Nvidia <----> Corning -- The AI Industrial Revolution Is Alive And Well -- May 6, 2026

Locator: 50735GLW. 

We haven't seen this one in a long time. She learned this one on her own, by ear, she couldn't find the sheet music. Link here. 

 
Back to Nvidia and Corning.

Link here. 

And look at this: TEXAS and North Carolina. 

Again, TEXAS. 

From the linked artile:

Nvidia, the chipmaker at the center of the artificial intelligence boom, is partnering with glassmaker Corning for three new advanced manufacturing facilities in North Carolina and Texas dedicated entirely to optical technologies for the world’s most valuable semiconductor company.

The factories will lead to the creation of at least 3,000 jobs and increase Corning’s U.S. optical manufacturing capacity by tenfold, the companies said in a joint press release Wednesday.

Corning shares climbed 12% on the news. Nvidia stock gained almost 6%.

The deal gives Nvidia the right to invest up to $3.2 billion in Corning. 

Nvidia is getting warrants to buy up to 15 million Corning shares at an exercise price of $180 per share, above Tuesday’s closing price of $162.10 but below the price after the pop. The remaining $500 million comes from a pre-funded warrant for Nvidia to buy up to 3 million shares of Corning.

Ticker: GLW (Corning) -- 

Nvidia: up 6% today.

SCCO: up almost 8% today.

Like all biological phenomena and revolutions, this current AI revolution will also follow the standard "S" curve.

See below.

Point A, about 2023: it had become obvious that one should have began investing heavily in AI by now. Interestingly, the term "Magnificent Seven" (Mag 7) was coined in 2023 by Bank of America analyst Michael Hartnett. He created the nickname to describe a group of seven dominant, high-performing U.S. technology stocks—Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla. 

Point B, about 2028, will be the last opportunity to continue investing aggressively in AI. The Mag 7 will have greatly expanded by then. One might argue we'll see a resurgence of "a" Nifty Fifty. 

Between points A and B aggressive investors need to continue aggressively invest in AI, but transition from the Mag7 to the Towering 20. 

Many of these new twenty companies will be the results of IPOs between now (2026 and 2028).  

Unless there are indications that the growth/excitement of the current AI revolution continues beyond 2030, the investor needs to pivot. And pivot quickly. The market -- certainly the AI market -- could plummet 20 to 25 percent once the average investor sees what is going on. One may already need to consider pivoting from the current Mag 7 to something new.

Between now and then, keep reading everything you can on societal and geo-political changes. The trick will be to anticipate the next Mag 7. My own hunch: pharmaceutical companies that focus on "healthspan expansion" and even, perhaps, "biological age reversal." Beware charlatans.

It's not too late to invest in the current AI revolution, but by next year this time -- maybe sooner --  investing in the current Mag 7 will be challenging -- the real winners (investors) will be those who correctly anticipate the Towering 20 in 2030. Maybe we will see thirty such tickers by 2030 ... "thirty for 2030" --- "30 for 30."

**********************************
Disclaimer
Briefly

Briefly: 

I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken and I am often well out front of my headlights. I am often appropriately accused of hyperbole when it comes to the Bakken.

I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market.

I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple. 

See disclaimer. This is not an investment site. 

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If something appears wrong, it probably is. Feel free to fact check everything.

If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them. 

Reminder: I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken, US economy, and the US market.

I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple. 

And now, Nvidia, also. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Nvidia. Nvidia is a metonym for AI and/or the sixth industrial revolution. 

I've now added Broadcom to the disclaimer. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Broadcom. Now, I've added Amazon.

Longer version here.   

America's Need For Heavy Oil -- Canadian Oil Would Be Nice Right Now -- Too Bad The Dems Killed The Keystone XL -- May 6, 2026

Locator: 50734HEAVYOIL. 

Link here. 

Americans are increasingly pushing back on US oil exports -- why is the US continuing to export oil when we need that at home to keep our gasoline prices reasonable. 

There's so much that could be said starting with:

• the Dems blocking the Keystone Xl 
• the Keystone XL would have been completed by now and have prevented this problem from ever occuring in the first place; and continuing with,
• Biden draining the SPR. 

But that's all water under the bridge or perhaps better said, that's all oil through the pipeline.

This is the key paragraph but I assume not one American in 100 would understand this:

This Is Epic: Apple Just Opened Two Billion Platforms To AI Rivals / Chatbots -- May 6, 2026

Locator: 50733AAPL. 

And Apple is serious about this: Apple is spending more than 10% of revenue on R&D for the first time in at least 30 years. 

This explains why Apple / AAPL remains something to keep in mind when thinking about investing in the current AI revolution.

This popped up today over at x: link here. I don't think there's anything new here; we've discussed this many times, but this appears to be the first time the general public has seen this.

Query: so what does this mean: Apple remains one of the few companies positioned to capture consumer AI deployment through device-level integration and unmatched distribution?

Reply: 

That's a keeper. This is so incredibly awesome, so brilliant, it cannot be overstated; it cannot be exaggerated. The hard part will be explaining this to the public. Apple probably needs to go an huge advertising campaign to explain what this means. At least a 60-second commercial with a lot of 30-second commercials explaining this as well as the right message. 

So, any articles on this? Yup, link here. 

This is really, really cool. 

Apple just opened its entire platform (iPhone, Mac, MacBook, iPad, etc) to "every" AI / chatbot out there. Think about that. 

Two billion devices ready to accept any chatbot, any AI query. And guess what? Every AI platform / every chatbot will want you to choose their platform; Apple might even charge chatbots to access their system. 

And when I say "ready," I mean ready. Like right now. This is amazing.  Well, not right now but as soon as the next iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 are pushed out.

But there's another goodie. Apple does this "within their system." Apple uses "Edge" technology. That means it stays within your system, not subject to hacking by not going to the cloud. This is about as good as one can get when it comes to security.

And for the investor, Apple hasn't spent billions trying to train its own chatbots / its own AI system. Simply letting the Apple user choose whichever AI chatbot they want to use. I like ChatGPT and Google Gemini; others like Grok; some like Anthropic. Choose what you want.

Six New Permits; Two DUCs Reported As Completed -- May 6, 2026

Locator: 50732B. 

Comment: I'm a military vet, 30-year career. I often get a lot of "thank you for your service" comments when folks find out I was in the service. It pleases me that folks take the time to say that; they would not have to. 

Having said that, I didn't remain in the service after my four-year commitment because I felt some commitment or calling. I did it for a lot of reasons, mostly for my family. It was more than bittersweet when I was forced to retire due to the 30-year rule. i would have stayed on had they let me. So I departed with not much emotion. It was time to go, so I left. Didn't think much about it, I just moved on. Really no emotion. 

But now, the longer I'm away from the military and the more I fill in the pieces with regard to my own dad in WWII (three+ years) and my father-in-law who also served 30 years as an enlisted man, the more I appreciate and respect and all the other words one could insert here for those who serve/served honorably in the military for whatever reason and for whatever length of time. 

Today I had a life-altering emotional event when I learned a whole lot more about my father-in-law and his time in the Korean War. Twenty-some years old at that time, his first tour, and the amazing things he did for his family and for the US Army despite barely having a high school education and a father who was returned to Mexico because he was an illegal immigrant when he (my father-in-law) was still not old enough to go to kindergarten.  

Just a rambling thought I had. I'll leave it at that.

Investing: somewhere on the blog I wrote that the market terrifies me. [Oh, see below.]

I mentioned that in an e-mail sidebar to a reader, that the market terrified me. It's now been about four hours since I wrote that note, but all of a sudden a switch switched. I am no longer terrified of the market. I haven't listened to CNBC for about six weeks, but after that "the market terrifies me" remark, I spent a couple of hours watching CNBC. 

I no longer feel terrified. I think I understand more now having listened to the CNBC talking heads. I feel re-energized for some reason and will continue to invest, damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. Maybe the switch switched after listening to talking heads on CNBC or maybe it was due to thinking about my father-in-law when he was fighting in the Korean War. And even after Korea, he stayed with the US Army for the next 26+ years. I assume there were moments when he was terrified and he pressed on. Certainly if he could survive the Korean War and raise a family, I can survive whatever the market throws at me. 

California, gasoline:  California’s fuel watchdog has issued subpoenas to gasoline stations across the state that are charging anomalously high prices and not cooperating with agency requests. How many times has the state done this?

Trump / Iran / nuclear: Trump says Iran has agreed not to have nuclear weapons. Iran has always said they were enriching uranium for peaceful purposes suggesting nothing new is being offered. Iran needs to agree to let in UN inspectors to begin the "validating" process. 

COSTCO: April sales increase 13% y/y. It certainly appears the consumer is doing well. 

The market terrifies me: I had a sidebar discussion with a reader. Idle chatter but it helps to articulate some concerns. Maybe more later. 

Oh, give me a break: comparing prices from ten years ago! I don't even want to hear about it. It gets tedious. Have you had a McDouble lately? They're incredible. I wonder what the customers would be willing to pay? Ten years ago, a first-class stamp cost 47 cents; today? Seventy-eight cents and likely to go up again this year. 

********************************
Back to the Bakken

WTI: $95.78.

Active rigs: 24. 

Six new permits, #42903 - #42908, inclusive --

• Operator: XTO Energy (6)
• Field: Lost Bridge (Dunn County)
• Comments:
• XTO Energy has permits for six Warthog Federal wells, SWSE 9-148-96, 
• to be sited 367/403 FSL and 1760/1936 FEL. 

 Two producing wells (DUCs) reported completed:

• 41552, n/d, XTO Energy, HBU Baptiste Federal 34X-11G, Williams County;
• 41554, n/d, XTO Energy, HBU Baptiste Federal 34X-11H, Williams County;

At Least The Third Company Drilling 4-Mile Lateral U-Shaped Horizontals -- May 6, 2026

Locator: 50731B. 

Tag: U-shaped laterals.

So, we have at least three operators drilling U-shaped wells; some are four-mile laterals; some are two-mile laterals.

See these links:

• Kraken, December 21, 2025: link here. This post has been updated with the second well posted, and production for both wells updated. These are four section spacing with four mile laterals, U-shaped.
• CLR, June 28, 2025: link here. This post has been updated with three new CLR Vera wells. These may be single-section spacing; two mile laterals, U-shaped.
• Oasis, October 23, 2025: link here. Two-section spacing, four-mile laterals.

A reader writes me:

• permit 42424, Oasis spud the HASSEL 5700 43-24 2BHP on April 28th
• this well lateral is 4-miles long;
• the pad is located across the road from the Forsyth well, but makes a complete “u” around the Forsyth well
• goes all the way to the south end of section 36 then makes a “u” and goes back to the north. 

The well:

• 42424, drl/conf, Oasis, Hassel 5700 43-24 2BHP, Marmon, npd,  
• 1280-acre spacing, section 25 / 36 - 157-100;
• the map

The Incredible Chatbot -- Incredible AI -- A Family Story -- May 6, 2026

Locator: 50730ARCHIVES. 

Wow, what an incredible last twelve hours. 

It began with a midnight query -- by direct text / direct message -- from our middle granddaughter texting from a Pacific Coast time zone, two hours her time earlier than our time. I was still up; took the message; my wife, whom it concerned, was sound asleep.

Our 20-year-old granddaughter was completing the first step in completing the first form as part of a US government application for a security clearance.

She was being asked the city / state where her own grandparents had been born.

For me, it was easy: Bismarck, North Dakota.

For my wife, it was a bit more difficult. For the last 50 years we simply said she was born in Yokohama, Japan, during the Korean War. 

But for a security clearance I wanted to be exact and correct with documentary evidence if possible.

I had all that information electronically stored (as well as hard copies in a Firebox). I didn't want to go through the Firebox and re-type all the information I knew I already had electronically.

The problem? How to find that electronically-stored data. Wow, wow, wow. I simply opened Apple's "edge" search engine "Spotlight" and typed in "birth certificate ....."

Immediately the source document popped up -- I was blown away. It might have taken an hour assuming I would have been able to find it in the first place. But within seconds I had the PDFs of the source documents as well as my word documents. I cut, copied and pasted that information to an e-mail message to our granddaughter. The whole process probably took less than five minutes.

I sent a copy of the e-mail to my wife and she read it this morning. She was flabbergasted. It turns out that Yokohama, Japan, was not the city in which she had been born. She used that information for the past 50 years (probably longer) when applying for multiple passports over the years, both tourist and official passports only to be used for travel in the service of the US government. 

In addition, it was the information she provided the US government during her own security background checks some decades ago.

It didn't matter; the government had all her documents in the US State Department. LOL. All they needed to know was that she was born to a Japanese mother and a US-Hispanic army sergeant.

But it bugged her; how had she gotten it wrong all these decades? When asked, her parents simply said she had been born in Yokohama; it turned out it was a lot more difficult than that.

It's hard to believe, but working with Google Gemini, I was able to piece together the events that occurred back on a specific date in the autumn of a year more than 50 years ago!

It turns out, my Japanese-Hispanic wife was not born in Yokohama, Japan, but rather in a small, rural village southwest of Yokohama. I had noted that there appeared to be some discrepancies in the original birth certificate but did not know for sure. When I supplied Google Gemini with the birth certificate, the chatbot immediately confirmed there were some internal discrepancies and explained what likely happened. Based on corroborating information obtained elsewhere, it was clear that Gemini was correct.

To make a very, very long tale short, it was a fascinating journey putting the whole story together. This all occurred during the Korean War and not far removed from the time when the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan. In addition, while my mother-in-law, at age 21, in the late 1940s was giving birth to my future wife in some remote Japanese village, my father-in-law was assigned to the largest US military installation in Japan, south of Yokohama,  and who may or may not have actually been in attendance at the birth. Only the immediate family and the Japanese midwife would have that information. Even a chatbot can only do so much.

But it's amazing how an American chatbot could sort out what was happening in the chaotic country of Japan just after the war. To solve the mystery, in addition to facts, figures, dates and times, the chatbot also needed to know the regulatory customs of Japan at the time. And the Japanese language.

Say what you want, but these chatbots are amazing. On my own, I could have sorted out a lot of the facts and figures, but I never could have put together the necessary Japanese culture to make it all make sense. And I certainly couldn't have translated the Japanese.

I can now put this in a nice narrative that will tell future generations of our family exactly what must have happened during a short two-week period in post-WWII Japan many, many decades ago. It's a fascinating story.

AI: Thoughts On Where We Are In The Investing Cycle -- May 6, 2026

Locator: 50729INVESTING. 

Put the headphones on, turn the volume up and watch:

See the blog's disclaimer. This is not an investment site. 

As readers should know by now, I quit listening to / watching  CNBC since February 28, 2026, the day the Iranian War began. Over the past few days, I've tuned in for maybe fifteen minutes or so to catch the earnings of companies like AMD and AAPL.

Today, I'm not sure why, but I suppose it was out of curiosity as much as anything else to see what the panel was discussing at the noon-hour show. Wow, again, so incredibly disappointing. Part of the discussion was whether "the AI story" would last ten years. It was all opinion, sentiment, arguments based on no reasoning. Just gut feelings. Religion. Not science.

With AI / chatbots, one can get a nice analysis of the same subject. The first industrial revolution was of a very, very different age and time and cannot easily be compared to this, the fourth (sixth) industrial revolution. 

However, the second industrial revolution is much closer in time and in geography to the current revolution and thus it may be worthwhile to compare that revolution with the current AI revolution.

The second industrial revolution was much larger in scope than the first revolution, which was pretty much confined to England. The second industrial revolution was largely an American industrial revolution. It spanned many different industrial sectors but if one had to choose one image to identify it, it would be the US railroads and the US rail barons.

That revolution, the second industrial revolution, lasted 44 years. Yes, that's considered accurate. Amazing, huh? Historians can actually place bookends on such a phenomenon. 

Certainly not one individual can answer the next question. How long with the current AI revolution last? 

There's only one "source" that can a rationally formulate an answer that question: AI, and for a human to interact with AI, one goes through a chatbot.

What does one chatbot say? It's a no-brainer that the current AI revolution will be much more compressed and shorter in time than the second industrial revolution. How much more compressed and how much shorter. 

I posted earlier that the "Sam Altmans" of the world predict that the "technological singularity" of the current revolution will be fourteen years from now -- 14 + 2024 = 2038. There is evidence that some have already seen the "technological singularity."

The chatbot I queried said the "high point" of the current revolution would be seen in the mid- to late-2030s. 

I argued that the current revolution began post-Covid, 2022.

The chatbot:

• the current technological revolution can be traced back decades -- 
• WWII, the Manhattan Project, and 
• the research university - industrial - military complex 
• the spark occurred, 2016 - 2000 --
• the introduction of the Transformer architecture, published by Google researchers in the seminal 2017 paper "Attention Is All You Need." 
• the foundation of early neural networks; and, 
• the current form of the AI revolution began in 2022 (post-Covid).

Query: what was the spark that ignited the current AI revolution?

Reply: 

Like all biological phenomena and revolutions, this current AI revolution will also follow the standard "S" curve.

See below.

Point A, about 2023: it had become obvious that one should have began investing heavily in AI by now. Interestingly, the term "Magnificent Seven" (Mag 7) was coined in 2023 by Bank of America analyst Michael Hartnett. He created the nickname to describe a group of seven dominant, high-performing U.S. technology stocks—Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla. 

Point B, about 2028, will be the last opportunity to continue investing aggressively in AI. The Mag 7 will have greatly expanded by then. One might argue we'll see a resurgence of "a" Nifty Fifty. 

Between points A and B aggressive investors need to continue aggressively invest in AI, but transition from the Mag7 to the Towering 20. 

Many of these new twenty companies will be the results of IPOs between now (2026 and 2028).  

Unless there are indications that the growth/excitement of the current AI revolution continues beyond 2030, the investor needs to pivot. And pivot quickly. The market -- certainly the AI market -- could plummet 20 to 25 percent once the average investor sees what is going on. One may already need to consider pivoting from the current Mag 7 to something new.

Between now and then, keep reading everything you can on societal and geo-political changes. The trick will be to anticipate the next Mag 7. My own hunch: pharmaceutical companies that focus on "healthspan expansion" and even, perhaps, "biological age reversal." Beware charlatans.

It's not too late to invest in the current AI revolution, but by next year this time -- maybe sooner --  investing in the current Mag 7 will be challenging -- the real winners (investors) will be those who correctly anticipate the Towering 20 in 2030. Maybe we will see thirty such tickers by 2030 ... "thirty for 2030" --- "30 for 30."

**********************************
Disclaimer
Briefly

Briefly: 

I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken and I am often well out front of my headlights. I am often appropriately accused of hyperbole when it comes to the Bakken.

I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market.

I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple. 

See disclaimer. This is not an investment site. 

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If something appears wrong, it probably is. Feel free to fact check everything.

If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them. 

Reminder: I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken, US economy, and the US market.

I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple. 

And now, Nvidia, also. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Nvidia. Nvidia is a metonym for AI and/or the sixth industrial revolution. 

I've now added Broadcom to the disclaimer. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Broadcom. Now, I've added Amazon.

Longer version here.   

Hump Day -- Progress In The Mideast -- May 6, 2026

Locator: 50728B.

Market:

*******************************
Back to the Bakken

WTI: $95.58.

New wells reporting:

• Thursday, May 7, 2026: 15 for the month, 115 for the quarter, 272 for the year,  
• None.
• Wednesday, May 6, 2026: 15 for the month, 115 for the quarter, 272 for the year, 
• 42102, conf, Hunt Oil, Burke 155-90-36-25H-1,  
• 41890, conf, Oasis, Feiring State 5793 13-16 3BU
• 41889, conf, Oasis, Feiring State 5793 13-16 2BU, 

RBN Energy: crude oil. hogs the spotlight, but Venezuela has major gas reserves, too. Link here. Archived.

Nearly all of the recent analysis of Venezuela has centered on crude oil and refined products, which makes sense since the country boasts about 300 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves, roughly 17% of the global total, although there’s skepticism about that estimate. But its extensive natural gas reserves shouldn’t be overlooked, especially at a time when many oil and gas firms are evaluating their plans for future investment there. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll look at where Venezuela’s gas reserves stand today, compare domestic production and consumption trends, and explain why LNG exports from Trinidad & Tobago’s Atlantic LNG terminal could play a role in boosting activity.

Venezuela has been a frequent topic in the RBN blogosphere since the start of the year, when U.S. forces deposed and arrested President Nicolás Maduro. In Take Me Money and Run Venezuela, we recapped how the country went from a major global supplier to producing less than 1 MMb/d today — roughly one-quarter of its former output. We then dug into Venezuela’s crude slate in Orinoco Flow, noting that most reserves lie in the 21,000-square-mile Orinoco Belt and are extra-heavy, making the oil difficult and costly to transport and refine. In When Love Comes to Town, we compared Venezuelan and Canadian heavy crudes and why they’re attractive to U.S. Gulf Coast refiners. In Round and Round (which previewed our first Drill Down Report of 2026 — available here), we laid out the practical steps Venezuela would need to take to boost crude production. In The Show Goes On, we turned our attention to the country’s refining sector, while in Upgrade U we looked at the important role Venezuela’s crude upgraders figure to play in any plan to boost domestic production and increase exports.

As we’ve noted previously, U.S. sanctions against Venezuela, along with chronic underinvestment and mismanagement by state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), are largely responsible for the sharp drop in crude oil production and refinery utilization, especially over the last decade. Those same factors have also impacted the country’s natural gas sector, where a poor investment climate, insufficient infrastructure, a lack of domestic demand, and an inability to develop gas projects for export have contributed to its prolonged underdevelopment. Venezuela has an estimated 200 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of conventional (non-associated) natural gas reserves, the seventh largest in the world and representing about 70% of South American reserves, according to a February report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). In addition, if Venezuelan oil production is reestablished to historical levels, that could represent another 160-200 Tcf of associated gas resources. For comparison, the U.S. had proved reserves of 583.9 Tcf at the end of 2024, according to an Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimate published in April. 

Although Venezuela’s conventional gas reserves are estimated to be about one-third of the U.S. total, actual production (about 80% of it associated gas, according to the EIA) pales in comparison at around 3 Bcf/d. Venezuelan gas production (blue line in Figure 1 below) was fairly steady between 1998 and 2018, holding between 2.93 Bcf/d (2011) and 3.74 Bcf/d (2017) in every year except 2003, when output dipped to 2.7 Bcf/d. Output dropped to 2.08 Bcf/d in the pandemic year of 2020 before rebounding back to more-normal levels by 2024. By comparison, production in the U.S. Lower 48 is approaching 110 Bcf/d, with Appalachia alone at about 36 Bcf/d. 

Figure 1: Venezuela Natural Gas Production and Consumption, 1970-2024. 
Source: Energy Institute