Microsoft's Layoffs, NVIDIA’s AI and Apple’s Surge: Latest Tech Updates

The technology sector is once again in the spotlight with news from tech giants Apple, NVIDIA, and Microsoft taking center stage this week. 

Here are the main tech highlights for the week and what you can expect moving forward:

AI Drives NVIDIA Upwards Again

AI darling NVIDIA is no stranger to the spotlight and has undoubtedly had a stellar year so far, gaining over 138.7% since the beginning of the year. Yesterday, Monday, June 3, was no exception.

The company has benefited greatly from the AI boom, driving its revenue 262% YoY higher in Q1 to become the world’s third-largest company by market capitalization. Furthermore, its products are used by tech giants such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. As such, it may not come as a surprise to learn that this tech behemoth intends to develop AI and integrate it into its products further as revealed by CEO Jensen Huang on Sunday, June 2 in Taiwan. 

Huang provided details about “Rubin”, NVIDIA’s next AI chip platform, which was unveiled back in March and is the successor of the famous “Blackwell” platform. Huang also revealed that Rubin will use “a new Arm-based CPU called Vera.” In addition, he unveiled Ultra versions of Blackwell and Rubin which will be available in 2025 and 2027, respectively. Following this news, NVIDIA’s shares surged by over 3% on Monday, June 3. 

Interestingly, analysts seem to believe that NVIDIA is poised to grow further. According to analyst Beth Kindig, NVIDIA's market cap is expected to reach $10 trillion by 2030 which she thinks is “too low.” However, only time will tell what actually lies ahead for this AI leader. (Source: Yahoo Finance)

More Chipmakers Make News

Beyond NVIDIA, Monday was eventful for chipmaker AMD (AMD), which unveiled the MI325X AI accelerator (expected to be available in Q4 2024), the fifth-generation EPYC server process, the MI350 series accelerator series, and the MI400. The company also announced its AI 300 chip and the Ryzen 9000 chips series. 

While this news may have been welcomed by many market watchers, AMD’s shares actually fell by over 3% on Monday noon.

Apple’s Bearish Closure & Upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference

Iphone-maker and tech giant, Apple (AAPL) had a less optimistic year as it “lagged” behind its peers and lost 14% this year. However, the company was able to rebound recently, gaining 0.9% on Monday, and marking its sixth consecutive session. 

It seems that Apple’s latest earnings report in May, which surpassed expectations, soothed worries surrounding sales in China, and revealed “the largest stock buyback program in US history,” has driven Apple’s shares higher. 

In addition, AI integration into new iPhone models has also driven the company’s revenue higher as further AI developments are expected to be revealed at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conferences on June 10. The conference is expected to usher forth valuable products such as the iOS 18 and new AI features while addressing the reported talks with Google and OpenAI to integrate AI tech into its devices.

According to some analysts like Dan Ives, AI “will bring ample monetization opportunities on both the services as well as the iPhone/hard front.”

Nonetheless, as growing AI competition arises and the US-SINO tech tensions persist, the future of this tech giant is yet to be determined.

Microsoft Hops on the Layoffs Bandwagon Again

In 2023, Microsoft (MSFT), along with other leading tech companies laid off employees as economic hurdles and high interest rates took a toll on its performance. This year, despite having gained ~11.4%, the company is “cutting hundreds of jobs” at its Azure cloud unit, according to a report by Business Insider on Monday.

Commenting on this, a Microsoft spokesperson stated that “organizational and workforce adjustments are a necessary and regular part of managing our business. We will continue to prioritize and invest in strategic growth areas for our future and in support of our customers and partners.” 

The latest layoffs come against the backdrop of thousands of job cuts at Xbox and Activision Blizzard in January. 

Moreover, it may be worth noting that Microsoft is not the only company to have laid off employees in 2024 as Amazon and Salesforce also did so.

Whether or not Microsoft’s labor market will be able to rebound soon is yet to be seen. 

Conclusion

Monday, June 3, provided valuable insights for traders, in general, and tech stock traders, in particular, as news from leading tech stocks emerged. What else does the future hold for the financial realm?