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Trade Wars
SpaceX Revenue Jumps 92% In First Earnings Report Since IPO:
SpaceX reported fiscal second-quarter results after the bell on Tuesday, the company’s debut earnings report following its record IPO in June. Revenue was $7.81 billion vs. $6.93 billion expected and the was a loss per share of 9 cents, much lower than the average analyst estimate of a loss of 26 cents. It’s the first time for Elon Musk’s reusable rocket maker to face Wall Street in this capacity, and investors are jittery. Since opening at $150 on June 12, SpaceX’s stock has dropped by 24%, wiping out close to $500 billion in market cap, as of Monday’s close.
SpaceX lost $4.9 billion last year, largely due to hefty investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure. The company merged with Musk’s xAI in February, saying at the time that the vision was to build data centers in space. But even the launch business, which counts on large contracts from NASA, is losing money. Most of SpaceX’s revenue for the year, and its only source of profit, came from its connectivity segment, which consists of its Starlink satellite internet service. Starlink is sold directly to consumers, as well as to government and military agencies. Here’s how SpaceX performed in its three segments:
- Space: $962 million vs. $835 million expected, according to StreetAccount
- Connectivity: $4.29 billion vs. $3.83 billion expected, according to StreetAccount
- AI: $2.56 billion vs. $2.18 billion expected, according to StreetAccount
Read more at CNBC
FAA Clears Smallest Boeing 737 Max To Fly After Years Of Delays
The Federal Aviation Administration has certified the Boeing 737 Max 7, the smallest model in the bestselling family of aircraft, after nearly a decade of delays. The agency on Monday said the approval “reflects years of sustained work to resolve complex technical issues and complete a thorough review of the airplane’s design and supporting safety analyses.” The FAA said it “required the MAX-7 to incorporate key improvements ... including updates to the flight-control software, flightcrew alerting system, and a redesigned engine anti-ice system,” adding that those changes prevent the engine from overheating.
The plane maker is also awaiting certification from the FAA of another long-delayed model, the 737 Max 10, which is the largest in the family and one that some carriers expected to start flying in 2020 as well as the manufacturer’s largest plane, the 777X. Boeing has about 40 of the 737-7s and 737 Max 10s built and in inventory already, and the FAA approval could help the manufacturer bring in much-needed cash, Jefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu said in a note Sunday. Boeing and other manufacturers receive the bulk of an airplane’s price when they hand it over to customers.
Read more at CNBC
Hyundai And Kia Just Set New U.S. Sales Records—But EVs Took A Dive
Sister brands Hyundai and Kia ended July with a bang, but the two marques' electric models failed to keep up with the momentum stateside. For both automakers, it was the best-ever July in terms of sales, as well as the third consecutive month of growth, and it was mostly due to the huge success of hybrids. Hyundai sold a total of 82,480 cars in the United States last month, up 3% year-over-year, followed by Kia with 75,857 units, a 7% increase over the same month last year. The Hyundai Sonata hybrid, Elantra hybrid, and Tucson set all-time July sales records, which also helped the nameplate land a best-ever July for hybrid sales.
The Tucson crossover was Hyundai's best-selling model last month in the United States, landing 19,714 deliveries. The Elantra sedan was a close second, with 17,115 sales, followed by the Santa Fe SUV with 13,373 units. Meanwhile, Hyundai's electric offerings went into the red. The Ioniq 6 sedan was the company's worst-selling model in July, with just 76 units delivered, down 82% year-over-year. However, this shouldn't come as a surprise, seeing how Hyundai discontinued the regular Ioniq 6 trims stateside, leaving just a limited number of Ioniq 6 N available for customers. It's a similar story at Kia. The company's hybrid models led the July charts with record-setting sales figures and a 108% increase over the same month last year. The Sportage crossover was at the top of the list, with a 76% boost in sales, while the Carnival hybrid and Sorento hybrid gained 16% each.
Read more at Yahoo Finance
From Labs To Factories: Physical AI’s Growth Expected To Explode
For most of the last decade, AI on the plant floor meant something narrow; a vision system spotting a scratched panel, a predictive model flagging a bearing before it failed. Useful, but confined to screens and dashboards, watching rather than doing. That confinement is ending. Physical AI—the fusion of large-scale machine learning with robots, machines, and sensors that act directly on the physical world—is now the term manufacturers, investors, and automation vendors use to describe systems that don't just recommend a decision but execute it—on a conveyor, an assembly cell, in a warehouse.
The shift shows up in the numbers as much as in the demos. According to Acumen Research and Consulting, the global physical AI market size accounted for over $5 billion in 2025 but is estimated to achieve a market size of $82.8 billion in a decade, by 2035, a projected annual growth rate of 32.8%. That is not incremental automation spending. It’s a market being built almost from scratch around a new category of machine intelligence including: digital transformation, IIoT platforms, industrial cybersecurity, and the automation stack that ties them together.
Read more at Smart Industry
Switzerland-Based Octapharma To Invest $1.5B In First US Facility
Switzerland-based Octapharma said it will invest $1.5 billion to establish its first U.S. biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Rock Hill, South Carolina. The 50-acre campus will expand Octapharma’s capabilities to produce medicines derived from human plasma, according to a news release. The project is expected to bring 1,500 jobs to South Carolina, making it one of the state’s largest private biomedical investments.
Operations are scheduled to begin in the mid-2030s and include an administrative campus for Octapharma’s plasma donation operations. South Carolina’s economic development council approved job development credits for the project, as well as a $65 million grant to York County for site preparation, construction and infrastructure improvement costs. Octapharma said it chose South Carolina as the location for its first U.S. manufacturing facility due to its access to major logistics networks and deep-water ports, as well as top-tier technical colleges and universities to support a strong talent pipeline and workforce development.
Read more at Manufacturing Dive
HP, ASUS, Acer Adopt China’s CXMT Memory Chips Amid Global Shortage
Major PC manufacturers HP, ASUS, and Acer have begun using small quantities of memory chips from Chinese chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) in their notebooks, according to Nikkei Asia citing multiple sources. The companies completed certification procedures for CXMT DRAM chips mid-year amid an ongoing memory shortage that has affected the industry since late last year.
The move comes as PC makers navigate supply constraints while managing relationships with dominant memory suppliers Micron Technology, Samsung Electronics, and SK Hynix, who collectively control over 90% of the global market share. A supply chain manager providing components to HP and ASUS stated that PC manufacturers use very small amounts of CXMT DRAM only in entry-level models, but do not want to overlook a potentially important supply source, particularly given the highly constrained market conditions.
Read more at Gate.com
Palantir Has 'Otherworldly' Quarter As US Commercial Business Booms
Palantir reported fiscal second quarter results that beat analyst expectations and raised its full-year guidance. The company sees full-year revenue of $8.16 billion versus prior estimates for $7.65 billion to $7.66 billion. The company posted adjusted earnings of $0.41 per share in its Q2, versus Wall Street estimates of $0.35. Revenue came in at $1.94 billion, compared to expectations of $1.8 billion. The AI company develops data integration and analytics software.
"This quarter was otherworldly: our U.S. commercial revenue grew 149% year-over-year, our overall revenue grew 93% year-over-year," Palantir's CEO Alex Karp said. US government revenue grew 90% year over year and 18% quarter over quarter. The company said it closed 220 deals worth $1 million or more, of which 98 were worth $5 million or more and 73 were worth $10 million or more. The company also reported $1.22 billion in adjusted free cash flow, a metric closely watched in the AI space, topping estimates of $1 billion.
Read more at Yahoo Finance
Pentagon inks $3B framework agreement for Patriot, THAAD components
The Pentagon inked a combined $3 billion framework agreement with Northrop Grumman to boost production of critical components for Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptors, government and industry officials announced Monday. Northrop will now become a second supplier of rocket motors for the Patriot and increase structural component manufacturing — including mid-body shells, muzzle covers and rail car assemblies — for THAAD interceptors under the dual seven-year deals.
The agreements, in partnership with Lockheed Martin, come after a slew of munitions deals and a recent Washington-based think tank assessment that said the U.S military has spent significant portions of its Patriot (PAC-3) and THAAD stockpiles since the beginning of the Iran war earlier this year. Defense officials said the agreements are intended to boost long-term demand for interceptor component suppliers, multiply exquisite munition production and reduce sole-sourcing from defense prime contractors. Northrop will become a second supplier of rocket motors, a known bottleneck in the interceptor supply chain
Read more at Defense Scoop
Nissan Posts Recovery In Q1, Net Revenue Up $1.6B YoY
Nissan Motor Co. reported a return to profitability in the first quarter of FY2026 following a net loss of 533.1 billion yen ($3.38 billion) in the 12-month period of FY2025 ending March 31, the automaker announced in its Q1 earnings report. The automaker’s year-over-year operating profit in Q1 improved by 157 billion yen and returned to positive territory following a net loss of 79 billion yen for the 2025 fiscal year, ending in March. Nissan’s operating margin also improved 5.5 points from a year ago, from negative 2.9% to 2.6%.
Nissan said the improvements were the result of executing its Re:Nissan business strategy announced in May 2025, along with progress in manufacturing, vehicle cost reductions, favorable foreign exchange rates, improved sales performance and disciplined cost management, per the release. In the U.S., which is Nissan’s largest global market, sales were up by 9.6% YoY in Q1, which was boosted by the Rogue and Pathfinder SUVs and the Frontier pickup. Pathfinder sales jumped by 32%, achieving the SUV’s best quarter ever in its 40-year history in the U.S. market. Nissan Rogue sales grew nearly 39%, and deliveries of the Frontier pickup increased by 35%. Nissan also plans to launch a new version of the Rogue powered by its hybrid e-Power technology later this year.
Read more at Ward’s Auto
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