News & Updates
The latest news and updates from companies in the WLTH portfolio.
Bank: "Unknown Unknowns for SpaceX"
In recent days slew of banks have issued their valuation forecasts on SpaceX following on from its Initial Public Offering (IPO). The range was extremely wide, from $143 per share from Deutsche Bank to a staggering $800 from Raymond James. However, analysts at technology research company Moffett Nathanson took a more modest view and their share price guidance was $131, and said there was no credible financial model to support anything higher. Moffett Nathanson issued a comprehensive 93-page report where they compared and contrasted the prospects for SpaceX and its rival AST SpaceMobile. They stated: "Never before has so much attention been lavished on a company in advance of its IPO. And no company, in the weeks following its IPO, has been treated to more withering scrutiny. By now, you will surely have read umpteen articles and reports poking and prodding every aspect of the largest IPO of all time." "By and large, the coverage has been split into two camps. One camp has fawned over the sheer audacity of the enterprise and the spectacular size of SpaceX's addressable market. The other has relentlessly lampooned the utter ridiculousness of so many of the numbers thrown around in the company's S-1 and analyst commentary," continued Moffett Nathanson. "We're in neither camp." "To be sure," the report added. "There is plenty to poke fun at. SpaceX's assessment of its total addressable market (TAM), at almost $30 trillion, is absurd. So too are its forecasts for a mobility (D2D wireless) segment that is, to us, likely little more than a niche market. Founder and CEO Elon Musk has called for launching compute into orbit at a rate of 100 GW annually by year-end 2029, an amount that exceeds global in-service data centre capacity today and for which sufficient material inputs will not exist in three-and-a-half years. There is simply no credible financial model that can support what is at the time of this writing a roughly $2 trillion valuation. Our own certainly does not. On this basis alone, it would be easy - some might argue prudent - to initiate coverage with a flashing red 'Sell' rating." Moffett Nathanson admitted that SpaceX has fashioned a monopoly in the rocket segment, with Blue Origin the only competitor but probably 10 years or more behind. The researchers look at the other key expectations outlined by SpaceX, not least its Starlink service and in particular the prospects of orbital data centers. "There are 'unknown unknown' opportunities that will inevitably arise from SpaceX's advantaged position, and those opportunities should appropriately be rewarded in SpaceX's valuation, even if there is, admittedly, no rigorously quantifiable approach to doing so," says the report, and adds that "SpaceX faces significant regulatory, antitrust, and political risk. It is perfectly legal to establish a dominant position in a business, as SpaceX has done in its Space segment, by innovating, taking risks, and driving down costs. Leveraging that dominant position into dominant positions in adjacent businesses, however, introduces antitrust risk. Overseas governments may also be hesitant to rely on foreign-owned critical infrastructure." "We expect significant volatility in SpaceX shares. Much has been made of technical factors such as index inclusion and lock-up expirations. These are not our specialty, nor our focus. What is more important, in our view, is the yawning disconnect between valuation and actual forecasts. We suspect - but we certainly can't be sure - that the market will be inclined to give SpaceX the benefit of the doubt when it is feeling generally ebullient. We further suspect that it will not give SpaceX the benefit of the doubt if sentiment for the broader market turns generally skeptical," stated the firm.
SpaceX cleared to fly Starship again after booster failure in May
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has cleared SpaceX to fly Starship prototypes again, after the company identified the probable cause of the failure of the rocket system's booster stage during a flight in May. SpaceX said over the weekend that the next flight of Starship could happen as soon as this Thursday, July 16. It would be the second-ever launch of the third version, or V3, of Starship. SpaceX also said that this Starship will carry the first third-generation Starlink satellites to space. Previously, Starship had only carried dummy versions of the larger, more powerful internet satellites. This is SpaceX's second test flight of its Starship system, and its first as a public company, testing the market's appetite for the company's "fly, fail, fix" approach to rocket development that often ends in fireballs -- or, as CEO Elon Musk calls the explosions: "rapid unscheduled disassembly." SpaceX completed its IPO and publicly listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange on June 12, making it one of the 10 most valuable companies in the world and raising nearly $86 billion, a record. SpaceX's first test launch of the V3 Starship on May 22 was largely successful. The company's Super Heavy booster lifted the 407-foot rocket into space before the upper stage section separated and deployed 20 satellite simulators along with two modified Starlinks that recorded footage of the Starship exterior. The new third-generation booster was supposed to return to Earth and perform a simulated landing in the Gulf of Mexico. But its engines didn't properly re-ignite, and it instead plummeted into the water below. The problem happened at that moment of booster separation, according to SpaceX and the FAA. SpaceX said in a post published over the weekend that "slight differences in engine startup on the ship" caused the Booster to turn 90 degrees in the wrong ...
SpaceX Stock Drops 25% From IPO as $18.5 Billion Revenue Fails to Calm AI Bubble Fears
* SpaceX shares fell near IPO price amid technology sector weakness. * Starlink generated $11.4 billion revenue despite continued company losses. * AI valuation concerns pressured technology stocks and market sentiment. * Investors questioned whether AI spending justifies current company valuations. SpaceX shares have declined roughly 25% since the company's initial public offering, extending losses as the broader technology sector comes under pressure from concerns that AI-related valuations have outpaced earnings growth. The stock recently fell to $149.47, its lowest level since listing, leaving it within striking distance of its $135 IPO price. The decline reflects growing investor caution over richly valued AI and technology companies despite continued optimism from Wall Street. While SpaceX remains the dominant commercial launch provider and its Starlink satellite business continues to expand, investors are weighing persistent operating losses, elevated capital expenditure and broader concerns that the AI investment boom could resemble previous technology bubbles. SpaceX Stock Extends Decline Despite Strong Revenue Growth SpaceX shares fell another 4.45% in the latest trading session, bringing the stock closer to its IPO price after losing nearly 28.7% from its post-listing high during its first week of trading. The decline has also affected founder Elon Musk's wealth, with his estimated net worth falling below $900 billion as the company's market value contracted. Financial results continue to divide investors. SpaceX reported more than $18.5 billion in revenue last year but posted a net loss of nearly $5 billion, highlighting the significant investment required to expand its launch, satellite and artificial intelligence businesses. Starlink Growth Offsets Concerns Over Profitability Despite the recent sell-off, investors remain encouraged by the continued expansion of Starlink, which has become SpaceX's largest commercial business. The satellite internet division generated approximately $11.4 billion in revenue during 2025, underscoring the company's growing recurring revenue base beyond launch services. Some analysts also view SpaceX's AI initiatives as an emerging growth driver, particularly in terrestrial applications rather than long-term space exploration. Others remain cautious, arguing that the company's valuation continues to reflect aggressive assumptions regarding future AI commercialization and ambitious space development projects. AI Market Correction Weighs on Technology Stocks SpaceX's decline comes amid a broader retreat across AI-linked equities as investors reassess whether corporate earnings can justify unprecedented spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure. In early July, the S&P 500 fell 0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 1.2%. Samsung Electronics dropped 6.9%, and several members of the "Magnificent Seven" technology group also retreated after reaching record valuations. Economic data point to the scale of the current AI investment cycle. U.S. AI investment reached 11.33% of gross domestic product in the first quarter, according to the analysis cited, approaching the 11.49% peak recorded during the dot-com era. Meanwhile, real business fixed investment increased 5.5% last year, reflecting continued spending on AI infrastructure despite mounting concerns over future demand. Market Concentration Raises Bubble Concerns Several valuation metrics suggest investors are becoming increasingly concerned about concentration risk within U.S. equity markets. The Buffett Indicator, which compares total U.S. stock market capitalization with GDP, stood at approximately 236%, a level historically associated with elevated market valuations. At the same time, the 10 largest companies account for roughly 40% of total U.S. market capitalization, exceeding the 26% to 29% concentration seen during the peak of the dot-com boom. Nvidia remains one of the largest beneficiaries of the AI investment cycle, with a market capitalization of around $5 trillion, making investor sentiment toward AI infrastructure companies increasingly influential on broader market performance. Semiconductor Spending and Private AI Valuations Remain in Focus Some investors have warned that AI infrastructure spending may be outpacing sustainable demand. Investor Michael Burry, known for predicting the 2008 financial crisis, has questioned long-term returns on AI investments, citing the relatively short two-to-three-year replacement cycle for AI chips and significant insider selling among semiconductor companies. Memory manufacturers have also benefited from the AI boom. Companies including SK Hynix and Micron Technology have roughly tripled revenue over the past year as demand for high-bandwidth memory accelerated. However, new fabrication plants typically require at least three years to become operational, raising the risk of excess capacity if AI demand weakens before new production comes online. Meanwhile, private-market enthusiasm for AI companies remains strong. As reported earlier by IBTimes.sg, Anthropic has reached a reported valuation of $1.2 trillion, ahead of OpenAI's $908 billion, even as OpenAI is reportedly considering delaying its IPO until 2027. The contrast between rising private-market valuations and declining public-market share prices highlights a growing divide in investor sentiment. As public markets increasingly demand stronger earnings to support premium valuations, SpaceX's post-IPO performance has become a closely watched indicator of how investors are reassessing companies positioned at the intersection of AI infrastructure, advanced technology and long-term growth.
SpaceX Gears Up For Starship Flight Test July 16 | Aviation Week
The FAA has closed its mishap investigation into SpaceX's last Starship-Super Heavy flight test, clearing the company for another attempt to demonstrate its next-generation reusable superheavy lift system as early as July 16. Starship Flight 13 is slated to launch between 6:45 -8:15 p.m. EDT/5:45-7:15 p.m. local time from SpaceX's Starbase facility in southern Texas. The goals of Flight 13 largely duplicate what was intended during Flight 12 on May 22, which was marred by problems with the new Starship Version 3 (V3) Raptor engines. On that flight, the Super Heavy booster deployed the upper stage Starship into a suborbital trajectory but failed to execute engine burns as expected for a soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. "Slight differences in engine startup on the ship caused the directional flip of the booster to be off by approximately 90 deg.," SpaceX wrote in a July 13 update posted on its website. The Super Heavy booster attempted to perform a boostback burn for a controlled descent and splashdown, but five of its 33 engines failed to relight, cutting short the maneuver. "The Super Heavy on this upcoming flight has hardware modifications to improve re-light reliability, along with updates to engine alarms and aborts to match the conditions seen in the multi-engine flight environment," SpaceX said. Those include modifications to the engine startup sequence to make it "more robust to timing variability and more reliably flip in the desired direction, which is done to increase overall performance," it noted. The FAA said SpaceX's mishap report cited two most probable root causes for the loss of the Super Heavy booster: heat effects on propulsion system components during the ascent, and erroneous engine alarm system settings. "SpaceX identified four corrective actions, including vehicle hardware and software configuration updates to prevent a reoccurrence of the event," the FAA said in a statement on July 13. The Starship upper stage also experienced an engine issue during Flight 12, causing SpaceX to skip a planned engineering demonstration to relight the new Raptor 3 engine in flight -- a prelude to orbital flight and reentry. That test will be attempted during Flight 13. In addition, instead of flying and deploying dummy Starlink satellites, Starship for the first time will carry operational spacecraft. Following deployment into Starship's planned suborbital trajectory, 20 Starlink V3 satellites will extend their solar arrays and antennas and then attempt to connect with the larger Starlink constellation via high-capacity lasers. Since the satellites will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship, they are expected to reenter the atmosphere about 20 min. after deployment. "Six of the satellites have been modified with a suite of cameras to scan Starship's heat shield and transmit imagery ... to operators to continue testing methods of analyzing Starship's heat shield readiness for return to launch site on future missions," SpaceX said. As part of the test, several tiles on Starship have been painted white to simulate missing tiles and serve as imaging targets, it said. SpaceX also plans some tests of Starship's heat shield itself. The shield includes load-sensing tiles that will collect data as Starship experiences higher dynamic pressure during ascent than on previous flights, the company said.
Retail Investors Piled Into SpaceX While Dumping Tesla, Apex Data Shows - FinanceFeeds
SpaceX's long-awaited public listing became the defining retail investing story of the second quarter, attracting demand from every generation while triggering a broader rotation away from energy, commodities and Tesla toward the companies building artificial intelligence infrastructure. According to Apex Fintech Solutions' Q2 2026 Investor Pulse report, the newly listed SpaceX generated approximately $1.25 billion in net buying across nearly 2.2 million trades after its 12 June market debut, making it the largest net purchase of the quarter by a considerable margin. At the same time, retail investors aggressively accumulated memory-chip manufacturers while reducing exposure to many of the year's strongest-performing commodity and energy stocks. The report provides one of the broadest snapshots of U.S. retail investor behaviour, drawing on trading activity across millions of brokerage accounts supported by Apex's clearing and custody infrastructure. SpaceX Became The Quarter's Biggest Retail Trade The public debut of SpaceX proved to be more than another high-profile IPO. According to Apex, the company immediately entered the Top 25 holdings across all four investor generations, a rare achievement for a newly listed stock. SpaceX ranked 13th among Gen Z investors, 15th among both Boomers and Gen X, and 16th among Millennials. It also quickly became one of the ten most widely held stocks among Boomers. In total, the stock attracted around $1.25 billion in net buying across almost 2.2 million trades, nearly doubling the second-largest net purchase recorded during the quarter. Apex Chief Executive Bill Capuzzi said the listing demonstrated that demand extended well beyond younger retail traders. "The SpaceX listing answered it. In a matter of weeks, it became the largest net buy of the quarter and a new top holding for Boomers and Gen Z alike. That demand wasn't generational -- it was cross-generational." Retail Investors Rotated Into AI Infrastructure While SpaceX dominated trading flows, the report suggests the broader investment theme during the quarter centred on artificial intelligence infrastructure rather than AI software. Micron became a top-five holding across every generation after climbing seven to eight positions in portfolio rankings. SanDisk and Western Digital also recorded strong buying, while Intel and Marvell ranked among the largest net purchases during the quarter. Rather than concentrating on a handful of mega-cap technology companies, retail investors broadened their exposure across the semiconductor supply chain, particularly businesses expected to benefit from rising demand for memory and AI computing infrastructure. The trend also appeared in generational preferences. Younger investors expressed the AI theme through higher-growth names such as Rocket Lab, Nebius and AST SpaceMobile alongside SpaceX, while Boomers favoured established semiconductor companies and large-cap industrial and financial stocks including Caterpillar, ExxonMobil, Eli Lilly and JPMorgan Chase. Tesla Became Retail's Biggest Source Of Funding One of the report's most notable findings is what investors sold to finance those purchases. Tesla recorded the largest net selling activity of any stock during the quarter despite remaining one of retail investors' most widely held companies. Investors also reduced positions in many of the energy and commodity stocks that had benefited from geopolitical tensions earlier in the quarter, including Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Newmont and silver-related investments. According to Apex, the pattern suggests retail investors were not indiscriminately buying AI stocks but actively reallocating capital away from sectors that had already outperformed. "Retail didn't just chase the AI trade; it funded it, selling the commodity and energy winners from the spring and trimming Tesla while leaning into memory and infrastructure," said Mike Treacy, Vice President of Risk at Apex Fintech Solutions. The Rotation Mirrors A Changing Market Narrative The quarter began with heightened geopolitical uncertainty following conflict involving Iran, which drove oil prices sharply higher and initially favoured energy producers, commodity companies and defensive assets. As markets recovered and equity indices returned to record highs, investor attention shifted back toward long-term structural growth themes, particularly artificial intelligence and semiconductor infrastructure. Memory-chip manufacturers emerged as some of the largest beneficiaries of that change in sentiment as investors increasingly viewed memory capacity as a critical bottleneck for next-generation AI systems. The report suggests retail investors participated in that rotation with unusual discipline, systematically reducing exposure to previous winners rather than simply adding new technology positions. What It Means For Future IPOs For investment banks and private technology companies, the success of SpaceX's listing could prove equally significant. According to Apex, the IPO demonstrated that blockbuster private companies can attract sustained demand across every demographic rather than relying primarily on younger, speculative investors. That could strengthen expectations for future listings involving large artificial intelligence companies and other late-stage private technology businesses. Capuzzi specifically pointed to the possibility of future listings by companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI, suggesting the SpaceX experience may reshape expectations for how retail investors engage with major technology IPOs. Why This Matters The second quarter illustrates how quickly retail investor preferences can shift as market narratives evolve. Rather than simply chasing momentum, Apex's data suggests investors actively recycled capital from geopolitical winners into businesses positioned to benefit from the long-term expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure. SpaceX's immediate success also demonstrates that retail investors remain willing to commit significant capital to high-profile technology listings, potentially providing a favourable backdrop for the next generation of AI-focused public offerings.
SpaceX gets green light for Starship's next test flight following mishap probe
'Erroneous engine alarm system settings also contributed to the return failure, and Super Heavy plunged into the Gulf of Mexico at high speed, said FAA' On Monday, the US Federal Aviation Administration took a significant step by closing its review into a SpaceX Starship's booster malfunction that occurred during a test flight last month, paving the way for SpaceX to officially launch the rocket's next test flight from Texas. The test flight of SpaceX's Starship rocket launched on May 22 marked the 12th test since 2023. This new version is anticipated to be the focal point of Musk's launch business, satellite ambitions and efforts to put astronauts on the moon. After the Starship upper stage accelerated into space on a non-orbital flight that ended up in the Indian Ocean, the Super Heavy booster made an unsuccessful attempt to execute a controlled soft landing in the Gulf of Mexico. Notably, SpaceX has made procedural alterations to address the interconnected causes. In this connection, the FAA said: "Erroneous engine alarm system settings also contributed to the return failure, and Super Heavy plunged into the Gulf of Mexico at high speed." The company is gearing up for another Starship test launch from its Starbase facility in Texas on Thursday. Similarly, like the last flight, SpaceX hopes to return Super Heavy to the Gulf of Mexico waters and the Starship spacecraft to the Indian Ocean after a roughly hour-long flight through suborbital space. For the first time, the 13th Starship flight will deploy actual Starlink V3 satellites, building on previous tests that focused on validating orbital positioning and deployment mechanisms. SpaceX is all set to roll out Starlink V3 satellites aboard launch vehicles by the end of this year-a long -awaited breakthrough as the program has fallen years behind Musk's initially projected timelines despite over $15 billion in crucial spending on the rocket's development to date.
SpaceX Stock Plunges to All-Time Low After Competitor Makes Major Leap
Shares of Elon Musk's SpaceX took another beating when trading resumed on Monday, sliding to an all-time low of just under $139, well below its IPO opening price of $150. It's now over 38 percent down from its all-time high of $225 three weeks ago, illustrating how rapidly the hype has inverted into widespread skepticism over Musk's vision. Following a blockbuster Wall Street debut, the space company has struggled to maintain any degree of momentum as investors continue to ask some very hard questions, including over its major pivot to orbital data centers and its near-term profitability. Despite being valued at almost two trillion dollars, the company lost nearly $5 billion last year. Shares have hovered below the company's opening price for weeks now, despite plenty of bullishness among analysts. The news comes just days after Chinese state-run media showed a Long March 10B rocket booster being caught by an offshore recovery platform, indicating the country was making major strides in catching up with SpaceX's reusable rocket tech. Over the weekend, an experimental Japanese reusable rocket safely took off and landed, suggesting the nation may be right behind China as well. Beyond some steepening international space launch competition, experts believe SpaceX's transformation into an "AI play" may be closely related to its Wall Street woes, as the BBC reports. "Everyone saw SpaceX as an AI story," CFRA investment research analyst Keith Snyder told the broadcaster. "With Elon Musk, any company he touches gets people excited," he added. "But this was also the first time people felt like they were able to invest in something that was being marketed as an AI play." How SpaceX will cover its enormous losses and start actually making some money -- not to mention, prove that orbital data centers don't just make sense but are even feasible to begin with -- remains a major point of contention. In short, the initial enthusiasm surrounding SpaceX's IPO is firmly behind us. "If you bought around the first tick you're definitely underwater," Snyder told the BBC. "It started to look a lot like a meme stock." "If you're an IPO investor, you're ok," Mergermarket analyst Samuel Kerr added. "If you bought in the first few days, you're not very happy right now." Investors remain sharply divided on where SpaceX shares are headed next. Many analysts from major investment banks remain bullish, expecting the stock to make massive gains. Case in point, Morgan Stanley believes the company will reach a price tag of $300 -- far more than double its current stock price.
Knowledge Nugget | SpaceX's latest launch raises a question: What powers satellites?
Take a look at the essential concepts, terms, quotes, or phenomena every day and brush up your knowledge. Here's your knowledge nugget for today. Knowledge Nugget: World's first commercial nuclear-powered satellite and how are satellites powered in space Subject: Science and Technology Why in the news? SpaceX has successfully launched what is being described as the world's first commercially built nuclear-powered satellite, marking a significant milestone for space-based nuclear technology. Let's understand the nuclear-powered satellite and what powers the satellites in space. Key takeaways: 1. The satellite, called BOHR (Betavoltaic Orbital High-Reliability), was developed by Florida-based company City Labs and lifted off on July 7 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as part of the company's Transporter-17 rideshare mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. 2. BOHR is a demonstration mission designed to test City Labs' proprietary NanoTritium betavoltaic micropower source in space for the first time. 3. NanoTritium generates electricity by using the beta particles released during the radioactive decay of tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen. Those particles are converted directly into electrical energy using a semiconductor device. Tritium Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. Isotopes are atoms with the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons. Tritium has same number of protons and electrons as hydrogen but has 2 neutrons, whereas regular hydrogen does not have any. Story continues below this ad Tritium is produced naturally from interactions of cosmic rays with gases in the upper atmosphere, and is also a by-product of nuclear reactors. It is present in our Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs). Like all radioactive isotopes, tritium decays. As it decays, it emits beta radiation. As tritium decays, it changes to helium. 4. The technology differs from the radioisotope thermoelectric generators used on NASA spacecraft such as the Voyager probes, which generate power from heat emitted by decaying plutonium. 5. Although BOHR still depends on solar panels for its primary spacecraft operations, the mission is intended to demonstrate how betavoltaic power systems could eventually support spacecraft operating in environments where sunlight is scarce. 6. City Labs believes the technology could one day power missions to permanently shadowed regions of the Moon, including craters near the lunar south pole that receive little or no direct sunlight. Story continues below this ad What powers satellites in Space? 7. According to NASA, "a spacecraft generally gets its energy from at least one of three power sources: the Sun, batteries or unstable atoms." The instruments mounted on the spacecraft for various tasks need electricity supply to function. 8. A reliable source of power supply is the sun. According to the European Space Agency (ESA), "the Sun provides around 1.4 kilowatts of power per square metre in Earth orbit - a bountiful resource that spacecraft designers do their very best to take advantage of. This is why the majority of spacecraft incorporate wing-like solar arrays or else have them layered across their hull. 9. Today most satellites rely on advanced solar cells with an efficiency around 30% and on Li-ion batteries. When the distance to the Sun becomes too large, i.e. typically beyond Jupiter, then the solar flux can no longer be used effectively and nuclear sources are the only option left." 10. Also, the efficiency of the Photovoltaic cells is reduced by heating from the Sun and radiation damage during a satellite's lifetime. This means that solar arrays have to be of a significant size to deliver useful power levels. This is one of the reasons for exploring an alternative source of supplying power to the spacecraft. Story continues below this ad BEYOND THE NUGGET: Voyager 1 1. On April 17, engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California shut down one of its long-running science instruments aboard Voyager 1 called the Low-Energy Charged Particles experiment, or LECP, as the spacecraft ran critically low on power. 2. Voyager 1 had run out of power to operate all of its systems. The spacecraft is equipped with a radioisotope thermoelectric generator that utilises the heat generated by decaying plutonium and transforms it into electric power. The energy level, however, has declined gradually since the probes were launched; about 4 watts disappear every year. 3. Without such steps, nuclear-powered spacecraft risk triggering an automatic fault protection system that could shut down multiple components at once, making recovery far more difficult. 4. Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 is one of the most important space missions ever undertaken. It was originally sent to study the outer planets, including Jupiter and Saturn, but it went far beyond its initial goal. Today, it is the most distant human-made object in space, travelling through interstellar space at high speed. Story continues below this ad 5. Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977, two weeks before the September 5 Voyager 1 takeoff. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are identical spacecraft. Each of them is equipped with instruments to carry out 10 different experiments 6. The most interesting discoveries made by Voyager 1 included the finding that Io, one of Jupiter's moons, was geologically active. The spacecraft noted the presence of at least eight active volcanoes "spewing material into space, making it one of the most (if not the most) geologically active planetary bodies in the solar system," another report by NASA said. Post Read Question Consider the following statements: 1. Tritium is a radioactive isobar of hydrogen. 2. NanoTritium generates electricity by using the beta particles. 3. A radioisotope thermoelectric generator utilises the heat generated by decaying plutonium and transforms it into electric power. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 Answer Key (b) (Sources: The legacy of the Voyager mission, Why Nasa shut down a key Voyager 1 instrument after 49 years, SpaceX launches world's first commercial nuclear-powered satellite, Nasa, Esa, Isro) Story continues below this ad Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter. Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram channel - IndianExpress UPSC Hub, and follow us on Instagram and X. 🚨 Click Here to read the UPSC Essentials magazine for June 2026. Share your views and suggestions in the comment box or at [email protected]🚨
FAA clears SpaceX for next Starship test flight after completing mishap review The Mainstream
SpaceX has received approval to move ahead with its next Starship test flight after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) completed its review of the booster return failure that occurred during the rocket's 12th test flight in May. The next launch from Starbase, Texas, could take place as early as Thursday. During the May 22 mission, the latest version of Starship successfully sent its upper stage onto a suborbital path toward the Indian Ocean. However, the Super Heavy booster failed to complete its planned controlled landing in the Gulf of Mexico after 5 of its 33 Raptor engines did not restart during descent. The FAA said the booster also suffered heat damage during stage separation about 2 minutes into the flight, while "erroneous engine alarm system settings" contributed to the failed return. As a result, the booster crashed into the Gulf of Mexico at high speed and exploded on impact. According to the FAA, SpaceX has identified 4 corrective actions to address the booster return failure. The company also confirmed that one engine on the Starship upper stage failed during Flight 12 and said it has introduced "several hardware and operational modifications" to resolve "the interconnected causes," without providing further details. The upcoming 13th Starship test flight is scheduled within a 90-minute launch window beginning at 6:45 p.m. ET on Thursday. Similar to the previous mission, SpaceX plans to land the Super Heavy booster in the Gulf of Mexico while the Starship upper stage will make a water landing in the Indian Ocean after an approximately 1-hour suborbital flight. The mission will also mark the 1st deployment of actual Starlink V3 satellites from Starship. 20 satellites will be released during the flight, with some carrying sensors to monitor the rocket's heatshield during re-entry. The satellites will eventually burn up in Earth's atmosphere. SpaceX expects to begin regular Starlink V3 launches using Starship by the end of 2026. The company has invested more than $15 billion in the rocket's development, with its future satellite expansion and long-term plans for AI-processing satellites depending on the success of the reusable launch system. Also read: Viksit Workforce for a Viksit Bharat Do Follow: The Mainstream LinkedIn | The Mainstream Facebook | The Mainstream Youtube | The Mainstream Twitter About us: The Mainstream is a premier platform delivering the latest updates and informed perspectives across the technology business and cyber landscape. Built on research-driven, thought leadership and original intellectual property, The Mainstream also curates summits & conferences that convene decision makers to explore how technology reshapes industries and leadership. With a growing presence in India and globally across the Middle East, Africa, ASEAN, the USA, the UK and Australia, The Mainstream carries a vision to bring the latest happenings and insights to 8.2 billion people and to place technology at the centre of conversation for leaders navigating the future.
SpaceX stock now makes up 25.7% of this top FTSE 100 investment trust!
You're reading a free article with opinions that may differ from The Twelfth Magpie's Premium Investing Services. Become a member today to get instant access to our top analyst recommendations, in-depth research, investing resources, and more. Learn more, and get a free 'Best Buy Now' stock!. Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (LSE:SMT) has done fantastically well in the FTSE 100 over the past couple of years. Since late 2023, the growth trust's share price has more than doubled. Much of this has been driven by the incredible success of Space Exploration Technologies, which it first invested in back in 2018. That stake has ballooned in value. However, Scottish Mortgage is currently in a strange period. While it's sitting on massive unrealised profits, it can't offload any SpaceX shares until the rocket/satellite firm reports its Q2 results, sometime in August. At that point, only 20% can be sold, rising to 30% if SpaceX stock is 30% above its IPO price. But that's not guranteed because it's currently only just above its IPO price of $135. For better or worse then, Scottish Mortgage's day-to-day share price performance is currently tied to what happens with SpaceX. And at the end of June, Elon Musk's firm made up a whopping 25.7% of assets! Should Scottish Mortgage investors be worried? Holding at scale For me, the answer depends on how large a weighting SpaceX is by mid-December. Then, the investment trust will be able to sell the entire position if it chooses to. However, reading manager Tom Slater's latest commentary on SpaceX's monopolistic position and commercial opportunities makes it clear that SpaceX will likely remain a top holding. SpaceX is...a dual monopoly in launch and global connectivity, with Starlink building highly profitable, recurring revenue that the best software businesses aspire to, except that its assets are in orbit and extraordinarily difficult to replicate...If Starship achieves full reusability, the economics of placing AI infrastructure in orbit become compelling. And that's why we hold it at scale. Tom Slater, July 2026. Fair enough. But surely holding SpaceX "at scale" won't involve it being over 20% of total assets, though? If so, then I think there's a lot of concentration risk because SpaceX's valuation looks too high to me. At a market cap of $1.8trn, it's trading at around 47 times this year's forecast sales. No profits are expected until 2028 due to heavy AI capex. Speaking as a Scottish Mortgage shareholder, I would like to see SpaceX reduced to 4%-8% of the portfolio (in line with TSMC and Nvidia). At this type of weighting, it can still drive meaningful returns if successful, while the damage is limited if its valuation fails to live up to expectations. Beyond SpaceX While SpaceX hogs all the headlines, it's important to remember that the rest of the portfolio's progressing well. Holdings MercadoLibre, Nu, Revolut, and Stripe are growing rapidly as they build the infrastructure of digital finance. Anthropic's annualised revenue run rate has gone from $1bn at the start of 2025 to more than $47bn today. And TSMC, SK Hynix, Nvidia and ASML are all at the very epicentre of the AI infrastructure buildout. Meanwhile, Cloudflare is helping websites identify and charge AI agents for access to their content. In Q1, CEO Matthew Prince said that AI is "shaping up to be the biggest tailwind we've ever seen in Cloudflare's history". Scottish Mortgage is trading at a 7% discount to net asset value. If the stock keep falling, I think it's worth considering on the dip, then holding long term. Should you invest £5,000 in Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Plc right now? When investing expert Mark Rogers and his team have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the flagship Twelfth Magpie Share Advisor newsletter he has run for nearly a decade has provided thousands of paying members with top stock recommendations from the UK and US markets. And right now, Mark thinks there are 6 standout stocks that investors should consider buying. Want to see if Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Plc made the list? Ben McPoland owns shares in Cloudflare, MercadoLibre, Nu Holdings, Nvidia, Scottish Mortgage, and TSMC.
No SpaceX, No Tesla? No Problem for These 'Ex-Elon' ETFs
Concerned about an AI bubble? Sign up for The Daily Upside for smart and actionable market news, built for investors. Two new funds are borrowing from Mean Girls' Gretchen Wieners, telling Elon Musk: "You can't sit with us." Subversive ETFs filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week to launch a pair of "ex-Elon funds," including the Nasdaq-100 Ex-Elon Enterprises ETF (QQNE) and S&P 500 Ex-Elon Enterprises ETF (SPNE). The actively managed products offer exposure to the Nasdaq-100 and S&P 500, respectively, but ditch any securities in companies founded, controlled, led or primarily associated with Musk. In other words, mostly SpaceX and Tesla. There are plenty of reasons investors may want to kick the world's richest man out of their portfolios: his polarizing views and right-wing politics, including an on-again-off-again alliance with President Trump, his controversial labor practices, market-moving comments on crypto and, of course, his handling of chainsaws, just to name a few. But will that actually compel investors to move assets into these new funds? "In theory, the ETF is an interesting idea, since many investors may have strong opinions about Elon Musk," said Aniket Ullal, head of ETF research and analytics at CFRA. "In practice, however, it will have to overcome several challenges." Sign up for The Daily Upside at no cost for premium analysis on all your favorite stocks. READ ALSO: New Memory ETFs Look to Cache In on DRAM's Historic Success and What's Behind a Rare Week in the Red for ETF Flows X'ing Out Musk This isn't Subversive's first time hoping that excluding certain types of investments will curry favor with investors. Its Subversive Metaverse ETF (PUNK), which focused on metaverse companies but excluded Meta, launched in 2022 before being shut down the year after. But this time, it's betting that excluding Musk's companies will lure investors who view the "potential corporate governance concerns, political risks, and heightened share-price volatility" often tied to those firms as "less desirable," per the filing. It likely won't be an easy road for QQNE and SPNE, Ullal said:
NASA shifts SunRISE mission to SpaceX Falcon Heavy, drops Vulcan Centaur launch
New Delhi: NASA has switched the launch vehicle for its upcoming SunRISE (Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment) mission, which will use a trio of SpaceX Falcon Heavy rockets instead of a United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur. This mission then will take off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a rideshare with the U.S. Space Force's Space Systems Command. NASA has not yet released a new launch date and will announce revised timing at a later date. Sunrise will examine radio bursts generated from the Sun prior to powerful outbursts of charged particles reaching Earth. These observations may help scientists better predict space weather and could be used to shield satellites, astronauts and other vital space systems from damaging space storms of solar energetic particles. Six small satellites will work as one giant radio telescope Sunrise is a constellation of six toaster-sized SmallSats that will be part of a flying formation, just above geosynchronous orbit, about 35,000 kilometres above the Earth. As a combined giant radio telescope, they will be able to pick up weak radio signals from the outer layers of the Sun's atmosphere, the corona. According to NASA, these radio signals reach Earth before the energetic particles that produce them. As the radio bursts are tracked, researchers hope to start predicting solar storms at a much earlier stage in the development of these storms, which can affect satellites, communication systems, and astronauts on space missions. Spacecraft ready for launch The six SmallSats have been assembled and tested at Utah State University's Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) at Logan, Utah. Until it is confirmed by NASA, the spacecraft will be kept in storage. Sunrise is part of NASA's Science Mission Directorate's Heliophysics Division's Mission of Opportunity programme. The University of Michigan leads the science investigation, with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), managed by Caltech, responsible for project and mission operations. The mission is part of NASA's Explorers Program, which is managed by the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center.
Sam Altman mocks Anthropic's 'hard questions' campaign -- 'I thought this was satire'
After an amusing exchange of words with SpaceXAI's Elon Musk, Sam Altman has now taken a fresh jab at another competitor - Anthropic. In his latest post on X, Altman dismissed a new promotional video from Anthropic, touting it as what he initially assumed to be satire, but it wasn't. The video, which asks Anthropic's users to pose the toughest of questions to AI, caught Altman's attention, leading him to call out Anthropic for silently downgrading its service and withholding access. In the post, Altman went on to say, "i thought this was satire, kept looking for the handle to be spelled c1audeai or something." In another follow-up post, he added, "hard questions are great but only if we deem you worthy enough to not silently downgrade you, or even get access at all". Altman's comment comes a day after his heated exchange of words with Elon Musk, who accused the OpenAI CEO of scamming people, with Altman calling out Musk for selling public market investors on "short-term data centres". What Anthropic's video says about AI The original Anthropic post promotes a cinematic advertising-style video and initiative inviting the public to submit their toughest, most uncomfortable questions about AI. Titled "There's hope in hard questions," the 90-second film features real voices from surveys and user conversations raising concerns such as: "Can AI be trusted?", "Will it benefit the majority of people?", impacts on jobs and society, misuse risks, and broader philosophical issues about humanity and technology. Anthropic positioned the campaign as a commitment to transparent AI. The video is based on extensive research, including a 52,000-person US survey and feedback from over 81,000 ClaudeClaude users, promising to publicly track progress on addressing these questions while admitting shortcomings. The company directs people to claude.com/hard-questions to participate. Altman accuses Anthropic of hypocrisy, gatekeeping Altman's response to Anthropic highlights the ongoing rivalry between the two AI safety-focused labs. Previously, Altman has criticised Anthropic for what he sees as an elitist approach, i.e., serving premium products to wealthier users while allegedly restricting broader access and controlling AI usage (such as blocking certain companies from their coding tools). This comes at a time when Anthropic is witnessing runaway success with its Claude Fable - an AI model that's considered among the most powerful ones available to humans today. OpenAI followed suit with its GPT-5.6 models, promising similar levels of AI processing performance. The timing of Altman's comments adds extra spice to Altman's slew of controversies, which reemerged after a while over a renewed public feud with Elon Musk. Over the weekend, Musk accused Altman of scamming, especially in light of an Apple lawsuit against OpenAI alleging trade secret theft. Musk posted jabs like "Scam Altman strikes again" and referenced alleged theft of "open source AI charity" and Apple's technology. Altman responded by highlighting benchmarks suggesting that OpenAI's latest model (5.6 Sol) as potentially the world's best, adding that "the most reliable way to tell is that elon is obsessed with me again." Musk retorted about upcoming orbital data centers and parole officer quips.
Anthropic 'clear leader in AI', says Musk. Here's what the SpaceX chief really means
Elon Musk does not often admit he was wrong. But he has. Responding on X to a user who noted that SpaceX controls the computing power Anthropic depends on, and could, in theory, cut it off, Musk said he never would. He went further, calling Anthropic the clear leader in AI and saying no rival had shipped a model as good as its Mythos and Fable systems. He expects a Mythos 2 before long. The turn is surprising, given that last September, he wrote that winning was never a possible outcome for Anthropic. In February, after it raised $30bn at a $380bn valuation, he called its models "misanthropic and evil" and told it to fix them. Five months on, the same company is his benchmark for the field. The praise is not free Take the compliment at face value and it reads as rare humility. Look at the plumbing and a second motive appears. In May, Anthropic agreed to lease the entire output of xAI's Colossus 1 data centre near Memphis, about 300 megawatts, paying roughly $1.25bn a month through 2029. That is close to $40bn flowing to Musk's side of the table. He is not just admiring Anthropic. He is billing it. A rival who pays you $40bn is a rival worth flattering. Musk's pledge not to weaponise that dependence costs him nothing and buys goodwill with a customer he needs. The admiration may be real. It is also good business. Playground politics? The sharper reading sits one company over. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 as a non-profit, left the board in 2018 after the others refused to hand him control, and has fought it since. He sued Altman and OpenAI in 2024, accusing them of abandoning the founding mission for private gain. He sought more than $150bn in damages, Altman's removal and the unwinding of the for-profit structure. In May, a jury threw the case out, finding Musk had waited too long to file. He called the verdict a "calendar technicality" and vowed to appeal. By July, the feud was personal again. Musk branded Altman "Scam Altman" after Apple sued OpenAI, and Altman replied that the surest sign his new model led the field was that Musk was obsessed with him again. Against that backdrop, crowning Anthropic the leader does double duty. It is a real judgement about the models. It is also a way to tell the market that the AI company that matters is not the one he is suing. Both are racing to the same finish line Timing sharpens the point. Both firms filed confidentially for stock market listings in June, within days of each other. Anthropic, valued at about $965bn in private markets, is pushing for a Nasdaq debut as early as October. It could be the first company to list at close to $1tn, and it expects its first profitable quarter, with around $559m in operating income on $10.9bn of revenue.
Anthropic 'clear leader in AI', says Musk. Here's what the SpaceX chief really means
Elon Musk does not often admit he was wrong. But he has. Responding on X to a user who noted that SpaceX controls the computing power Anthropic depends on, and could, in theory, cut it off, Musk said he never would. He went further, calling Anthropic the clear leader in AI and saying no rival had shipped a model as good as its Mythos and Fable systems. He expects a Mythos 2 before long. The turn is surprising, given that last September, he wrote that winning was never a possible outcome for Anthropic. In February, after it raised $30bn at a $380bn valuation, he called its models "misanthropic and evil" and told it to fix them. Five months on, the same company is his benchmark for the field. The praise is not free Take the compliment at face value and it reads as rare humility. Look at the plumbing and a second motive appears. In May, Anthropic agreed to lease the entire output of xAI's Colossus 1 data centre near Memphis, about 300 megawatts, paying roughly $1.25bn a month through 2029. That is close to $40bn flowing to Musk's side of the table. He is not just admiring Anthropic. He is billing it. A rival who pays you $40bn is a rival worth flattering. Musk's pledge not to weaponise that dependence costs him nothing and buys goodwill with a customer he needs. The admiration may be real. It is also good business. Playground politics? The sharper reading sits one company over. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 as a non-profit, left the board in 2018 after the others refused to hand him control, and has fought it since. He sued Altman and OpenAI in 2024, accusing them of abandoning the founding mission for private gain. He sought more than $150bn in damages, Altman's removal and the unwinding of the for-profit structure. In May, a jury threw the case out, finding Musk had waited too long to file. He called the verdict a "calendar technicality" and vowed to appeal. By July, the feud was personal again. Musk branded Altman "Scam Altman" after Apple sued OpenAI, and Altman replied that the surest sign his new model led the field was that Musk was obsessed with him again. Against that backdrop, crowning Anthropic the leader does double duty. It is a real judgement about the models. It is also a way to tell the market that the AI company that matters is not the one he is suing. Both are racing to the same finish line Timing sharpens the point. Both firms filed confidentially for stock market listings in June, within days of each other. Anthropic, valued at about $965bn in private markets, is pushing for a Nasdaq debut as early as October. It could be the first company to list at close to $1tn, and it expects its first profitable quarter, with around $559m in operating income on $10.9bn of revenue.
Share Market News: IT stocks hits upper circuit as company signs a 5-year AI deal with SpaceX International, check details here
Under this agreement, BCSSL-USA will be able to provide tailored services related to artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, cloud-based AI platforms, enterprise AI solutions, AI consulting, AI integration, and digital transformation. New Delhi: Shares of Blue Cloud Softech Solutions Ltd., a small-cap AI-based IT company with a market cap of Rs 1,712.51 crore, hit a 5 percent upper circuit in the opening trade even as the benchmark indices fell due to ongoing tensions in the Middle East. The stock opened at Rs 22 on the BSE today against the previous close of Rs 21.66 and gained to touch the high of Rs 22.74. The action comes as the company announced in its latest exchange filing that its US-based subsidiary, BCSSL-USA, has entered into a five-year Master Services Agreement (MSA) with SpaceX International Ltd. Under this agreement, BCSSL-USA will be able to provide tailored services related to artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, cloud-based AI platforms, enterprise AI solutions, AI consulting, AI integration, and digital transformation. Tejesh Kumar Kodali, Chairman of Blue Cloud Softech Group, stated that this five-year agreement with SpaceX International Ltd. is a major step toward expanding the company's global AI business. According to him, this agreement will enable BCSSL-USA to provide enterprise AI solutions and AI infrastructure services at scale. He added that this partnership demonstrates customer confidence in the company's AI capabilities and will further strengthen the company's presence in international markets. Bhaskar Nallamilli, CEO of BCSSL-USA, said this agreement further strengthens the company's position as a trusted partner in the field of enterprise AI transformation. He added that the company will work with the customer to provide large-scale AI infrastructure, a cloud-based AI platform, and AI-enabled digital transformation services. All of these services will be provided under separate Statements of Work to be negotiated between the two parties. Markets tumble in early trade as rising oil prices dent sentiment Market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined in early trade on Tuesday dragged by a sharp rally in crude oil prices due to the renewed flare-up in West Asia. Fresh foreign fund outflows and a weak trend in global peers also put pressure on the markets. The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 552.99 points to 77,063.41 in early trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty declined 160.45 points to 24,050.55. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, quoted 1.63 per cent higher at USD 84.60 per barrel. "There are some headwinds blowing again which might impact the Indian market in the near-term. The escalation of US-Iran conflict has pushed Brent crude to USD 84. If this spike continues it will again start impacting India's macros," VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said. Disclaimer: India.com provides stock market news for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. Readers are encouraged to consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
Anthropic 'clear leader in AI', says Musk. Here's what the SpaceX chief really means
Elon Musk does not often admit he was wrong. But he has. Responding on X to a user who noted that SpaceX controls the computing power Anthropic depends on, and could, in theory, cut it off, Musk said he never would. He went further, calling Anthropic the clear leader in AI and saying no rival had shipped a model as good as its Mythos and Fable systems. He expects a Mythos 2 before long. The turn is surprising, given that last September, he wrote that winning was never a possible outcome for Anthropic. In February, after it raised $30bn at a $380bn valuation, he called its models "misanthropic and evil" and told it to fix them. Five months on, the same company is his benchmark for the field. The praise is not free Take the compliment at face value and it reads as rare humility. Look at the plumbing and a second motive appears. In May, Anthropic agreed to lease the entire output of xAI's Colossus 1 data centre near Memphis, about 300 megawatts, paying roughly $1.25bn a month through 2029. That is close to $40bn flowing to Musk's side of the table. He is not just admiring Anthropic. He is billing it. A rival who pays you $40bn is a rival worth flattering. Musk's pledge not to weaponise that dependence costs him nothing and buys goodwill with a customer he needs. The admiration may be real. It is also good business. Playground politics? The sharper reading sits one company over. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 as a non-profit, left the board in 2018 after the others refused to hand him control, and has fought it since. He sued Altman and OpenAI in 2024, accusing them of abandoning the founding mission for private gain. He sought more than $150bn in damages, Altman's removal and the unwinding of the for-profit structure. In May, a jury threw the case out, finding Musk had waited too long to file. He called the verdict a "calendar technicality" and vowed to appeal. By July, the feud was personal again. Musk branded Altman "Scam Altman" after Apple sued OpenAI, and Altman replied that the surest sign his new model led the field was that Musk was obsessed with him again. Against that backdrop, crowning Anthropic the leader does double duty. It is a real judgement about the models. It is also a way to tell the market that the AI company that matters is not the one he is suing. Both are racing to the same finish line Timing sharpens the point. Both firms filed confidentially for stock market listings in June, within days of each other. Anthropic, valued at about $965bn in private markets, is pushing for a Nasdaq debut as early as October. It could be the first company to list at close to $1tn, and it expects its first profitable quarter, with around $559m in operating income on $10.9bn of revenue. OpenAI, valued a little lower and still loss-making, is leaning toward 2027, wary after SpaceX's own listing spiked and then surrendered much of the gain. Altman is holding out for a $1tn price. Here the two threads meet. Whoever lists first sets the benchmark the second is priced against. Anthropic going out ahead, blessed by Musk as the field's leader, helps fix the multiple bankers who later apply to OpenAI. Musk talking up the rival he profits from, while running down the rival he is suing, shapes the terms on which his enemy will one day face public investors. None of this proves the praise is hollow. Musk may well think Anthropic makes the best models right now. But "wowed by the model" and "at war with OpenAI" were never competing explanations. They are the same move. The compliment serves his balance sheet and his grudge at once, and it lands in the narrow window before both labs ask the market to price them.
Anthropic 'clear leader in AI', says Musk. Here's what the SpaceX chief really means
Elon Musk does not often admit he was wrong. But he has. Responding on X to a user who noted that SpaceX controls the computing power Anthropic depends on, and could, in theory, cut it off, Musk said he never would. He went further, calling Anthropic the clear leader in AI and saying no rival had shipped a model as good as its Mythos and Fable systems. He expects a Mythos 2 before long. The turn is surprising, given that last September, he wrote that winning was never a possible outcome for Anthropic. In February, after it raised $30bn at a $380bn valuation, he called its models "misanthropic and evil" and told it to fix them. Five months on, the same company is his benchmark for the field. The praise is not free Take the compliment at face value and it reads as rare humility. Look at the plumbing and a second motive appears. In May, Anthropic agreed to lease the entire output of xAI's Colossus 1 data centre near Memphis, about 300 megawatts, paying roughly $1.25bn a month through 2029. That is close to $40bn flowing to Musk's side of the table. He is not just admiring Anthropic. He is billing it. A rival who pays you $40bn is a rival worth flattering. Musk's pledge not to weaponise that dependence costs him nothing and buys goodwill with a customer he needs. The admiration may be real. It is also good business. Playground politics? The sharper reading sits one company over. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 as a non-profit, left the board in 2018 after the others refused to hand him control, and has fought it since. He sued Altman and OpenAI in 2024, accusing them of abandoning the founding mission for private gain. He sought more than $150bn in damages, Altman's removal and the unwinding of the for-profit structure. In May, a jury threw the case out, finding Musk had waited too long to file. He called the verdict a "calendar technicality" and vowed to appeal. By July, the feud was personal again. Musk branded Altman "Scam Altman" after Apple sued OpenAI, and Altman replied that the surest sign his new model led the field was that Musk was obsessed with him again. Against that backdrop, crowning Anthropic the leader does double duty. It is a real judgement about the models. It is also a way to tell the market that the AI company that matters is not the one he is suing. Both are racing to the same finish line Timing sharpens the point. Both firms filed confidentially for stock market listings in June, within days of each other. Anthropic, valued at about $965bn in private markets, is pushing for a Nasdaq debut as early as October. It could be the first company to list at close to $1tn, and it expects its first profitable quarter, with around $559m in operating income on $10.9bn of revenue. OpenAI, valued a little lower and still loss-making, is leaning toward 2027, wary after SpaceX's own listing spiked and then surrendered much of the gain. Altman is holding out for a $1tn price. Here the two threads meet. Whoever lists first sets the benchmark the second is priced against. Anthropic going out ahead, blessed by Musk as the field's leader, helps fix the multiple bankers who later apply to OpenAI. Musk talking up the rival he profits from, while running down the rival he is suing, shapes the terms on which his enemy will one day face public investors. None of this proves the praise is hollow. Musk may well think Anthropic makes the best models right now. But "wowed by the model" and "at war with OpenAI" were never competing explanations. They are the same move. The compliment serves his balance sheet and his grudge at once, and it lands in the narrow window before both labs ask the market to price them.
Ark Invest doubles down on SpaceX with $52m weekly buying spree
Cathie Wood's Ark Invest has increased its exposure to SpaceX with purchases worth about $52.1 million during the week ended July 10, while cutting positions in semiconductor, streaming and genomics companies as it continued adjusting its portfolios. According to Ark Invest's latest weekly trading disclosure, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SPCX) received the firm's largest allocation by value across multiple exchange-traded funds. The investment manager also bought shares of Eli Lilly, Meta Platforms, X-Energy, Coinbase Global and Circle Internet Group, alongside several healthcare, artificial intelligence and defence-related companies. Across individual funds, Ark added SpaceX shares to ARKK, ARKQ, ARKW and ARKX. The latest filings also showed fresh purchases of X-Energy across three ETFs, while Block, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Oklo, Pony AI, Kodiak AI and WeRide were among other additions. In healthcare, the firm increased positions in companies including Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Beam Therapeutics, Prime Medicine, Alamar Biosciences, Compass Pathways, and Recursion Pharmaceuticals. Ark continues buying SpaceX after earlier dip purchases The latest trades extend Ark's recent buying activity in SpaceX after several purchases made during the stock's post-listing decline. Last month, the investment firm bought about $32.5 million worth of SpaceX shares after the stock dropped more than 16% from its post-IPO peak. The purchase followed an even larger investment of roughly $444.3 million made across four ETFs on the company's Nasdaq debut on June 12. Ark had also held exposure to SpaceX before its public listing through the ARK Venture Fund, where the aerospace company ranked as the fund's largest holding. Earlier this month, Cathie Wood told Fox Business that SpaceX held a "10-year lead" over competitors, while Ark's internal valuation models projected a base-case enterprise value of about $2.5 trillion by 2030 and a bull-case estimate of approximately $3.1 trillion. Meanwhile, the latest portfolio changes showed the firm reducing holdings in Advanced Micro Devices, Roku, Robinhood Markets, Deere, and Iridium Communications. The disclosures also listed sales of several genomics companies, including Natera, Illumina, Twist Bioscience, 10x Genomics and BioNTech, alongside smaller reductions in Personalis, Absci and Strata Critical Medical. The changes come ahead of the second-quarter earnings season, with the latest disclosures indicating continued portfolio rebalancing across Ark's actively managed funds. The recent buying activity also follows a pattern seen in previous weeks. On June 26, Ark increased its holdings in Coinbase, Circle, Bullish, and Robinhood after all four stocks declined during the trading session. Earlier in June, the firm also purchased about $18.4 million worth of Coinbase shares after the crypto exchange had fallen nearly 13% over the preceding month. Ark manages its exchange-traded funds under a policy that limits any single holding to no more than 10% of a portfolio. The firm periodically adjusts positions to keep those weightings within its target allocations as share prices change.
Why OpenAI wants $1 million from Elon Musk's xAI amid Apple lawsuit
Apple accused OpenAI of stealing confidential hardware designs and manufacturing processes in lawsuit OpenAI has asked the court to award $1 million from Elon Musk's xAI company after the former was hit with a lawsuit filed by Apple over the allegations of trade secrets theft. In the midst of legal challenges, Sam Altman is now seeking such hefty legal costs from his long-standing rival Elon Musk over the dismissal of xAI's trade secret lawsuit. According to the CEO of OpenAI as reported by Bloomberg, xAI's trade secrets lawsuit should never have been filed in the first place. Under this lawsuit, the CEO of SpaceX accused the AI company of encouraging ex-employees to steal confidential data from the company, but offered no evidence to substantiate its claims. Later, the judges dismissed xAI's founder allegations and ruled that hiring practices were routine and not based on illicit activities. A federal judge in San Francisco tossed out the lawsuit earlier this year, stating that xAI lacked proof that OpenAI had encouraged any misconduct. "xAI sued OpenAI first and looked for evidence later, forcing OpenAI to spend substantial resources defeating a sprawling, aggressively litigated trade secret claim for which xAI had no evidentiary support," OpenAI's lawyers wrote. The OpenAI's announcement to seek legal costs came on Monday after the Grok chatbot maker revealed that it plans to appeal repeatedly dismissed claims regarding the role of OpenAI in alleged misconduct. The developments have proved dramatic for Sam Altman as he is also facing a lawsuit from Apple who alleged that the tech giant stole confidential hardware designs and manufacturing processes to build their own devices. Moreover, the iPhone maker also accused OpenAI of encouraging some of its employees to "share confidential information, product components, engineering drawings and other materials related to future Apple devices." With lawsuit filed by Apple, the public feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman has deepened as they exchanged barbs on X platform. In response to this alleged lawsuit, Musk criticized Altman calling him a "scammer" who took this alleged crime to another new level. Musk also claimed on his X post that OpenAI CEO "had graduated from stealing an open source AI charity to trying to steal all of Apple's phone technology."
