Lots Of Blogging Quickly; Typographical And Content Errors Likely Over Past Two Days -- September 18, 2025

Locator: 49151B.

NDIC website: looks like the website is down tonight. Or at least some modules.  

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

WTI: $63.54.

Active rigs: unable to download daily activity report.

Five new permits, #42319 - 42323, inclusive, Hess, Cottonwood oil field:

• 42319, Hess, RS-Holland-157-92-3624H-2, Cottonwood, 467 FNL 275 FWL;
• 42320, Hess, RS-Holland-157-92-3624H-3, Cottonwood, 467 FNL 308 FWL;
• 42321, Hess, RS-Holland-157-92-3624H-5, Cottonwood, 467 FNL 375 FWL;
• 42322, Hess, RS-Holland-157-92-3624H-4, Cottonwood, 467 FNL 341 FWL;
• 42323, Hess, RS-Holland-157-92-3624H-6, Cottonwood, 467 FNL 408 FWL;

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The Book Page

Link here.

**********************************
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. 

Re-Posting -- September 18, 2025

Locator: 49150NVIDIA.

Updates

September 20, 2025: Nvidia’s $5 billion won’t “save” Intel. Link here.

Original Post

Nvidia: Jensen Huang is not through buying; he just spent $900 million (~ $1 billion) to hire Enfabrica CEO, license AI startup's technology; link here.

• Efabrica's technology: can connect more than 100,000 GPUs together;
• currently, Nvidia's racks come with 72 GPUs installed working together;
• e.g., the kind of system announced by Microsoft today: a $4 billion data center in Wisconsin;
• Microsoft's Wisconsin AI data center, part of a $7.3 billion campus in Mount Pleasant, connects its servers with fiber optic cables . The facility is built to operate as a single AI supercomputer, and the vast scale and speed requirements of AI workloads necessitate fiber over traditional copper links.  
• While the specific provider for the Wisconsin data center's fiberoptic cables isn't directly stated, the partnership between Microsoft and Lumen Technologies for next-generation AI infrastructure indicates Lumen is a likely key supplier for Microsoft's network needs, including those at the Wisconsin facility. 
• Lumen has reserved a portion of Corning's fiber-optic cable production to support AI-driven applications, and their agreement will help meet the surging demand from large data centers like Microsoft.
• Lumen Technologies and Corning are collaborating and have established a supply agreement where Corning will provide Lumen with its next-generation optical fiber and cable to expand Lumen's network infrastructure for high-bandwidth applications, particularly for Artificial Intelligence (AI) data centers. Corning's innovative, fiber-dense cable system allows Lumen to install significantly more fiber in the same conduit, increasing network capacity and preparig Lumen to support major cloud data center clients.
  

Market: I'll post more later tonight. Pressed for time right now due to family commitments, but three things:

• I couldn't be happier about how the market did today;
• CNBC "Fast Money" panel attributed the US stock market action due to the quarter-basis-point cut; they were completely wrong; I'll explain later;
• I was completely wrong regarding my earlier comments about the Nvidia-Intel deal
• I can't recall if I posted that on the blog or if my comments were in sidebar (e-mail) discussion with a reader; regardless, I'll talk about that later, also
• for now, Jim Cramer had the best explanation during his opening on "Mad Money," CNBC, although more can be added.

Intel-Nvidia: Market Watch, link here. 

Different styles:

• Pat Gelsinger: looking to sell parts of Intel to raise badly needed cash to save company;
• Lip-Bu Tan: venture capitalist; one of the best in the world; former Intel executive; raising money by offering stakes in the company:
• SoftBank: $2 billion, August, 2025
• Trump: $8.9 billion stake, August, 2025 (no new money; Intel had already received the money)
• Intel: $5 billion, September, 2025

Cramer:

• $5-billion deal:
• did not mention "foundry"
• focused on server and PC (think "Intel inside," #1 competitor: AMD)

Cramer:

• doesn't guarantee survival of Intel
• Intel still needs to execute 
• remains a huge challenge
  
• at this point, Nvidia's stake is mostly a huge "stamp of approval" supporting President Trump
• but, long term, Nvidia widens its strategic footprint
  
• currently, core competency -- GPUs for hyperscalers
• stake in Intel: consumer electronics (PCs) and servers (retail and commercial)

Good news: 

• supports the view
• that the fourth industrial revolution (AI, large data centers, hyperscalers) is real;
• that the revolution is not hyperbole, not a bubble, not hype
• winners and losers not settled
• still very, very early
• plenty of time to methodically invest in the fourth industrial revolution

SCCO: what did SCCO do today? Up slightly. Rose with the market but not by much. If one needs cash to do it, is time to sell a bit of SCCO and buy LUMN? 

**********************************
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. 

Apple's MacBook Air M4 On Sale Over At Amazon -- September 18, 2025

Locator: 49149APPLE.

Yesterday I posted this:

Too good to pass up.

After posting the above, I then ordered the laptop as advertised above (different color) for my wife. She's been using an old MacBook Air M1 for several years now (released by Apple in 2020 -- already showing its age).

I bought it using the 12-month, no interest plan -- $70 / month for a year.

It arrived at noon today. 

My wife and I set it up in fifteen miutes; if we weren't so "deliberate," we could have set it up in five minutes. It's everything it is advertised to be. 

*************************
More

In that same link from yesterday -- 

Link here. Or go directly to Johnny Evans, link here.

Apple saw the highest annual growth of all PC makers in the second quarter, according to analysts at Canalys.

Apple and Lenovo were the only PC makers to experience any growth in the US desktop and notebook markets in the second quarter. Apple saw the highest year-on-year growth of all PC makers.

That growth is significant: While the industry as a whole shipments for the second quarter drop by 1.4 percent compared to a year earlier, Apple experienced a 15.5% increase — the biggest in the business. Lenovo, the one PC maker that did experience some growth, saw an increase of just 5.1%. Many PC makers (Acer and others outside the top five) saw a 10% decline.

The decline in shipments comes as the over-hyped end of support for Windows 10 nears. Many in the industry had expected PC sales to rise as the deadline approached and users migrated to new systems capable of running Windows 11.

That’s happening, but many are making different choices. Sure, millions of Windows consumers are staying with Windows, but the big growth favors Apple, which now seems to account for 12.3% of all desktop and notebook computer sales in the US.

This suggests a growing number of Windows users see the end of Windows 10 as a catalyst to upgrade, but to upgrade to a completely different platform.

AI adoption is also driving PC sales, the analysts said. Apple, of course, arguably already makes the most powerful systems for artificial intelligence, as evidenced by the fact that you can quite literally run some LLM models natively on a MacBook Pro. Combined with the company’s willingness to partner with third-party AI services while continuing to develop its own, that trend toward AI PCs may well work in its favor. Particularly once the contextually smart side of Apple Intelligence is introduced next year.

Much more at the link.

**********************************
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. 

Thursday -- September 18, 2025

Locator: 49148B.

NDIC website: looks like the website is down tonight. Or at least some modules.

Nvidia: Jensen Huang is not through buying; he just spent $900 million (~ $1 billion) to hire Enfabrica CEO, license AI startup's technology; link here.

• Efabrica's technology: can connect more than 100,000 GPUs together;
• currently, Nvidia's racks come with 72 GPUs installed working together;
• e.g., the kind of system announced by Microsoft today: a $4 billion data center in Wisconsin;
• Microsoft's Wisconsin AI data center, part of a $7.3 billion campus in Mount Pleasant, connects its servers with fiber optic cables . The facility is built to operate as a single AI supercomputer, and the vast scale and speed requirements of AI workloads necessitate fiber over traditional copper links.  
• While the specific provider for the Wisconsin data center's fiberoptic cables isn't directly stated, the partnership between Microsoft and Lumen Technologies for next-generation AI infrastructure indicates Lumen is a likely key supplier for Microsoft's network needs, including those at the Wisconsin facility. 
• Lumen has reserved a portion of Corning's fiber-optic cable production to support AI-driven applications, and their agreement will help meet the surging demand from large data centers like Microsoft.
• Lumen Technologies and Corning are collaborating and have established a supply agreement where Corning will provide Lumen with its next-generation optical fiber and cable to expand Lumen's network infrastructure for high-bandwidth applications, particularly for Artificial Intelligence (AI) data centers. Corning's innovative, fiber-dense cable system allows Lumen to install significantly more fiber in the same conduit, increasing network capacity and preparig Lumen to support major cloud data center clients.
  

Market: I'll post more later tonight. Pressed for time right now due to family commitments, but three things:

• I couldn't be happier about how the market did today;
• CNBC "Fast Money" panel attributed the US stock market action due to the quarter-basis-point cut; they were completely wrong; I'll explain later;
• I was completely wrong regarding my earlier comments about the Nvidia-Intel deal
• I can't recall if I posted that on the blog or if my comments were in sidebar (e-mail) discussion with a reader; regardless, I'll talk about that later, also
• for now, Jim Cramer had the best explanation during his opening on "Mad Money," CNBC, although more can be added.

Intel-Nvidia: Market Watch, link here. 

Different styles:

• Pat Gelsinger: looking to sell parts of Intel to raise badly needed cash to save company;
• Lip-Bu Tan: venture capitalist; one of the best in the world; former Intel executive; raising money by offering stakes in the company:
• SoftBank: $2 billion, August, 2025
• Trump: $8.9 billion stake, August, 2025 (no new money; Intel had already received the money)
• Intel: $5 billioin, September, 2025

Cramer:

• $5-billion deal:
• did not mention "foundry"
• focused on server and PC (think "Intel inside," #1 competitor: AMD)

Cramer:

• doesn't guarantee survival of Intel
• Intel still needs to execute 
• remains a huge challenge
  
• at this point, Nvidia's stake is mostly a huge "stamp of approval" supporting President Trump
• but, long term, Nvidia widens its strategic footprint
  
• currently, core competency -- GPUs for hyperscalers
• stake in Intel: consumer electronics (PCs) and servers (retail and commercial)

Good news: 

• supports the view
• that the fourth industrial revolution (AI, large data centers, hyperscalers) is real;
• that the revolution is not hyperbole, not a bubble, not hype
• winners and losers not settled
• still very, very early
• plenty of time to methodically invest in the fourth industrial revolution

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

WTI: $63.54.

Active rigs: unable to download daily activity report.

Five new permits, #42319 - 42323, inclusive, Hess, Cottonwood oil field:

• 42319, Hess, RS-Holland-157-92-3624H-2, Cottonwood, 467 FNL 275 FWL;
• 42320, Hess, RS-Holland-157-92-3624H-3, Cottonwood, 467 FNL 308 FWL;
• 42321, Hess, RS-Holland-157-92-3624H-5, Cottonwood, 467 FNL 375 FWL;
• 42322, Hess, RS-Holland-157-92-3624H-4, Cottonwood, 467 FNL 341 FWL;
• 42323, Hess, RS-Holland-157-92-3624H-6, Cottonwood, 467 FNL 408 FWL;

Power -- September 18, 2025

Locator: 49147AI.

The chart below is the "here-and-now," not a projection. Scary, huh?

The slope "accelerated" in 2018 and remarkably showed no downturn during the Covid-19 lockdown of 2020. It's incredibly subtle but it appears the curve steepened slightly in 2022, as might be expected, coming out of the lockdown.

Link here.