Charles Kennedy: You Can Take It To The Bank -- ADNOC, SLB Partnership -- November 5, 2025

Locator: 49351BEARMARKET.

The market: wow, that was a short bear market. One day?

COTD: did we do chart of the day yet? LOL. This is pretty amazing. Of my "tech" investments, this was my last choice, and one I really, really questioned.

 

SIR: 

Yet another reason why the fourth (sixth?) industrial revolution is not a bubble.  

Link here. 

The announcement, made at ADIPEC 2025 in Abu Dhabi, marks the start of a phased deployment across all 25 of ADNOC’s onshore and offshore oil and gas fields by 2027.

The AiPSO platform, powered by SLB’s Lumi data and AI platform and Cognite Data Fusion, integrates millions of real-time data points from wells and processing facilities. It uses advanced analytics and proprietary machine learning models developed by ADNOC to predict issues, optimize performance, and enhance production capacity.

Currently active at eight ADNOC fields, AiPSO connects office and field operations in real time, enabling engineers to diagnose issues and optimize wells within minutes—tasks that previously took days. The result, according to ADNOC, is a dramatic improvement in workforce productivity and operational efficiency.

*************************
Qualcomm and India

And another exhibit if you need more convincing. 

Link here. 

****************************
The Magazine Page 

The exhibits continue: the fourth industrial revolution is not a bubble. AI is not a bubble. It's the only thing in which big investors are interested.  

The New Yorker
November 3, 2025, p. 2025

Link here. 

"AI Is Thinking"

Link here. 

Trump Changes Everything (TCE) -- Does This President Ever Sleep? August 14, 2025

Locator: 48858TCE.

Breaking: BRK takes new stake in United Health; sells more AAPL. United Health surges. After hours, AAPL down slightly. Of no consequence. We'll see more tomorrow. Obviously.

Breaking: Trump expresses interest in Intel. Link here. 

This is less about an investment / US chip security than about politics. See below. 

There is some suggestion that Intel is in much more trouble than "we" know, and Trump doesn't want Intel to fail before the 2028 election. Intel doesn't have to do well compared to the other chip companies; it just has to "thrive," and at least "survive." Everything I've read suggests that Intel is in huge trouble. If Intel were to fail before 2028, one can almost guarantee huge trouble for the GOP in the presidential election.

By the way, everything I've seen with regard to Trump suggests that he is going to show Americans very, very clearly the difference between the GOP and the guy running for mayor in NYC, AOC (taking on Chuck Schumer), Waltz in Minnesota, and Newsom in California. Trump knows how important the mid-terms are. Ohio has 15 congressional districts; 10 are held by the GOP; five by the other guys. California? 9 held by the GOP; the rest, 43, held by the Democrats. Two districts north of San Francisco are held by the GOP and one district south of Legoland is held by the GOP.

By the way, if Trump secures some kind of deal in Ukraine, could Putin-Trump-Zelenskyy share a Nobel Peace Prize. Up to three individuals can share a Nobel Prize.

Quick: if anyone said he/she had United Health on their radar scope vis-a-vis Warren Buffett ... they're lying. LOL.

As of now, there is no publicly available record of any analyst specifically predicting that Warren Buffett or Berkshire Hathaway would acquire a significant stake in UnitedHealth Group (UNH). The recent announcement that Berkshire Hathaway purchased 5 million shares of UnitedHealth, valued at approximately $1.57 billion, took many in the financial community by surprise.

Apple pays 0.45%. UNH pays 3.3%. For every billion dollars, $4.5 million vs $33 million. AAPL has been and is likely to be "dead money"; UNH is so low (historically) it can only go up. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant move on Warren Buffett's part. 

Quick: what state is JD Vance from? What is Intel doing in Ohio?

Intel is heavily invested in Ohio, particularly in Licking County, where they are building two new leading-edge chip factories. This $28 billion project, known as Intel Ohio One, aims to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity and create a new chipmaking ecosystem. The project is a significant part of Intel's IDM 2.0 strategy and is expected to generate thousands of jobs and attract further investment in the region.

None of this is rocket science.

Ohio used to be a swing state. Since Trump, Ohio has been red. This move, if it occurs with Intel, solidifies Ohio for JD Vance.

Now, back to Trump.

A reader sent me this link.

I replied, not ready for prime-time: 

In fact that's quite interesting. That's exactly what "companies" in England did during the time of Shakespeare.  The East India Company and the West India Company, for example. Shakespeare invested with at least one share in the Virginia Company of London which would be very, very similar to what could become the "Panama Company."  Trump is really, really changing the way folks think about monetizing everything -- and really, really moving into government (public) ownership in private companies. Trump is solving intractable problems by thinking outside the box: having Nvidia and AMD pay the tariffs rather than China was incredibly brilliant.

DOD owning an interest in MP Materials. Also brilliant.

Taking DARPA to the next level.

Immediately following, just as I reached out to Hulu to get an update on a) the PGA tournament; and, b) the market, this breaking news: Trump administration said to be discussing taking a stake in Intel. INTC surges 8 percent on the news.  

I wonder if Nancy Pelosi was given that information before it was released to the trading public? Regardless, Chuck Schumer, el al, are going to go nuts.

Immediately after that news, just before the market closes, all indices go green despite a bad start at the day with the PPI release.

Yes, Trump:

• thinking outside the box; and,
• taking DARPA to the next level.

I've thought about this a lot since Trump became president. Trump sees the incredible amount of money he and the US government control and he is looking for ways to leverage those deep pockets. Expanding government involvement with 529s, for example, was also brilliant.

I hope over time, he expands that largess to children born before 2025. Maybe expand it by one year, every year, by one year at both ends. So instead of just 2025 and 2030, next year expand it to babies born 2024 to 2031. At same time, consider raising "ages" in social security (and raising the threshold when income is still subject to SS withholding. Of course that won't happen under Trump, but it's something the Democrats might be willing to do. 

I'm trying to think wouldn't it be wonderful if everyone could be a billionaire in the US? Somehow, it seems those protesting have no idea what they are protesting. Why not ask the billionaires to support specific causes rather than "fighting to take back our country." The protestors seem incredibly naive.

The Sixth Industrial Revolution -- August 9, 2025

Locator: 48821BOOM.

We've never seen anything like this before. 

From Beth this weekend:

What this means:

With regard to the number of billionaires being created right now, in the AI world, some/many/most readers would find chapter two of Malcolm Gladwells' 2011 Outliers: The Story of Success quite fascinating.

Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell, c. 2011.

I have never found Gladwell's book particularly compelling. He does present a number of interesting observations but they seem to be exceptions rather than truisms that would be helpful to college students looking to be the next billionaire. But it is what it is. I wouldn't keep Malcolm Gladwell's book in my library but I'm glad I've read it. 

However, having said that, a century from now there will be many books written on the outliers of the early 21st century, specifically, the roaring 20's --if geopolitics doesn't screw it up -- will last well into the thrilling 30s. 

ChatGPT prompt: how many billionaires, do you think, have been "created" in Silicon Valley, California, since 2012?

See ChatGPT's reply at this blog. 

The numbers are bind-boggling, and most of us have become numb to them. In the old days, we would have been talking about the number of new millionaires, but this is billionaires, and not millionaires, but centimillionaires.

A Thought Experiment -- August 5, 2025

Locator: 48783SIR.

Let's say prior to  1913, Henry Ford needed a 100,000 employees to manufacture his automobiles. Productivity is "x."

Then, he adopts the moving assembly line. After adopting the modern assembly line, all else remaining the same, Henry Ford requires 25,000 employees to manufacture the same number of automobiles. Productivity is "4x."

All of a sudden, unemployment spikes and productivity surges. 

And the Fed reacts to the unemployment spike. 

The Fed's mandate, dual:

• inflation;
• employment.

The right metrics?

I'm going to the pool. Good luck to all. See you later this afternoon.

*****************************
The Book Page

Author / personality of the day: Cynthia Griffin Wolff. Wiki.

Cynthia Griffin Wolff, briefly, from one of my journals, from a letter I sent one of my Yorkshire friends back in 2008:

You may have gathered that I'm starting to enter an Emily Dickinson phase.

I've told you about the discount book stores in San Antonio; they are fantastic.  I went there specifically to get a biography of Emily Dickinson and found a hardcover in almost perfect condition ("withdrawn" by some library somewhere; original price $25 for $6.28).

I would have bought this particular biography regardless, but the biography of the author (Cynthia Griffin Wolff) is too remarkable to pass by.  This is the author (not Emily):

 She was born in St Louis; when to Radcliffe; medical degree at Harvard, and then went on to get a Ph.D. in English at Harvard. She taught at Amherst and then holds a specially-designated chair as Professorship of the Humanities at MIT. 

She is also author of "highly acclaimed" biographies of Edith Wharton (who I will eventually get to) and Samuel Richardson (Clarissa, which I am now reading, five pages a night).  As you know, L-- F--  spent a significant amount of her adult life in St Louis, got her medical degree at Harvard, and then became a published author (albeit pretty low in stature, just beginning) just before she died. Life is full of coincidences.

The lady at the checkout counter must have been a librarian once upon a time or she herself is an avid Emily Dickinson fan (had she been wearing a white dress, I would have believed in reincarnation), because when I went to pay, as she was ringing up my three books, she mentioned that there was a wonderful book on understanding Emily's poems, over in the clearance section.  It took quite some time to find the book; it was pretty obscure confirming that the woman who alerted it to me must have been an Emily Dickinson fan, but when I found it -- well worth it.  Again, in perfect condition, originally sold for $15.95, marked down in half, and then on clearance for $2.70.  

(With teacher's discount, the book was essentially given to me for free.)

Samsung + Tesla + Texas = Huge — July 27, 2025

Locator: 48698CHIPS.
Locator: 48698SAMSUNG.
Locator: 48698APPLE.
Locator: 48698TESLA.

Updates

Samsung and General Motors: link here. General Motors, Samsung, and SDI will build a $3+ billion EV battery cell plant in Indian which is scheduled to begin operations next year, 2026.

Samsung: said to be sparking economic boom in South Carolina with Samsung's $500-million investment in new washing machine plant in Newberry, SC, creating over 1,600 jobs. Link here. Others say there is no story here: saying that if the story is true, in fact, the commitment from Samsung was made during the Biden administration.

Original Post 

Link here.

Confirmed.

Link here. 

I wish I knew enough and was articulate enough to write about this.

But look at this: "terms" won't be disclosed until 2033. Say what?

Samsung Electronics has entered into a $16.5 billion contract for supplying semiconductors, a regulatory filing showed Monday. Samsung shares were up more than 2% in early trading.

The South Korean memory chipmaker, which did not name the counterparty, mentioned in its filing that the effective start date of the contract was July 26, 2024 and its end date was December 31, 2033.

It did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the contract.

The company said in its filing that details of the disclosure, including the name of the counterparty would not be disclosed until the end of 2033, citing a request from the contract counterparty “to protect trade secrets,” according to a Google translation of the filing in Korean.

The first question I would ask: "Why, 2033?"

I think part of the answer is obvious, but I don't need the push back so won't say more.

Having said that: multiple sources on x say the buyer is Tesla.

Did Apple Wait Too Long To Jump In? July 17, 2025

Locator: 48776AI.
Locator: 48776CHATBOT.
Locator: 48776CHATGPT.

Literally, overnight in some cases, "we've" got at least four or five new Fortune 500 companies. 

Link here. 

***********************
A Musical Interlude

Link here.

The Word For The Day: Boule — July 17, 202

Locator: 48772BOULE.

Boule: link here. [Rhymes with ghoul.]

A boule is a single-crystal ingot produced by synthetic means.

A boule of silicon is the starting material for most of the integrated circuits used today. In the semiconductor industry synthetic boules can be made by a number of methods, such as the Bridgman technique and the Czochralski process, which result in a cylindrical rod of material.

I now understand, perhaps, 0.01% of what I’m reading about semiconductors and transistors.

Overview Aluminum Nitride Ceramic Thermal Pads for Mosfet Transistor IGBT, link here.

Aluminum nitride (AlN) is being used in transistors, particularly in the field of power electronics. 

It's being explored as a material for creating transistors with improved performance compared to traditional materials like silicon. Specifically, AlN's properties like high breakdown field and thermal conductivity make it suitable for high-power and high-temperature applications. 

Here's a more detailed explanation: Ultra-Wide Bandgap (UWBG) Material: 

AlN is classified as an ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor, a class of materials gaining attention for their potential to enable more efficient and high-performance power devices. 

Advantages over Silicon: AlN offers several advantages over silicon in power electronics, including a higher breakdown field (allowing for higher voltage operation), higher thermal conductivity (improving heat dissipation), and the ability to operate at higher temperatures. 

NTT's Demonstration: NTT Corporation demonstrated the first transistor operation using aluminum nitride in 2022. 

Applications: AlN transistors are being explored for applications like electric vehicles and home electronics, where efficient power conversion and high-temperature operation are crucial. 

Ongoing Research: While AlN transistors are still in the research and development phase, significant progress is being made in improving their performance and manufacturing processes. 

Integration with GaN: AlN can be integrated with other wide-bandgap materials like gallium nitride (GaN), which is already used in some power devices, potentially leading to even more efficient devices.

***********************

World War II

The age of waves:

• the sea waves: U-boats, the British Navy, the US Navy, Churchill, Pacific Theater;
• physics: radio waves, sonar, radar; and, 
• of course, Virginia Woolf saw this all coming -- wrote a book titled The Waves. It will be in the public domain January 1, 2027 -- less then two years from now.
  

Actually, The Fourth Industrial Revolution Runs On Natural Gas -- June 8, 2025

Locator: 48721SIR.

Actually the fourth industrial revolution runs on natural gas .... and for META? Runs on nuclear energy.

Link here. 

AI Is An Energy Story -- Monday, April 28, 2025

Locator: 48531B.

WTI: $63.07.

New wells:

• Tuesday, April 29, 2025: 94 for the month, 94 for the quarter, 301 for the year,
• 40669, conf, Grayson Mill, Scott 13-24 9HR,
• 25074, conf, Grayson Mill, Sand Creek State 153-96-16-3H,
• Monday, April 28, 2025: 92 for the month, 92 for the quarter, 299 for the year,
• 41068, conf, BR, Tilton 3E, 
• Sunday, April 27, 2025: 91 for the month, 91 for the quarter, 298 for the year,
• 40728, conf, Phoenix Operating, Axel Ferrari 25-36-15H,
• 40727, conf, Phoenix Operating, Axel Ferrari 25-36-1 4H,
• Saturday, April 26, 2025: 89 for the month, 89 for the quarter, 296 for the year,
• 41148, conf, BR, Devils Backboe 5B,
• 40726, conf, Phoenix Operating, Axel Ferrari 25-36-1 2H,
• 40725, conf, Phoenix Operating, Axel Ferrari 25-36-1-1H-LL,
• 40707, conf, Phoenix Operating, Axel Ferrari 25-36-1 3H,
• 40491, conf, Oasis, Lee N 5201 21-5 2B, 

RBN Energy: counting on a boom in natural gas demand for power?

Rising demand for electricity to serve data centers, manufacturing and other power-consuming sectors of the economy is spurring the development of scores of gas-fired plants — up to 100 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity by 2040. How much power those new plants will actually generate — and, with that, how much natural gas they will require — remain open questions, however. A recent study indicates that the vast majority of incremental power demand over the next 15 years could be supplied by solar and wind and that gas demand for power may remain pretty much flat. But the Trump administration’s dim view of most renewables — and clear preference for fossil fuels — suggest otherwise. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss gas demand for power in the late 2020s and 2030s.

Trump: first 100 days as of April 30, 2025. His term has just begun. He's farther along on his second term path than he was at similar point in his first term

RWE: for the US -- wind is dead. 

Solar: plan B. Needs natural gas back up.

Someone has the wrong data, and I certainly can't sort it out. Link here. I'm particularly concerned about the "USA" projection.

Sixth Industrial Revolution -- March 20, 2025

Locator: 48539SIR.

Foxconn: server revenue will exceed iPhone revenue in two years. 

Sixth industrial revolution: Microsoft, xAi, BlackRock, and MGX will partner to develop AI instructure.

MGX Fund Management Limited (MGX) is an Emirati state-owned investment firm for artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Established by the government of Abu Dhabi in 2024, MGX aims to become a vehicle for AI-driven investments with a target of managing US$100 billion in assets.

Sixth industrial revolution: link here. 

Press release:

Taco Tuesday -- March 18, 2025

Locator: 48523B. 

Stranded astronauts: splashdown scheduled for just before 6:00 p.m. EDT this evening, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Should splash down off the coast of Florida at 4:57 p.m. CDT.

JFK: files to be released today? 

March Madness: begins tonight, with the "first four" play in. 

• this evening: two separate games, UNC/San Diego and Alabama/St Francis
• tomorrow evening: two separate games: Texas/Xavier and American/Mt St Mary's
• Thursday day/afternoon/evening/night: first round, sixteen games
• schedule here.

Google: acquires Wiz for $32 billion; links everywhere. Cybersecurity play. Incredibly bullish for sixth industrial revolution.

• deal was not completed under Biden administration due to anti-trust concerns ($30 billion at the time)
• completed under Trump administration within first 100 days
• this one acquisition exceeds entire dollar-amount of all previous Google acquisitions

Saudi Aramco: link here.

Chevron: Hess acquisition still moving forward, Chevron announces purchase of a bit of Hess (5% since start of year).

• Chevron putting on its game face;
• not all are getting a warm fuzzy on this deal.
• link here.

Globalstar: Apple, link here.

Dallas NASDAQ:

Inflation watch, Texas beer: $5.99.

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

WTI;

New wells:

• Wednesday, March 19, 2025: 50 for the month, 165 for the quarter, 165 for the year,
• 40032, conf, Hunt Oil, Oakland 154-89-31-29H 1,
• 39890, conf, Hunt Oil, Halliday 146-93-11-1H-1,
• 39889, conf, Hunt Oil, Halliday 146-93-12-36H 1,
• Tuesday, March 18, 2025: 47 for the month, 162 for the quarter, 162 for the year,
• 40482, conf, Silver Hill Energy Operating, Tucson W 158-94-26-35-1MBH,
• 40473, conf, Hess, GO-John-156-98-0508H-4,
• 40157, conf, Hess, EN-Schroeder-157-94-1102H-4,
• 40031, conf, Hunt Oil, Shell 153-89-6-8H 1,

RBN Energy: Gulf coast refiners to be tested by loss of Venezuelan crude oil. Archived.

The Trump administration announced on February 26 that it is ending Chevron’s permit to operate in oil-rich Venezuela, which will halt U.S. imports of Venezuelan crude by early April. These changes, combined with other recent developments, are likely to significantly impact complex U.S. Gulf Coast refiners relying on heavy crude. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll discuss these impacts — an issue our Refined Fuels Analytics (RFA) practice examined in its recently updated Future of Fuels report. 

First, some background. Chevron and its corporate predecessors have more than a 100-year history of operations in Venezuela. Chevron’s legacy company, Venezuelan Gulf Oil, began drilling in 1924, spurring commercial oil production there, and followed that up with operations at Lake Maracaibo and the Boscan Field (tiny, pink-shaded area in Figure 1 below) in northwestern Venezuela. Then-President Carlos Andrés Pérez nationalized Venezuela’s oil industry in 1976 and established Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) as the state-owned oil company, but despite the nationalization, Chevron remained, and it was asked to form joint ventures (JVs) with PDVSA. In 2006-07, then-President Hugo Chávez’s regime increased royalties and taxes on foreign oil companies and made other changes that prompted some companies — including ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips — to leave Venezuela.

Figure 1. Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt and Boscan Field. Source: RBN

The Sixth Industrial Revolution -- March 10, 2025

Locator: 48488TECH.

Robotics, humanoid: link here.

Amazon, creepy but this is where we are already. Link here.

Intel, Broadcom, TSM, Apple -- It's Getting Exciting -- Sixth Industrial Revolution -- February 16, 2025

Locator: 48568TECH.

Link here. 

Exclusive from The WSJ -- story broke last night. I was involved in other activities last night -- not interested in posting then. See screenshot below.

Tomorrow is a holiday. 

We'll see Tuesday what traders think of this. 

Current CEO of Intel has been shopping his company; had "long" been rumored this might happen -- Broadcom interest in Intel. At one time it was rumored that Broadcom was going to buy the whole company (Intel) but that didn't pan out -- that talk lasted about a week. 

From January 14, 2025:

• Intel (INTC): will separate its "VC arm, INTEL Capital, as a separate entity with a new name; stand-alone operations to begin in 2H25.
• Apple - TSMC: Apple is getting close to verifying the processors made at TSM's Arizona fab. Many said it couldn't be done this fast (or ever, in some cases). 

Many, many updates on the blog: search AVGO, INTC, Broadcom, NVDA, Apple, AAPL, Intel, ARM, OpenGPT. Search one word at a time or in combination.

It's impossible to keep up, but for the long-term investor, not particularly necessary to know all the minor details; keep eyes on Trump, tariffs, sixth industrial revolution (some mistakenly call it the fourth industrial revolution). Nvidia and Apple are in two different investing sectors -- those are probably the most important for long term investors to follow, although not necessarily to invest in. The "Mag 7" are still the ones to watch. See disclaimer.

Last night, link above.

**********************************
Disclaimer
Brief Reminder 

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.
• Longer version here.    
  

***************************
Tech

As a reminder, I track tech here.

******************************
Sixth Industrial Revolution

Link here. For those paying attention, this is simply incredible. 

 ***********************************
The Sixth Industrial Revolution

See wiki, as currently understood and generally accepted:

• first industrial revolution: 1760 - 1840; ended in the middle of the 19th century; inventions; advancements in textiles; age of inventions;
  
• second industrial revolution: advancements in manufacturing processes; 1870 - 1914 (beginning of WWI); age of mass manufacturing;
  
• third industrial revolution: beginning in 1947, information age; computer coming out of WWII; Colossus, Bletchley Park; 
  
• fourth industrial revolution: rapid technological advancement beginning in the late 1990s; the Age of Apple (or the personal computer).
  

Much better:

• first industrial revolution: ended in the middle of the 19th century; age of invention; 1799, the Royal Institution established, at time of the (British) Industrial Revolution;
  
• second industrial revolution: 1870 - 1914 (beginning of WWI); age of Henry Ford, mass manufacturing;
  
• third industrial revolution: peri-WWI -- the age of conventional manufacturing and logistics; rise of synthetics and the oil and gas industry; age of Standard Oil (or the age of John D Rockefeller);
  
• fourth industrial revolution: post-WWII; beginning in 1947, information age; the computer age (or the age of Turing); see page 47, John Orton. Invention of the transistor, 1947.
  
• fifth industrial revolution: rapid technological advancement beginning in the late 1990s -- maybe it began in 1984 with the (in)famous Apple commercial; age of Apple (or the age of Steve Jobs)
  

The question is whether "we" have entered the sixth industrial revolution: Nvidia blades; LDCs; a return to nuclear energy to meet energy needs of the information age. If so:

•  sixth industrial revolution: artificial intelligence enters its stride; the "Nvidia revolution." 

It's hard for me to accept that the need for nuclear energy to meet the needs of LDCs does not signify a new industrial revolution.

Note: "the Nvidia revolution" is a metonym for the artificial intelligence advancements that began in the early 2020s.  

***********************************
The Fourth Industrial Revolution

Fourth industrial revolution: beginning in 1947, information age; the computer age (or the age of Turing); see page 47, John Orton. Invention of the transistor, 1947.

But so much more:

influential people  become aware of…

concept of teams, not lone wolves (like Edison and Ford), research teams rather than inspired individuals

in the US; an appreciation of the importance of pure science as a basis for technological advance, in preference to the older “cut and try” methods of entrepreneurial progress which dominated the prewar scene

the European lesson: applying science

AT&T: worldwide dominance; keen to maintain it

And much more.

Updates

February 16, 2025: Intel, TSM, Broadcom, AVGO. Link here.

January 21, 2025: Project Stargate. A network of large data centers across the US to be HQ'd in Texas; SoftBank, Arm, Oracle looking at $500 billion investment. MSFT said to be part of the deal

January 5, 2025: Baltra, Broadcom, Apple, NPUs, AI hookup. Link here.

January 4, 2025: Intel (INTC) is doing worse than you think. Link here.

December 13, 2024: Morgan Stanley -- #1 stock in 2025 -- AAPL.

December, 13, 2024: AVGO joins the $1-trillion club. Link here.

December 11, 2024: Broadcom said to be designing an AI service chip for Apple. Link here.

December 3, 2024: Partnership between Amazon and Apple, link here.

November 14, 2024: the mess over at Intel (INTC).

October 17, 2024: Intel -- the spin-offs begin. Altera.

September 21, 2024: wiki updates CPU -- the number of transistors on a chip.

September 11, 2024: the A18. For the iPhone 16.

September 9, 2024: Larry Ellison, Oracle, announces partnership with AWS!

September 3, 2024: Intel shipping Core Ultra 200V (codenamed: Lunar Lake) -- direct competitor to Qualcomm's Snapdragon and AMD's Strix Point chips.

August 28, 2024: CrowdStrike to partner with Nvidia. Link here.

August 19, 2024: system on a chip -- the moment the industry shifted its focus. 

August 19, 2024: Intel Gaudi 3.

August 14, 2024: Intel, Lunar Lake.

July 31, 2024: CNBC practically giddy over the amount of money META and MSFT are going to be spending on Nvidia chips. Apparently META is Nvidia's biggest customer, and MSFT is going to spent $85 billion on Nvidia chips this year. Needs to be fact-checked -- heard in passing. 

July 28, 2024: brand new Intel chips are frying brand new PCs. Fried chips can't be fixed; new chips will be protected when fix is released in .... August.

June 17, 2024: SoC / SiP update with focus on Apple M4.

June 10, 2024: Apple introduces Apple Intelligence, WWDC, keynote address, June 10, 2024. So, now we have two biggies in the past year or so with Apple -- Apple Silicon and Apple Intelligence (Apple's name for AI).

June 6, 2024: Memphis, Musk and more; LOL. 

• alliteration. From The WSJ. Link here.
• pending approval by local authorities. LOL. As if it won't be approved.
• xAI was launched last summer; buying all the Nvidia chips he can

May 11, 2024: US AI.

April 26, 2024: Intel, INTC, 1Q24 earnings.

April 25, 2024: CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs.

April 16, 2024: Intel (INTC).

August 14, 2023: the fourth update of CPUs, GPUs, cores, and threads.

Day 2 -- Trump 2.0 -- Part 2 -- January 22, 2025

Locator: 44743INVESTING.

From the CNBC linked article:

Stocks climbed on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 hitting a fresh all-time high, as technology shares such as Oracle and Nvidia rallied on artificial intelligence optimism and President Donald Trump’s new term in office.

The S&P 500 advanced 0.61% after hitting an intraday record of 6,100.81, exceeding the last milestone touched in December before the market pullback. The broad index closed at 6,086.37, slightly below its all-time closing high.

The Nasdaq Composite popped 1.28% to 20,009.34, underscoring the outperformance of tech names. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 130.92 points, or 0.3%, to 44,156.73, boosted by Procter & Gamble ’s gain of nearly 2% on the back of strong earnings.

Stocks surged on strong earnings reports, with Netflix jumping more than 9% after the company surpassed 300 million paid memberships. Its fourth-quarter earnings and revenue also topped analyst expectations. The streamer’s results got a boost from hit series “Squid Game” and live sporting events such as the Jake Paul and Mike Tyson boxing match.

Oracle shares jumped more than 6% and Nvidia climbed more than 4% as investors continued to pile into the AI trade following an announcement from the new White House. President Trump announced a joint venture dubbed “Stargate” on Tuesday, with OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank to invest ″$500 billion, at least” in AI infrastructure within the United States.

“The combination of a resilient economy, easing inflation, stabilization in interest rates, an earnings season off to a strong start, and less day-one focus on tariffs by President Trump has provided a solid backdrop for the market,” said Keith Lerner, Truist’s co-chief investment officer. “Tech is reasserting its leadership on the back of the Stargate project, which highlights the secular tailwinds and transformative potential of AI.”

“Today is yet another reminder that the dominant theme of this bull market is artificial intelligence and technology,” Lerner added.

Some would call this "the perfect storm":

“The combination of a resilient economy, easing inflation, stabilization in interest rates, an earnings season off to a strong start, and less day-one focus on tariffs by President Trump has provided a solid backdrop for the market,” said Keith Lerner, Truist’s co-chief investment officer. “Tech is reasserting its leadership on the back of the Stargate project, which highlights the secular tailwinds and transformative potential of AI.”

Sir Trump -- LOL -- Trump Has Been In Office Less Than 24 Hours -- The Texas Connection -- Stargate -- January 21, 2025

Locator: 44732SIRTRUMP.

Theme, 2025: link here, the sixth industrial revolution.

New tag: SIRTRUMP -- SixthIndustrialRevolutionTrump.

Stargate: from oilprice:

And while reading .... remember the old saying, a rising tide raises all boats ...

Trump has been in office less than 24 hours.

The Sixth Industrial Revolution. Talked about often on the blog.  

Stargate: $0.5 trillion. HQ: Texas -- but no more specific than that. Most likely: somewhere along I-35 north of Austin towards Round Rock / Georgetown.

The Verge, link here:

A plan to build a system of data centers for artificial intelligence has been revealed in a White House press conference, with Masayoshi Son, Sam Altman, and Larry Ellison joining Donald Trump to announce The Stargate Project. Their companies, Softbank, OpenAI, and Oracle (respectively), along with MGX are listed as “initial equity funders” for $500 billion in investments over the next four years, “building new AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the United States.

Getting bigger, every update:

Link here. Microsoft apparently involved in this project -- unnamed source.

Link here.

More:

Ticker:

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Links

• https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/21/technology/trump-openai-stargate-artificial-intelligence.html
  
• https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oracle-stock-jumps-6-after-report-says-trump-to-announce-new-500-billion-ai-investment-184543210.html
• https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-announces-private-sector-ai-infrastructure-investment/
• https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/trump-announce-private-sector-ai-infrastructure-investment-cbs-reports-2025-01-21/

*************************
Oracle Headquarters / Locations

Google maps identifies two Oracle sites in Austin:

Time For A Musical Interlude -- December 4, 2024

 Locator: 44494MUSIC.

Link here.

This is so cool. While listening to Cake / "I want a girl" I thought I heard something familiar.

Wow.

Link here.

Lou Reed / The Velvet Underground / "Sweet Jane." 

Or Michael Nesmith, Cruisin' (Sunset Sam): link here.

******************************
Sixth Industrial Revolution

Link here. For those paying attention, this is simply incredible.

 ***********************************
The Sixth Industrial Revolution

See wiki, as currently understood and generally accepted:

• first industrial revolution: 1760 - 1840; ended in the middle of the 19th century; inventions; advancements in textiles; age of inventions;
  
• second industrial revolution: advancements in manufacturing processes; 1870 - 1914 (beginning of WWI); age of mass manufacturing;
  
• third industrial revolution: beginning in 1947, information age; computer coming out of WWII; Colossus, Bletchley Park;
  
• fourth industrial revolution: rapid technological advancement beginning in the late 1990s; the Age of Apple (or the personal computer).
  

Much better:

• first industrial revolution: ended in the middle of the 19th century; age of invention;
  
• second industrial revolution: 1870 - 1914 (beginning of WWI); age of Henry Ford, mass manufacturing;
  
• third industrial revolution: peri-WWI -- the age of conventional manufacturing and logistics; rise of synthetics and the oil and gas industry; age of Standard Oil (or the age of John D Rockefeller);
  
• fourth industrial revolution: beginning in 1947, information age; the computer age (or the age of Turing);
  
• fifth industrial revolution: rapid technological advancement beginning in the late 1990s -- maybe it began in 1984 with the (in)famous Apple commercial; age of Apple (or the age of Steve Jobs)
  

The question is whether "we" have entered the sixth industrial revolution: Nvidia blades; LDCs; a return to nuclear energy to meet energy needs of the information age. If so:

•  sixth industrial revolution: artificial intelligence enters its stride; the "Nvidia revolution."

It's hard for me to accept that the need for nuclear energy to meet the needs of LDCs does not signify a new industrial revolution.

Note: "the Nvidia revolution" is a metonym for the artificial intelligence advancements that began in the early 2020s.  

For an investor, the big question is whether to invest in LNG (Cheniere) or SRE?

See disclaimer.

***************************
Take A Walk On The Wild Side

One wonders how many Supremes remember this song.

Link here.

An NPR essay following Lou Reed's death back in October, 2013. I remember that evening very, very well. I heard "the" NPR essay on/about that evening driving cross country from North Dakota back to Texas. I was just driving out of Oklahoma City when I heard the essay on the radio. 

An aside: amazing. I actually recorded this note in my journal. I was home in Williston to visit my dad. He died in 2018. 

*************************
Memories 

"Piano Man" / Billy Joel.

Which leads me to Harry Chapin / "Taxi." Link here.

And then I'm into a YouTube loop. 

And lots of memories. Boston. 1970s/1980s.

***************************
Investing

GM should be of some concern.  

A huge day on Wall Street today: Dow breaks through 45,000 for the first time ever. Art Cashin, who famously wore a "Dow 24,000" cap back in 2017, and perhaps one of the finest men on Wall Street, died two days ago. He might have something to say about this/that.

GM was down during regular hours and continued to go down after the market closed. 

The thing that would concern me if I were a GM investor, and I'm not, is the abruptness with which the company ended its relationship / stake in the huge Lansing EV battery factory. GM has/had sunk about $1 billion into the venture, but said it expected to recoup its investment. I assume that was said to "appease" GM's more gullible shareholders. It's chump change.

$1 billion. Sounds like a lot of money. Chump change to the tech CEOs and their companies.  Musk is worth $333.6 billion. That's with a "b." If a company like GM is concerned about $1 billion, there's more to the story. There's a short-term story and a long-term story. 

The last five days have been miserable for GM. And longer term? One could have bought GM for $63.37 / share back on June 4, 2021. Today, GM closed at $53.36. Ouch. 

Ford? Back on June 14, 2022, F was trading for $25.19. Today, F closed at $10.74.

See disclaimer. Just some rambling thoughts. Not making a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold.

**********************************
Disclaimer
Brief Reminder 

• 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 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.
• Longer version here.

Cramer's First Hour, Part 2 -- The Sixth Industrial Revolution -- The Nvidia Revolution -- October 30, 2024

Locator: 48679CRAMER.

Cramer's first hour: a mix of facts, factoids, opinions from various sources -- often not cited -- while listening to Cramer's first hour on CNBC.  

Another example of the "Nvidia revolution."

Corning and ATT: $1 billion fiber deal ticker --

GLW: up 5% yesterday; one-year: 84%

• aggressive growth plan
• two largest fiber factories in the world are in North Carolina; also lowest cost; and both are owned by Corning; tariffs can only help them; tariffs won't hurt them
• physics: fiber beats satellite
• one single "piece" of paired fiber can match one satellite in terms of transmitted data

Corning fiber competitors: 

Ken Fisher: link here. %

Mac Mini: I stopped by the Apple Store in Southlake, TX, on the way home from running errands. It hasn't arrived yet -- the M4 Mac Mini -- but I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy it after the excitement dies down. The Mac Mini was first introduced in 2005; Steve Jobs died in 2011. One wonder what vision Jobs had for the Mac Mini?

From a post just a few days ago:

See wiki, as currently understood and generally accepted:

• first industrial revolution: 1760 - 1840; ended in the middle of the 19th century; inventions; advancements in textiles; age of inventions;
  
• second industrial revolution: advancements in manufacturing processes; 1870 - 1914 (beginning of WWI); age of mass manufacturing;
  
• third industrial revolution: beginning in 1947, information age; computer coming out of WWII; Colossus, Bletchley Park;
  
• fourth industrial revolution: rapid technological advancement beginning in the late 1990s; the Age of Apple (or the personal computer).
  

Much better:

• first industrial revolution: ended in the middle of the 19th century; age of invention;
  
• second industrial revolution: 1870 - 1914 (beginning of WWI); age of Henry Ford, mass manufacturing;
  
• third industrial revolution: peri-WWI -- the age of conventional manufacturing and logistics; rise of synthetics and the oil and gas industry; age of Standard Oil (or the age of John D Rockefeller);
  
• fourth industrial revolution: beginning in 1947, information age; the computer age (or the age of Turing);
  
• fifth industrial revolution: rapid technological advancement beginning in the late 1990s -- maybe it began in 1984 with the (in)famous Apple commercial; age of Apple (or the age of Steve Jobs)
  

The question is whether "we" have entered the sixth industrial revolution: Nvidia blades; LDCs; a return to nuclear energy to meet energy needs of the information age. If so:

•  sixth industrial revolution: artificial intelligence enters its stride; the "Nvidia revolution."

It's hard for me to accept that the need for nuclear energy to meet the needs of LDCs does not signify a new industrial revolution.

Note: "the Nvidia revolution" is a metonym for the artificial intelligence advancements that began in the early 2020s. 

For investors: take some time to look at the various stock markets around the world during the earlier industrial revolutions. The best two might be the second industrial revolution, the age of Henry Ford, and the third industrial revolution, the age of John D Rockefeller. One might come up with a lot of ideas. 

Watching the World Series suggested an analogy between investing and winning at baseball.