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AI Love you

Big Tech’s big AI love affair — in quotes

AI is the apple of tech’s eye.

8/8/25 9:27AM

Big Tech’s love affair with AI saw no signs of faltering during the latest earnings season. Combined, Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft spent a record of nearly $90 billion on capex last quarter and have promised even bigger spending in the future.

To justify those mammoth expenses, their CEOs spent their earnings releases and calls extolling the virtues of AI and how it’s contributing to their top and bottom lines.

Here’s what they had to say.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy
Mentions of “AI” on earnings call: 39

“Our AI progress across the board continues to improve our customer experiences, speed of innovation, operational efficiency, and business growth, and I’m excited for what lies ahead.”

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai
Mentions of “AI” on earnings call: 86

“Q2 was a standout quarter for us with robust growth across the company. As you saw at I/O, we are leading at the frontier of AI and shipping at an incredible pace. AI is positively impacting every part of the business, driving strong momentum.”

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella
Mentions of “AI” on earnings call: 51

“It was a very strong close to what was a record fiscal year for us... The rate of innovation and the speed of diffusion is unlike anything we have seen. To that end, we are building the most comprehensive suite of AI products and tech stack at massive scale.”

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg
Mentions of “AI” on earnings call: 72

“On advertising, the strong performance this quarter is largely thanks to AI unlocking greater efficiency and gains across our ad system... AI is significantly improving our ability to show people content that they’re going to find interesting and useful.”

Even Apple, which historically has lagged far behind its Big Tech peers in AI spending, committed to opening up its giant wallet for AI.

Apple CEO Tim Cook
Mentions of “AI” on earnings call: 26

“We see AI as one of the most profound technologies of our lifetime. We are embedding it across our devices and platforms and across the company. We are also significantly growing our investments.”

Rani Molla1h

Tesla is back in the negative this year

After falling more than 6% yesterday in its biggest drop since July, Tesla is once again in negative territory for the year. Elon Musk’s company posted record earnings last month, buoyed by pulled-forward demand tied to the final quarter of US federal EV tax credits, but its margins slipped as steep discounts were used to clear inventory.

Now the stock, which only turned positive for the year in September, is under renewed pressure amid a broader tech and AI sell-off, as investors grow concerned that the Federal Reserve may pause its rate-cutting cycle. Adding to the drag are soft sales in Tesla’s second-largest market, China, and news that longtime bull Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest unloaded roughly $30 million in shares this week.

Rani Molla20h

Meta overhauls Marketplace with AI insights and collaborative shopping

Meta announced Thursday that it’s giving its buy-and-sell platform, Marketplace — arguably the best part of Facebook and the most appealing to young people — a “glow up.” Each day in the US and Canada, one out of four Facebook daily active young adult users go to Marketplace, according to Meta. The overhaul includes the ability to create collections of listings you can share with friends or the public.

The site will also offer AI suggestions on what to ask sellers about your potential purchase. Unfortunately for all involved, the much-hated, easy-to-accidentally-press default message to sellers — “Hi, is this available” — remains unchanged.

Most promising, to us, for comedic purposes: “You can now react and comment directly on Marketplace listings, helping others learn about item quality and discover unique finds.”

Facebook Marketplace Gets a Glow Up

Most promising, to us, for comedic purposes: “You can now react and comment directly on Marketplace listings, helping others learn about item quality and discover unique finds.”

$15B

Rani Molla23h

Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s other company, xAI, has raised $15 billion in its latest funding round, CNBC reports. That’s $5 billion more than the company had raised in that same round in September. Its valuation remains at a sky-high $200 billion.

Tesla shareholders recently voted to invest in xAI but, due to a large number of abstentions, the board has yet to approve the proposal.

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Microsoft to use OpenAI’s chips to improve its own in-house chips

As part of Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI, the company is using OpenAI’s development of custom AI semiconductors to help improve its own in-house chips, which have lagged behind peers, according to an interview with CEO Satya Nadella by podcaster Dwarkesh Patel.

“As they innovate even at the system level, we get access to all of it,” Nadella said. “We first want to instantiate what they build for them, but then we’ll extend it.” Under their updated agreement, Microsoft has access to OpenAI’s models and products — excluding the Jony Ive-designed AI device — through 2032.

Rani Molla11/13/25

Apple to get 15% cut of purchases in Tencent’s WeChat mini games and apps

Apple has made a major inroad into China, the world’s largest smartphone market, by reaching a landmark agreement with Tencent to process payments within WeChat’s mini games and apps, Bloomberg reports.

Under the deal, Apple will take a 15% commission on digital purchases — half its usual 30% App Store cut. The arrangement ends a long-running dispute between the two over WeChat’s in-app payment system, which for years allowed users to bypass Apple’s infrastructure entirely, and gives the iPhone maker a lucrative new revenue stream inside the most dominant app ecosystem in China.

The agreement is expected to require developers to comply with Apple’s software policies and close payment loopholes that previously directed users to external systems.

Tencent posted earnings today that beat analysts revenue and earnings expectations.

Apple and Tencent Agree to 15% Fee on WeChat Mini Game Purchases