn’t ending, but the easy gains are behind us. Winners from here will be those executing on real revenue, not just riding sentiment.

California lawmakers want Gov. Gavin Newsom to approve bills they passed that aim to make artificial intelligence chatbots safer. But as the governor weighs whether to sign the legislation into law, he faces a familiar hurdle: objections from tech companies that say new restrictions would hinder innovation.

Californian companies are world leaders in AI and have spent hundreds of billions of dollars to stay ahead in the race to create the most powerful chatbots. The rapid pace has alarmed parents and lawmakers worried that chatbots are harming the mental health of children by exposing them to self-harm content and other risks.

Parents who allege chatbots encouraged their teens to harm themselves before they died by suicide have sued tech companies such as OpenAI, Character Technologies and Google. They’ve also pushed for more guardrails.

Calls for more AI regulation have reverberated throughout the nation’s capital and various states. Even as the Trump administration’s “AI Action Plan” proposes to cut red tape to encourage AI development, lawmakers and regulators from both parties are tackling child safety concerns surrounding chatbots that answer questions or act as digital companions.

California lawmakers this month passed two AI chatbot safety bills that the tech industry lobbied against. Newsom has until mid-October to approve or reject them.

The high-stakes decision puts the governor in a tricky spot. Politicians and tech companies alike want to assure the public they’re protecting young people. At the same time, tech companies are trying to expand the use of chatbots in classrooms and have opposed new restrictions they say go too far.

Meanwhile, if Newsom runs for president in 2028, he might need more financial support from wealthy tech entrepreneurs. On Sept. 22, Newsom promoted the state’s partnerships with tech companies on AI efforts and touted how the tech industry has fueled California’s economy, calling the state the “epicenter of American innovation.”

He has vetoed AI safety legislation in the past, including a bill last year that divided Silicon Valley’s tech industry because the governor thought it gave the public a “false sense of security.” But he also signaled that he’s trying to strike a balance between addressing safety concerns and ensuring California tech companies continue to dominate in AI.

“We have a sense of responsibility and accountability to lead, so we support risk-taking, but not recklessness,” Newsom said at a discussion with former President Clinton at a Clinton Global Initiative event on Wednesday.

Two bills sent to the governor — Assembly Bill 1064 and Senate Bill 243 — aim to make AI chatbots safer but face stiff opposition from the tech industry. It’s unclear if the governor will sign both bills. His office declined to comment.

AB 1064 bars a person, business and other entity from making companion chatbots available to a California resident under the age of 18 unless the chatbot isn’t “foreseeably capable” of harmful conduct such as encouraging a child to engage in self-harm, violence or disordered eating.

SB 243 requires operators of companion chatbots to notify certain users that the virtual assistants aren’t human.

Under the bill, chatbot operators would have to have procedures to prevent the production of suicide or self-harm content and put in guardrails, such as referring users to a suicide hotline or crisis text line.

They would be required to notify minor users at least every three hours to take a break, and that the chatbot is not human. Operators would also be required to implement “reasonable measures” to prevent companion chatbots from generating sexually explicit content.

Tech lobbying group TechNet, whose members include OpenAI, Meta, Google and others, said in a statement that it “agrees with the intent of the bills” but remains opposed to them.

AB 1064 “imposes vague and unworkable restrictions that create sweeping legal risks, while cutting students off from valuable AI learning tools,” said Robert Boykin, TechNet’s executive director for California and the Southwest, in a statement. “SB 243 establishes clearer rules without blocking access, but we continue to have concerns with its approach.”

A spokesperson for Meta said the company has “concerns about the unintended consequences that measures like AB 1064 would have.” The tech company launched a new Super PAC to combat state AI regulation that the company thinks is too burdensome, and is pushing for more parental control over how kids use AI, Axios reported on Tuesday.

Opponents led by the Computer & Communications Industry Assn. lobbied aggressively against AB 1064, stating it would threaten innovation and disadvantage California companies that would face more lawsuits and have to decide if they wanted to continue operating in the state.

Advocacy groups, including Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that sponsored AB 1064 and recommends that minors shouldn’t use AI companions, are urging Newsom to sign the bill into law. California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta also supports the bill.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation said SB 243 is too broad and would run into free-speech issues.

Several groups, including Common Sense Media and Tech Oversight California, removed their support for SB 243 after changes were made to the bill, which they said weakened protections. Some of the changes limited who receives certain notifications and included exemptions for certain chatbots in video games and virtual assistants used in smart speakers.

Lawmakers who introduced chatbot safety legislation want the governor to sign both bills, arguing that they can both “work in harmony.”

Sen. Steve Padilla (D-Chula Vista), who introduced SB 243, said that even with the changes he still thinks the new rules will make AI safer.

“We’ve got a technology that has great potential for good, is incredibly powerful, but is evolving incredibly rapidly, and we can’t miss a window to provide commonsense guardrails here to protect folks,” he said. “I’m happy with where the bill is at.”

Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda), who co-wrote AB 1064, said her bill balances the benefits of AI while safeguarding against the dangers.

“We want to make sure that when kids are engaging with any chatbot that it is not creating an unhealthy emotional attachment, guiding them towards suicide, disordered eating, any of the things that we know are harmful for children,” she said.

During the legislative session, lawmakers heard from grieving parents who lost their children. AB 1064 highlights two high-profile lawsuits: one against San Francisco ChatGPT maker OpenAI and another against Character Technologies, the developer of chatbot platform Character.AI.

Character.AI is a platform where people can create and interact with digital characters that mimic real and fictional people. Last year, Florida mom Megan Garcia alleged in a federal lawsuit that Character.AI’s chatbots harmed the mental health of her son Sewell Setzer III and accused the company of failing to notify her or offer help when he expressed suicidal thoughts to virtual characters.

More families sued the company this year. A Character.AI spokesperson said they care very deeply about user safety and “encourage lawmakers to appropriately craft laws that promote user safety while also allowing sufficient space for innovation and free expression.”

In August, the California parents of Adam Raine sued OpenAI, alleging that ChatGPT provided the teen information about suicide methods, including the one the teen used to kill himself.

OpenAI said it’s strengthening safeguards and plans to release parental controls. Its chief executive, Sam Altman, wrote in a September blog post that the company believes minors need “significant protections” and the company prioritizes “safety ahead of privacy and freedom for teens.” The company declined to comment on the California AI chatbot bills.

To California lawmakers, the clock is ticking.

“We’re doing our best,” Bauer-Kahan said. “The fact that we’ve already seen kids lose their lives to AI tells me we’re not moving fast enough.”

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24/09/2025 – 9:33 GMT+2

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Shares in Alibaba rose around 9% in Hong Kong on Wednesday afternoon after CEO Eddie Wu said that he would lift the firm’s AI budget.

The e-commerce giant had already pledged to invest 380 billion yuan (€45bn) in AI-related infrastructure over the next three years, seeking to stay ahead as firms race to develop new models. Wu did not give details on the additional expenditure.

The pledge came as Wu was launching Alibaba’s most powerful AI model during a company conference in Hangzhou, China. The firm’s chief technology officer, Zhou Jingren, said that the Qwen3-Max model contains more than 1 trillion parameters. These are learnt values that determine how the system processes information and makes predictions.

In certain metrics, Alibaba claimed that its Qwen3-Max model outperformed rival offerings like Anthropic’s Claude and DeepSeek-V3.1, citing third-party benchmarks.

“The industry’s development speed far exceeded what we expected, and the industry’s demand for AI infrastructure also far exceeded our anticipation,” Wu said on Wednesday. “We are actively proceeding with the 380 billion investment in AI infrastructure, and plan to add more.”

Stressing that Alibaba must push ahead, Wu estimated that total global investment in AI will exceed $4 trillion (€3.4tn) in the next five years. Chinese rivals such as Tencent and JD.com, as well as US tech firms, have invested heavily in AI over the past year.

Complicating Alibaba’s progress, however, are access restrictions on AI processors from Nvidia.

Last week, China’s internet regulator banned the country’s biggest tech firms from buying Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips, according to the Financial Times.

The reported ban comes as China seeks to boost its homegrown chip industry and wean itself off dependence on the US.

In August, Chinese firms had previously been advised not to buy Nvidia’s H20, a chip designed specifically for China, with officials in Beijing warning of perceived security risks to national data and systems.

The warning arrived after the US lifted its own ban on the export of H20 chips to China, imposed in April amid a trade spat.

President Trump’s new sky-high visa fees have shaken Silicon Valley’s tech giants as they contemplate a surge in the cost of hiring global talent and a new tactic the White House can use to keep Silicon Valley in line.

The tech industry was already navigating an economy with higher and unpredictable tariffs, when last week the Trump administration threw another curveball aimed directly at its bottom line: a $100,000 fee for the visas used to hire certain skilled foreign workers. The industry relies heavily on the H-1B visa program to bring in a wide range of engineers, coders, and other top talent to the United States.

The rollout has sparked confusion among businesses, immigration lawyers and current H-1B visa holders.

Over the weekend, the Trump administration clarified that the new fee will apply to new visas, isn’t annual and doesn’t prevent current H-1B visa holders from traveling in and outside of the country. Companies would have to pay the fee with any new H-1B visa petitions submitted after a specific time on Sept. 21, the White House said.

On Monday, the Trump administration also clarified that certain professions, such as doctors, may be exempt from the fee. Some observers are concerned that a selective application of the fee could be a way the White House can reward its friends and punish its detractors.

Meta, Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft have been strengthening their ties with the Trump administration by committing to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the United States.

Still, immigration has long been a contentious issue between the Trump administration and tech executives, some of whom were on a H-1B visa before they co-founded or led some of the world’s largest tech companies.

One of the most vocal supporters of the H-1B visas: Elon Musk, who backed Trump but has publicly sparred with him after he led the federal government’s efforts to slash spending. Musk, who runs multiple companies, including Tesla, SpaceX and xAI, is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in South Africa and has held an H-1B visa.

Tech executives have said the H-1B visa program has been crucial for hiring skilled workers. Competition to attract the world’s best talent has been intensifying since the popularity of OpenAI’s ChatGPT sparked a fierce race to rapidly advance artificial intelligence.

The new fee could slow California’s development and the United States’ position in the AI race by making it tougher for companies — especially startups with less money — to bring in international employees, experts said.

So far this fiscal year, more than 7,500 companies in Californiahave applied forH-1B visas and 61,841 have been approved, data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services shows.

Tech companies use the visa program to hire computer scientists and engineers because the U.S. isn’t producing enough workers with the skills needed, said Darrell West, a senior fellow in the Center for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institution.

Trump “likes to talk tough on immigration, but he fails to recognize how important immigrants are to our economy,” he said. “Companies in technology, agriculture, hotels, restaurants and construction rely heavily on immigrants, and slowing that flow is going to be devastating for companies in those areas.”

In his executive order, the Trump administration noted that some companies, such as information technology firms, have allegedly misused the program, citing mass layoffs in the tech industry and the difficulty young college graduates face in landing jobs.

“President Trump promised to put American workers first, and this commonsense action does just that by discouraging companies from spamming the system and driving down American wages,” Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement.

Economists and tech executives, though, have pointed to other factors affecting hiring, including economic uncertainty from tariffs, a shift in investments and the rise of AI tools that could complete tasks typically filled by entry-level workers.

California’s unemployment rate of 5.5% in August was higher than the U.S. unemployment rate of 4.3%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The rollout of the new changes has been “extremely chaotic,” and while the White House has tried to clear up some of the confusion, tech companies still have a lot of questions about how the fee would work, said Adam Kovacevich, chief executive of the Chamber of Progress, a center-left tech industry policy coalition.

“You never know what you’re gonna end up with the final policy in Trump world,” he said. “Somebody within the administration drives an announcement, there’s blowback, and then they end up modifying their plans.”

Tech companies have been trying to navigate a fine line in their relationship with Trump.

During Trump’s first term, high-profile tech executives, including those from Meta, Amazon, Google and Apple, spoke out about his administration’s order to restrict travel from several majority-Muslim countries. But in his second term, those same executives have cozied up to the Trump administration as they seek to influence AI policy and strike lucrative partnerships with the government.

They’ve contributed to his inauguration fund, appeared at high-profile press events, and attended a White House dinner, where Trump asked them how much they’re investing in the United States.

Microsoft declined to comment. Meta, Google and Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Changes to the H-1B program could also worsen relations with other countries, such as India, that send skilled tech workers to the U.S., experts said.

Indian nationals are the largest beneficiaries of the H-1B visa program, accounting for 71% of approved petitions, followed by those from China, at approximately 12%.

Some Indian venture capitalists and research institutes see a silver lining in this murky future. On social media, some have posted that the uncertainty surrounding H-1B visa rules could encourage talented engineers to return home to build startups, thereby fueling India’s tech sector. That would mean more competition for U.S. tech companies.

Kunal Bahl, an Indian tech investor and entrepreneur, posted “Come, build in India!” on social media. His firm, Titan Capital, launched a seed funding and mentorship program aimed at attracting students and professionals rethinking their future in the U.S. after the visa troubles.

Global tech companies might also consider opening more centers abroad where workers can work remotely and not have to move to the U.S., said Phil Fersht, the founder and chief executive of HFS Research.

“The more the U.S. makes itself a less attractive place to bring in talent,” he said, “the more it is going to harm its economy.”