Which Company Is Now In The Catbird Seat When It Comes To H-1B Visas? September 22, 2025

Locator: 49183AMZN.

All of this needs to be fact-checked. I've done this quickly. Much to unravel here. 

Which American company has the most H-1B visas .... by a huge amount. A huge amount? Amazon.

Currently:

For the 2025 fiscal year, Amazon has the most H-1B visa approvals, followed by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Microsoft, Meta Platforms, and Apple. Other major tech and professional services companies rounding out the top ten include Google, Cognizant, JPMorgan Chase, Deloitte, and Walmart.

Most interesting: one may want to see the jump from 2024 to 2025. Did Amazon see this coming? Link here. Actually, it's even more interesting to look at Google. Google apparently had 856 H-1B visas in 2024; this year, before the executive order was signed, Google had almost 6,000 H-1B visas. 

Next question to ask: why did Google's number of H-1B visas jump from 800 to 5,000 in one year. There are only two possible answers. LOL. 

I have believing those numbers, that the number of H-1B visas Amazon had in 2024 was less than 4,000 and, now, one year later, over 10,000.

But, if the numbers are correct, it's hard to believe that Amazon grew that fast, or re-positioned their workers that fast.

And, having said all that, who really benefits? India. We'll connect the dots later if necessary. 

Apple: The Monday After The Weekend Launch Of The Apple iPhone 17 -- September 22, 2025

Locator: 49182AAPL.

See disclaimer. 

Link here. 

Holy mackerel: AAPL was up $4.50 at the open and before mid-morning AAPL is up over $7.00: 

Yes, what Apple is doing is evolutionary. But it's hard not to call it revolutionary. 

If I understand it correctly what Apple is already delivering is what Nvidia is trying to do with CUDA. Nvidia has partnered with Intel's x86 to accomplish this but it won't be ready until 2027 or 2028.

My wife just got her first M4 laptop. She was blown away by how fast it was, especially when using Touch ID.  

The Apple M4 chip is in every new MacBook laptop: an SoC chip, integrated, made by one company; think about it, the M4 Pro: 

• 16 CPU cores
• 40 GPU cores
• 16 NPU cores -- optimizing the chip for AI.
• 128 GB unified RAM
• 546 GB/s memory bandwidth

Apple Silicon wiki here. 

Apple M4: Apple's top laptop chip:

 

AAPL: Dan Ives raises raises Apple's target to $310. Link here. We've been here before. In December, 2024, Ives had AAPl at $340, with path toward $5 trillion.  

BofA this morning: sounds reserved on Apple's sales over the weekend but admits it appears Apple iPhone 17 sales higher than expected. T-Mobile CEO says iPhone sales at record sales. Biggest weekend ever?  

At the opening: AAPL is up 4.8%; up $4.43. 

Opening ticker:

**********************************
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. 

**************************
Lumen

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.

Focus On Louisiana -- Large Data Centers -- RBN Energy -- September 22, 2025

Locator: 49181LDC.

RBN Energy: Meta's massive data center development puts focus on Louisiana. Archived.

Data center mania is sweeping across the U.S., grabbing headlines and spurring investor interest. It has now reached Louisiana, where Meta is building one of the largest developments in the Western Hemisphere. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll look at two gigantic projects planned for Louisiana, the early challenges the Bayou State faced in luring developers, and why it may now be a strong contender to emerge as a major Southern data center hub after a relatively slow start. 

First, a quick refresher. As we discussed in God Blessed Texas, the Lone Star State is easily one of the nation’s leaders for data centers, with only Virginia edging it out in both data center counts and associated power demand. Texas hosts more than 350 data centers, far more than the two dozen or so operating in its neighbor to the east, but Louisiana has two hyperscale projects being built that are generating plenty of attention because of the size and capital involved. 

The $10 billion site being constructed by Meta in Richland Parish (more on this below) in northern Louisiana is slated to consume about as much power as the city of San Diego (though the city’s peak loads can be higher) and could boost the state’s electricity consumption by an eye-opening 15%.

Louisiana hasn’t always been on the radar for giant data center projects. It has historically lagged behind states like Texas because it lacked the basic infrastructure to lure those projects. The Dallas-Fort Worth area, a prime location for data center development (see Where You Lead I Will Follow), has benefited for years from a dense fiber-optic backbone and fast internet speeds (we’ll discuss this in further detail in a future blog), while Louisiana’s broadband network has ranked in the lower third nationally, without the speed or reach of many other states. Louisiana also didn’t offer many tax incentives to data center firms. Major tech firms want reliable fiber, steady power and business incentives. Without those, Louisiana wasn’t seen as especially attractive to data center developers.

Louisiana lawmakers made big changes to close the state’s broadband gap and quickly ramped up incentives to bring in Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. In 2024, the state received more than $1.3 billion in federal broadband funding to deliver high-speed internet statewide. State legislators also passed Act 730 (HB 827) in June 2024, which established generous sales tax rebates for data center equipment. That law paved the way for more tax incentives, including property tax abatements and payroll credits, all designed to attract data center projects. The process was fast-tracked, and lawmakers crafted legislation in a single session to seal the Meta deal. Those efforts gave Louisiana a compelling package for Meta to build in Richland Parish, including tax rebates on the billions of dollars it is spending on data center equipment.

It's very likely that with these changes, Louisiana is setting itself up to host more data centers. 

As we discussed recently in Won’t Get Fooled Again, we’ve been grappling with the challenges of tracking and ranking data center projects in Texas and Louisiana, in part to help us better assess their impact on power and gas demand in Gulf Coast gas markets, as tracked in our proprietary Arrow Model. In that blog, we explained that we’re using a scoring system that assigns each project a score from 1 to 3 based on public information. A project ranks as a 1 if it has an offtaker, a 2 if it also controls the site, and a 3 if construction is underway. Projects missing these criteria don’t make it into our detailed forecasts.

The Arrow Model carves up the region into pipeline “corridors” (aka arrows) that are used to determine changes in the region’s inflows, outflows and flows within each state via groups of pipes that serve similar markets from comparable supply sources. Data centers have been emerging as an important data input in the model because it’s likely their ongoing development will result in significant bump-ups in power and gas demand in various parts of Texas and Louisiana.

Next, we’re going to dive into two major projects under development in Louisiana.

Figure 1. Proposed LouisianaData Centers. Source: RBN 

Of note, Lumen Technologies is also headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana. As I said earlier, I don't believe in coincidences. LOL. From AI overview:

 **********************
Lumen

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.

**********************************
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. 

Manic Monday -- September 22, 2025

Locator: 49180B.

Cowboys: Dak Prescott benched after critical interception that ended the game for the Cowboys against the Bears. At the "fourth and goal." At 31 - 14 with only five minutes left in the fourth quarter didn't really affect the game but ... Dak was benched. One link here.

AAPL: Dan Ives raises raises Apple's target to $310. We've been here before. In December, 2024, Ives had AAPl at $340, with path toward $5 trillion.  

BofA this morning: sounds reserved on Apple's sales over the weekend but admits it appears Apple iPhone 17 sales higher than expected. T-Mobile CEO says iPhone sales at record sales. Biggest weekend ever?  

At the opening: AAPL is up 4.8%; up $4.43. 

Fed reminder: Jerome Powell was the Federal Reserve chairman when Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) failed in March 2023. 

Senator Elizabeth Warren and the Federal Reserve itself criticized his leadership and the bank's risk management, which contributed to the collapse of SVB and Signature Bank. The Federal Reserve later released a report acknowledging some fault in its supervision of the bank and outlining recommendations for a more resilient banking system.

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

WTI: $62.03.

New wells:

• Tuesday, September 23, 2025: 37 for the month, 130 for the quarter, 560 for the year, 
• 41045, conf, Hess, EN-Cvancara-155-93-2215H-11,
• 40690, conf, Petro-Hunt, Wollan Creek 152-96-34C-27-1H,
• Monday, September 22, 2025: 35 for the month, 128 for the quarter, 558 for the year,
• 40942, conf, Oasis, Painted Rocks 5000 41-20 2BX,
• 40941, conf, Oasis, Painted Rocks 5000 41-20 3B,
• 40903, conf, CLR, Corsican Federal 9-15H,
• Sunday, September 21, 2025: 32 for the month, 125 for the quarter, 555 for the year, 
• 40704, conf, Oasis, Lake Trenton Federal 5302 21-31 2B,
• Saturday, September 20, 2025: 31 for the month, 124 for the quarter, 564 for the year,
• 41213, conf, Slawson, Daredevil Federal 4-2-14H,

RBN Energy: Meta's massive data center development puts focus on Louisiana. 

Data center mania is sweeping across the U.S., grabbing headlines and spurring investor interest. It has now reached Louisiana, where Meta is building one of the largest developments in the Western Hemisphere. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll look at two gigantic projects planned for Louisiana, the early challenges the Bayou State faced in luring developers, and why it may now be a strong contender to emerge as a major Southern data center hub after a relatively slow start. 

First, a quick refresher. As we discussed in God Blessed Texas, the Lone Star State is easily one of the nation’s leaders for data centers, with only Virginia edging it out in both data center counts and associated power demand. Texas hosts more than 350 data centers, far more than the two dozen or so operating in its neighbor to the east, but Louisiana has two hyperscale projects being built that are generating plenty of attention because of the size and capital involved. 

The $10 billion site being constructed by Meta in Richland Parish (more on this below) in northern Louisiana is slated to consume about as much power as the city of San Diego (though the city’s peak loads can be higher) and could boost the state’s electricity consumption by an eye-opening 15%.

Louisiana hasn’t always been on the radar for giant data center projects. It has historically lagged behind states like Texas because it lacked the basic infrastructure to lure those projects. The Dallas-Fort Worth area, a prime location for data center development (see Where You Lead I Will Follow), has benefited for years from a dense fiber-optic backbone and fast internet speeds (we’ll discuss this in further detail in a future blog), while Louisiana’s broadband network has ranked in the lower third nationally, without the speed or reach of many other states. Louisiana also didn’t offer many tax incentives to data center firms. Major tech firms want reliable fiber, steady power and business incentives. Without those, Louisiana wasn’t seen as especially attractive to data center developers.

Louisiana lawmakers made big changes to close the state’s broadband gap and quickly ramped up incentives to bring in Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. In 2024, the state received more than $1.3 billion in federal broadband funding to deliver high-speed internet statewide. State legislators also passed Act 730 (HB 827) in June 2024, which established generous sales tax rebates for data center equipment. That law paved the way for more tax incentives, including property tax abatements and payroll credits, all designed to attract data center projects. The process was fast-tracked, and lawmakers crafted legislation in a single session to seal the Meta deal. Those efforts gave Louisiana a compelling package for Meta to build in Richland Parish, including tax rebates on the billions of dollars it is spending on data center equipment.

It's very likely that with these changes, Louisiana is setting itself up to host more data centers. 

As we discussed recently in Won’t Get Fooled Again, we’ve been grappling with the challenges of tracking and ranking data center projects in Texas and Louisiana, in part to help us better assess their impact on power and gas demand in Gulf Coast gas markets, as tracked in our proprietary Arrow Model. In that blog, we explained that we’re using a scoring system that assigns each project a score from 1 to 3 based on public information. A project ranks as a 1 if it has an offtaker, a 2 if it also controls the site, and a 3 if construction is underway. Projects missing these criteria don’t make it into our detailed forecasts.

The Arrow Model carves up the region into pipeline “corridors” (aka arrows) that are used to determine changes in the region’s inflows, outflows and flows within each state via groups of pipes that serve similar markets from comparable supply sources. Data centers have been emerging as an important data input in the model because it’s likely their ongoing development will result in significant bump-ups in power and gas demand in various parts of Texas and Louisiana.

Next, we’re going to dive into two major projects under development in Louisiana.

Figure 1. Proposed LouisianaData Centers. Source: RBN 

Of note, Lumen Technologies is also headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana. As I said earlier, I don't believe in coincidences. LOL. From AI overview:

Thoughts, Questions -- September 21, 2025

Locator: 49179ARCHIVES.

September 22, 2025. Rambling:

• I've never seen so much news; it's impossible to keep up; every day I wake up eager to see what's new;
• this is the most transformative president in my adult lifetime -- perhaps since Ronald Reagan

September 21, 2025. Rambling: 

• the year the music died: at least for the next four years, EVs are dead; 
• anything else is "spring hopes eternal"
• the final straw: Buffett gets out! 
• I would never bet against Jensen Huang, but for investors, with regard to Intel, there are so many other bets just as good; 
• if one has to think that much about an investment in this economy, it's time to pass;
• I'm inappropriately exuberant about Apple, but what Apple Silicon is doing is simply amazing
• ditto: Tim Cook's American Manufacturing Company
• no one mentions it, but the biggest moat right now: trillion-dollar-market caps
• why does everyone seem to be fighting the Fed? 
• where is Vanderbilt ranked this week? Finally, it breaks through #20; now ranked #18 after beating Georgia State (unranked, not to be confused with #5 Georgia), 70 - 21; 

From September 19, 2025:

Data points this past week that really caught my attention: 

• the strong performance of US equity markets in August / September, considering these two months are historically tough months for mom-and-pop retail investors; 
• Apple's global laptop sales in the 2Q25; 
• the staggering production in the Permian relative to the rest of the nation; 
• what appears to be an incredible Apple iPhone 17 launch; 
• the continued misreading of the Intel story; 
• the strength of the AI/fourth/sixth industrial revolution; 
•  the Fed is cutting despite a strong market; 
• despite all the trash talk from the White House, JPow is looking pretty good; 
• most important: he is independent of the White House and he's very, very trustworthy and credible.