Good Morning!
On January 6, the S&P 500 closed at 5,975, down slightly by 0.11%, while the NASDAQ was flat (+0.07%), finishing at 19,621. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at 42,706.56, down 0.29%. The Russell 2000 fell 0.39%, closing the day at 2,268.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivered his keynote speech at CES 2025 tonight, unveiling the new RTX 5000 series desktop consumer graphics cards (full keynote). For consumers, the RTX 5000 series introduces advanced neural rendering and DLSS 4.0 capabilities, enabling the cards to use AI models to render up to 15 out of every 16 pixels. Although Nvidia currently faces little to no competition in this space, both desktop and laptop GPUs are priced competitively, reflecting a consumer-friendly approach.
Jensen also provided updates on the upcoming Blackwell server chips, new Nvidia AI models based on LLaMA 3, Nvidia Omniverse, and their AI-focused Nvidia Project Digits (priced around $3,000), a portable AI supercomputer designed to accelerate AI development. We'll explore each of these innovations and their implications in a dedicated report later this week.
Crypto Highlights
Bitcoin (BTC): Currently trading at $100,635, up 1.6% over the past 24 hours.
Ethereum (ETH): Rose to $3,633 per coin, flat (+0.02%).
Solana (SOL): Down 1.8% in the last day, currently at $213.53.
Ripple (XRP): Up 2.44% in the last 24 hours at $2.44 per coin.
Upcoming Earnings
There are no significant earnings announcements scheduled for today.
Headlines
Canada’s Justin Trudeau Ends Nine-Year Run as Prime Minister Amid Internal Pressure
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation after nine years in office, citing internal party struggles that undermined his ability to lead effectively. Trudeau will remain in office until his Liberal Party selects a new leader through a competitive nationwide process, with parliament prorogued until March 24.
Scandals, rising living costs, and backlash over pandemic measures eroded his public support, leaving his approval rating at a record-low 22% by late 2024. Opposition leaders have criticized the Liberal Party’s strategy, while some Canadians view his resignation as the necessary end of an era.
Taiwan Investigating Chinese Vessel Over Damage to Undersea Cable
Taiwanese authorities are investigating the Chinese-owned vessel Shunxing 39 for allegedly damaging an undersea internet cable connecting Taiwan to the US. The Cameroon-registered freighter, reportedly linked to a Hong Kong company with ties to mainland China, was briefly detained by Taiwan’s coastguard on Friday. The vessel is suspected of dragging its anchor over the subsea cable, which is co-owned by international companies. Despite the incident, Chunghwa Telecom reported minimal disruption, rerouting data traffic to alternate cables.
The Shunxing 39 is under scrutiny for potential sabotage, with the coastguard gathering evidence and collaborating with South Korean authorities at the ship's destination port in Busan. After the incident, the vessel turned off its automatic identification systems (AIS), raising further suspicion. Taiwan’s coastguard has also noted parallels to recent cases of undersea cable damage in Europe, including incidents involving Chinese and Russian-linked vessels. As undersea connectivity is critical to Taiwan’s infrastructure and global communication, the government has convened emergency meetings to bolster protection and explore resilient satellite communication alternatives.
Nvidia Announces Next-Gen RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 GPUs
Nvidia has officially unveiled its RTX 50-series GPUs, introducing the highly anticipated Blackwell architecture during its CES 2025 keynote. The lineup includes the flagship RTX 5090 priced at $1,999, alongside the RTX 5080 at $999, the RTX 5070 Ti at $749, and the RTX 5070 at $549. The RTX 5090 and 5080 will launch on January 30, with the other models arriving in February. Notable innovations include a redesigned Founders Edition with GDDR7 memory, PCIe Gen 5 compatibility, and DisplayPort 2.1b connectors for 8K displays.
The RTX 5090 boasts 32GB of GDDR7 memory, 21,760 CUDA cores, and promises double the performance of the RTX 4090, leveraging DLSS 4 and enhanced AI-driven power management. Meanwhile, the RTX 5080 features 16GB of GDDR7 memory, 10,752 CUDA cores, and targets twice the speed of the RTX 4080. Both GPUs deliver groundbreaking advancements in ray tracing and frame generation, with Nvidia showcasing Cyberpunk 2077 running at 238 fps on the RTX 5090 with DLSS 4. The lineup extends to laptops, with RTX 50-series GPUs debuting in March, and introduces features like RTX Neural Shaders and DLSS 4 upgrades
Aurora Innovation’s Stock Rockets 44% After Partnership With Nvidia and Continental in Self-Driving Trucks
Aurora Innovation Inc.’s stock surged 44% on Tuesday following the announcement of a strategic partnership with Nvidia Corp. and Continental AG. The collaboration aims to accelerate the deployment of autonomous trucking technology. Nvidia, a leader in AI, will provide its cutting-edge Drive Thor system-on-a-chip, which will be integrated into Aurora’s SAE Level 4 autonomous driving system, known as the Aurora Driver. Continental, a global supplier of automotive components, plans to mass-produce the advanced driverless systems by 2027, with prototype testing scheduled for the near future.
NVIDIA DLSS 4 Introduces Multi Frame Generation and Transformative AI Enhancements
NVIDIA unveiled DLSS 4 at CES 2025, marking a significant leap forward in neural rendering technology for GeForce RTX GPUs. Central to DLSS 4 is Multi Frame Generation, an innovation that creates up to three additional frames per traditionally rendered frame, boosting frame rates by up to 8X over brute-force rendering. Paired with NVIDIA’s Blackwell architecture, this feature enables 4K gaming at 240 FPS with fully ray-traced visuals on the GeForce RTX 5090. The upgraded DLSS 4 also incorporates real-time transformer AI models, a first for the graphics industry, improving temporal stability, reducing ghosting, and enhancing motion detail across games and applications.
NVIDIA and TSMC Develop Silicon Photonics Chip Prototype to Advance AI Performance
NVIDIA and TSMC have reportedly developed a silicon photonics-based chip prototype, according to a Taiwanese media report. Silicon photonics, an emerging technology that integrates photonic circuits with traditional semiconductor circuits, aims to overcome limitations in traditional chip fabrication. By replacing electrons with photons for intra-chip communication, silicon photonics enables higher bandwidth and faster data processing. The prototype, developed late last year, highlights ongoing efforts by NVIDIA and TSMC to enhance AI chip performance through advanced packaging and optoelectronic integration technologies.
Toyota’s Woven City Welcomes First Residents in Futuristic Living Lab
Toyota’s ambitious Woven City, a $10 billion "living laboratory" at the base of Mount Fuji, is nearing its first phase completion and preparing to welcome its initial residents by fall 2025. Unveiled at CES 2025, the futuristic community will house 100 Toyota employees and their families, with plans to expand to 360 residents during this phase and eventually accommodate 2,000 people. Designed by renowned architect Bjarke Ingels, Woven City blends autonomous vehicle testing, smart home technology, robotics, and other innovative projects into a real-life environment powered by Toyota’s hydrogen fuel cell technology.
Dubbed "Weavers," the residents are selected for their passion for mobility innovation and commitment to co-creating a more advanced society. Initial collaborators include startups in food services and futuristic cafe experiences, alongside experimental ideas like motorized wheelchairs for racing, personal drones for joggers, and pet robots for the elderly. With three distinct pathways for different mobility modes, Woven City aims to reimagine urban living while ensuring a high quality of life
Toyota Invests $44 Million in Interstellar Technologies to Revolutionize Rocket Production
Toyota’s innovation arm, Woven by Toyota, has announced a $44.3 million investment in Japanese space infrastructure company Interstellar Technologies as the lead investor in its Series F funding round. The partnership aims to apply Toyota's automotive manufacturing expertise to the mass production of rockets, transforming them into high-quality, cost-effective, and scalable products. Interstellar, which has collaborated with Toyota since 2020, plans to leverage the automaker’s production techniques to reduce costs, shorten lead times, and establish a scalable supply chain.
Interstellar CEO Takahiro Inagawa highlighted the alignment between the two companies, stating that Toyota's leadership in mobility transformation is pivotal to achieving the vision of accessible space travel. Woven by Toyota will appoint a director to Interstellar’s board to strengthen corporate governance as part of the partnership.
AMD Unveils New Chips for Laptops, Desktops, and Handhelds at CES 2025
At CES 2025, AMD introduced a range of processors and GPUs designed for gaming, portable computing, and AI-accelerated devices. Leading the announcements were the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D, both featuring AMD’s Zen 5 architecture and 2nd Gen 3D V-Cache technology. These processors, boasting up to 16 cores and clock speeds of 5.7GHz, promise an 8% performance boost in games like Hogwarts Legacy and Starfield over previous models. Alongside these desktop CPUs, AMD launched the “Fire Range” chips, targeting ultraportable laptops with 12 to 16 cores and significantly reduced power consumption, making them ideal for mobile gamers and creators.
For AI-focused computing, AMD unveiled its Ryzen AI Max and AI 300 Series, which integrate dedicated neural processing units (NPUs) for tasks like text summarization and AI-enhanced graphics editing in Windows 11. The flagship Ryzen AI Max+ 395 offers leading 3D rendering and AI application performance, while the budget-friendly Ryzen 200 Series delivers up to 5.2GHz clock speeds for mainstream devices. In the handheld gaming segment, AMD introduced the Ryzen Z2 Extreme and Z2 Go, tailored for lightweight gaming PCs, with up to 8 CPU cores and advanced RDNA 3.5 graphics.
AMD also revealed the Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 GPUs, powered by the new RDNA 4 architecture. These GPUs bring improved ray tracing, media encoding, and AI acceleration capabilities, along with support for FidelityFX Super Resolution 4.0, which uses AI to upscale game content to 4K with minimal latency. AMD’s Adrenalin software suite now includes AI tools like image generation, file summarization, and an AI chatbot interface, emphasizing AMD’s focus on integrating AI across its product lineup.
Tencent Designated as ‘Chinese Military’ Company by U.S. Defense Department
The U.S. Department of Defense has added Tencent, the Chinese tech giant behind WeChat and a major investor in U.S. startups, to its list of "Chinese military companies." This designation, announced Monday, labels firms allegedly involved in China's "military-civil fusion" efforts. While the designation does not impose immediate legal penalties, it bars U.S. government contractors from doing business with Tencent starting in 2026. Tencent, which has stakes in companies like Reddit, Snap, and Epic Games, strongly refuted the claim, calling it a “mistake” and denying any links to military activities.
The move could complicate Tencent’s U.S. investment strategy, potentially deterring startups from accepting its funding and raising the possibility of broader sanctions by other U.S. agencies. Analysts see this as part of the ongoing economic decoupling between the U.S. and China, which has already reduced cross-border venture capital flows.
Intel Shows Off Its Latest Chip Lineup at CES 2025
Intel unveiled its new lineup of processors at CES 2025, marking its most significant product launch since the departure of former CEO Pat Gelsinger. Following a challenging year, Intel aims to restore its reputation with the new chips, addressing past issues like overheating in its 13th- and 14th-generation Core CPUs. The latest processors, ranging from the entry-level Core 3 to the high-performance Core Ultra 200H, form part of Intel’s revamped Core Ultra Series 2 lineup, offering a variety of power configurations and advanced features.
Intel Reaffirms Commitment to Discrete GPUs, Plans Strategic Investments for Future Growth
At CES 2025, Intel reiterated its dedication to the discrete GPU market, dispelling rumors about its potential withdrawal from the segment. Interim co-CEO Michelle Johnston Holthaus emphasized the company’s commitment to strategic investments and ongoing innovation in GPU technology.
Looking ahead, Intel plans to introduce its next-generation "Celestial" GPUs featuring Xe3 architecture and leveraging TSMC’s cutting-edge process technology. Additionally, Intel is venturing into automotive and edge graphics products, signaling a broader diversification of its GPU offerings.
