TeraWulf secures a massive 20-year lease on Anthropic, potentially generating $19 billion in revenue.
Related
Samsung will release its preliminary Q2 financial results tomorrow: profits are expected to surge 18 times, with executives boasting that "one year's profits are equivalent to 40 years' worth."
According to BlockBeats, Samsung Electronics will release its preliminary Q2 2026 results on July 7th, while SK Hynix will list its ADRs on Nasdaq on July 10th. With these two major events for South Korea's semiconductor giants, the market is highly focused on the industry's health and the impact of AI chip demand on earnings. According to a compilation of forecasts from 30 analysts by the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), Samsung Electronics' Q2 operating profit is expected to be approximately 86 trillion won (about US$56.3 billion), with some brokerages predicting as high as 90 trillion won, representing a year-on-year increase of approximately 17-18 times, potentially marking its best quarterly performance in recent years. Prior to the preliminary earnings release, Samsung Electronics management has already released positive signals. Kim Yong-kwan, President of Business Strategy for Samsung Electronics Device Solutions (DS) division, stated at an internal all-hands meeting on July 3rd that the company's full-year 2026 operating profit is expected to meet market consensus expectations. Currently, the market generally expects Samsung Electronics' full-year operating profit to be approximately 300 trillion won (about US$200 billion), with improvements in AI servers, high-bandwidth memory (HBM), and wafer foundry business considered the main drivers of growth. Kim Yong-kwan also stated, "This year's profit will exceed the total cumulative profit of our 40 years in the semiconductor business." Industry insiders believe this is a rare instance of Samsung Electronics management proactively making a positive statement about the full-year profit outlook before officially disclosing the results, reflecting the company's strong confidence in the recovery of its AI-driven semiconductor business and its overall performance growth for the year. With the release of Samsung's financial report and the upcoming listing of SK Hynix's ADRs, the South Korean semiconductor sector will be entering its most important market observation window in the near future.
Figure released its Q2 operating data: transaction volume reached $4.26 billion, a year-over-year increase of 132%.
According to Mars Finance, Figure released preliminary operating data for June and the second quarter, both exceeding the upper limit of its previous guidance. The data shows that Figure's market transaction volume in the second quarter was $4.26 billion, a year-on-year increase of 132%; of which, the transaction volume in June alone was $1.52 billion, a month-on-month increase of 8% and a year-on-year increase of 155%. Figure also announced that it will transform to adopt a near-real-time operational transparency reporting model and launch a weekly updated dashboard to provide more direct visibility into market size.
Samsung released its Q2 earnings forecast: operating profit increased by over 1800% year-on-year, with single-quarter profit exceeding the total of the previous three years.
BlockBeats reported on July 7th that global semiconductor giant Samsung Electronics released extremely strong preliminary financial results for the second quarter. Data shows that, driven by the powerful wave of artificial intelligence (AI), the world's largest memory chip manufacturer is experiencing its most prosperous profit cycle in history. According to the financial report, Samsung's operating profit in the second quarter surged 1810.2% year-on-year, reaching 89.4 trillion won (approximately US$58 billion). This figure not only far exceeded the market's previous expectation of 84.2 trillion won, but also remarkably surpassed the company's total profit for the three years from 2023 to 2025. At the same time, the company's revenue also increased by 129% year-on-year, reaching 171 trillion won. Following Samsung Electronics' earnings forecast, SanDisk (SNDK.O) and Micron Technology (MU.O) saw their US-listed shares decline in after-hours trading. Samsung's explosive performance directly benefits from the near-"thirsty" orders for high-performance memory chips from AI data centers. Industry giants like Nvidia and OpenAI have repeatedly stated publicly that the shortage of memory chips has become a core bottleneck for current AI development. Because major manufacturers prioritize the production capacity of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which is designed specifically for AI and offers higher profits, this has conversely squeezed the conventional memory space needed for smartphones, PCs, and enterprise servers. This "capacity squeeze" effect has led to a severe shortage in the global memory market. HSBC data shows that in the second quarter of 2026, the average selling price of DRAM increased by more than 40% compared to the previous quarter, and NAND prices increased by more than 50%; Citi Research gives even higher estimates, at 44% and 53% respectively. Analysts generally believe that this "seller's market" will continue at least until 2027, giving Samsung and its long-time rivals SK Hynix and Micron Technology extremely strong pricing power.
AI Land Grab: Anthropic's New York Team Expands to 1,000, Manhattan Landmark Buildings Seek Acquisition from AI Giants
According to Beating, Anthropic announced the lease of a 16-story office building in Hudson Yards, Manhattan, with plans to double its local team to 1,000 people this year. The new office, located at 330 Hudson Street, spans approximately 466,000 square feet, a 30-fold increase from its existing 15,500 square feet. This transaction is not an isolated case; Manhattan is experiencing a land grab by artificial intelligence companies. Data from real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield shows that in the first quarter of 2026, the leased office space for the artificial intelligence industry in Manhattan reached 1.03 million square feet, exceeding the total for the entire year of 2025. The proportion of artificial intelligence in local tech industry office leasing has also surged from 20.9% in 2024 to 55.9%. Besides Anthropic, OpenAI and legal AI startup Harvey have also previously leased large office spaces in Manhattan.
Market forecasters predict the Nasdaq 100 may experience volatility in the second half of the year, with AI trading momentum slowing.
According to Mars Finance, on July 8th, data from the prediction market platform Kalshi showed that traders are becoming more cautious about the NASDAQ-100 Index's performance in the second half of the year. Currently, the market believes there is approximately a 50% probability that the NASDAQ-100 will stabilize above 30,000 points by the end of the year, about a 40% probability that it will break through 32,000 points, and only about a 27% probability that it will rise to 33,000 points. This reflects a cooling of investor expectations regarding the sustainability of the AI-driven rally. Meanwhile, UBS released a report indicating that after the semiconductor sector's surge in the second quarter, the market is reassessing the next phase of AI trading. Although the long-term growth logic of AI remains unchanged, market leadership may undergo a structural shift, with funds potentially flowing from overvalued technology stocks to other sectors. Technology stocks may face more significant valuation corrections and sector rotation pressures in the second half of the year.
AI giants like OpenAI and Anthropic are offering startups large amounts of free computing power in an effort to seize market share.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal on July 7th, as reported by Mars Finance, AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic are offering substantial free computing power and discounts to startups to compete for enterprise customers. The report states that Silicon Valley startup founders are receiving computing credits, token usage limits, and auction-style discounts from AI model companies. Some early-stage companies have received over $3 million in cloud computing and token credits, approaching the median of seed funding in the US according to PitchBook. AI companies hope to acquire customers in the early stages of startups, making their tools an integral part of their business as these companies grow. Cursor offered a 75% discount until July 5th; Google Cloud offered up to $500,000 in cloud computing credits to some startups, along with early access to the Gemini model and, in some cases, support from DeepMind engineers. Microsoft and Amazon Web Services also offer special privileges to startups. OpenAI and Anthropic have recently been particularly focused on Y Combinator startups. In May, Sam Altman announced that OpenAI would offer $2 million in tokens to each startup participating in its accelerator program in exchange for equity. Around the same time, Anthropic increased its free token allocation to Y Combinator startups from $30,000 to $500,000, without requiring equity. OpenAI subsequently adjusted its offer, providing startups with $500,000 in free tokens, without requiring equity, and offering the option to exchange equity for an additional $1.5 million in tokens. These offers reflect the fierce competition among model providers for future large clients. Y Combinator runs four cohorts annually, with recent cohorts featuring approximately 200 companies each, meaning that OpenAI and Anthropic could potentially offer a combined $800 million in AI tokens over the next year. Christopher Acker, co-founder of SuperPenguin, stated, "The AI world is being driven by OpenAI and Anthropic because they are giving startups money to pay for usage costs."