Nvidia is expanding deals for its autonomous vehicle development business to Hyundai Motor, Nissan Motor and Isuzu, as well as Chinese automakers BYD and Geely, the software and chip giant announced Monday.

The new tie-ups are for Nvidia’s “Drive Hyperion” platform for AVs. The system helps companies develop and deploy driver-assist and autonomous driving capabilities for “Level 4” AVs, which are capable of driving without human intervention under predefined areas or circumstances.

“We’ve been working on self-driving cars for a long time. The ChatGPT moment of self-driving cars has arrived,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Monday during the company’s GTC conference. “We now know we could successfully autonomously drive cars, and today, we are announcing four new partners for Nvidia’s robotaxi-ready platform. … The number of robotaxi-ready cars in the future are going to be incredible.”

No vehicles on sale to consumers today are capable of driving themselves without human monitoring or intervention, but some companies, such as Alphabet’s Waymo, offer ride-hailing fleets with Level 4 self-driving vehicles, also known as robotaxis. Most vehicles on sale today are considered Level 2, with drivers needing to continually monitor the systems.

Drive Hyperion is part of what Nvidia calls its “end-to-end” AV platform that includes data center training, large-scale simulations and in-vehicle computing. The company does not produce or sell AVs or many of the components needed to operate such vehicles.

Current Nvidia customers for Drive Hyperion include many self-driving companies such as Aurora and Nuro, as well as other more consumer-facing businesses such as Sony Group, Uber Technologies, Jeep parent Stellantis and electric vehicle maker Lucid Group.

AVs are important to Nvidia, as self-driving cars remain one of the primary areas where the chipmaker can show growth outside of artificial intelligence.

Many believe AI could be key to the proliferation of AVs, which Wall Street analysts and automotive executives have targeted as a multitrillion-dollar growth industry.

The new companies add to a growing list of such tie-ups for Nvidia, as the chipmaker and the automotive and technology industries try to capitalize on and proliferate AVs after years of failed ventures for robotaxis.

Waymo has led the AV industry for years, while others such as Tesla, Uber and Amazon’s Zoox attempt to catch up.

General Motors-backed Cruise, which was previously viewed as a leader alongside Waymo, disbanded amid controversies after a pedestrian was dragged by one of its vehicles in San Francisco. GM spent more than $10 billion on Cruise before ending the robotaxi operations in 2024.

— CNBC’s Katie Tarasov contributed to this report.

Dell shares soared 19% on Friday after the company beat fourth-quarter estimates and issued strong guidance, as a historic memory shortage puts pressure on prices in the sector.

Dell reported adjusted earnings of $3.89 per share, exceeding the $3.53 per share expected by analysts surveyed by LSEG. The company reported $33.38 billion in revenue for the quarter, topping a forecast of $31.73 billion.

The company estimates fiscal 2027 revenue will come in between $138 billion and $142 billion, blowing away the $124.7 billion expected by Factset.

Dell expects revenue for its artificial intelligence servers to hit $50 billion in 2027, over double the year prior.

With memory chip makers prioritizing the high-bandwidth memory needed for AI chips made by companies including Nvidia, AMD and Google, it has meant less supply for the makers of laptops and smartphones.

Dell COO Jeff Clarke told analysts on the company’s earnings call that Dell is working with memory partners “to be as flexible and as agile as possible.”

This report is from this week’s CNBC’s “Inside India” newsletter which brings you timely, insightful news and market commentary on the emerging powerhouse. Subscribe here.

The big story

Indian IT stocks are facing their steepest monthly declines since the 2008 global financial crisis, with the Nifty IT Index on track to drop 20% this month, as concerns over AI-led disruption pressure software stocks globally.

At the mega India AI summit last week, major tech companies announced tie-ups with leading Indian IT services firms to drive AI adoption across enterprises. India’s largest and the world’s second largest IT services company, Tata Consultancy Services, tied up with OpenAI, while Infosys partnered with the ChatGPT maker’s rival Anthropic.

These tie-ups did little to cheer the markets with the Nifty IT index down 19.6% so far this month as investor concerns over the impact of rapid artificial intelligence advancements on the sector has dampened sentiment.

Indian IT industry leaders, however, have called AI implementation a “big opportunity.”

“We are confident AI will strengthen growth across our business and unlock the next phase of opportunity for the broader IT ecosystem,” Sham Arora, chief technology officer at Tech Mahindra told CNBC.

But unlike the U.S., where the debate is still on between AI fears being “illogical” and a possible collapse of companies offering software as a service, or SaaS, experts told me that AI won’t make Indian firms offering IT services irrelevant. It will, however, shrink their margins.

Biswajit Maity, senior principal analyst at Gartner, told me that traditional IT services companies such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro and Accenture will play a “pivotal role in enterprise AI adoption” by leveraging their client relationships and domain expertise in integrating AI solutions.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Thursday also attempted to play down AI concerns, suggesting that markets have miscalculated the threat to software companies.

But to remain relevant, Indian IT services companies need to invest in talent and proprietary platforms, develop industry-specific AI solutions and co-innovate with clients, among other things, Maity said. And while some of that work is underway, the efforts are unlikely to protect margins of Indian IT companies, Maity and other experts forecast.

Indian IT companies collectively control over one‑third of global IT services brand value, export technology services estimated at more than $220 billion annually, and dominate the global outsourcing landscape, making them critical for the world’s digital infrastructure.

But the business models of Indian IT companies are dependent on labor arbitrage, and with the advancement of AI this will soon be replaced by technology arbitrage, said Maity.

Indian IT companies get a majority of their revenue from helping enterprises with integration of IT services and digital…

Nvidia shares dropped 5% on Thursday, as investor concerns around its leadership in the artificial intelligence boom dampened enthusiasm over its earnings beat.

The company reported stellar quarterly results, but the numbers were not enough to assuage Wall Street amid an already fragile time for stocks. Companies across many industries, ranging from trucking to software, have been rattled this year on fears of AI disruption to their businesses. Elevated valuations and high capital expenditures have also set a high bar for these names.

“The debate has shifted away from near-term results and toward the sustainability of AI capex spending, amid concerns around its quantum, monetization and potential cashflow degradation,” Richard Clode, portfolio manager at Janus Henderson, told CNBC.

Nvidia’s decline on the day also pressured several other leading chipmakers. Broadcom shares dropped nearly 6%, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing dropped more than 3%.

Investors are pointing to Nvidia’s stalling $100 billion deal deal with OpenAI as a pain point for the stock.

Nvidia’s 10-K regulatory filing published on Wednesday states that while the company is “finalizing an investment and partnership agreement” with the maker of ChatGPT, “There is no assurance that we will enter into an investment and partnership agreement with OpenAI or that a transaction will be completed.”

Tom Graff, chief investment officer at Facet, told CNBC that he expects a “bumpy ride” ahead for the stock for at least the next couple of quarters.

He said that the market expected a good quarter from Nvidia after customers like Microsoft and Amazon projected higher spend on data centers, but investors were seeking more insight from the chip giant.

“What we didn’t get were details about the future guidance,” Graff said. “If players like OpenAI might be slowing spending, that would show up in actual revenue one to two quarters from now, so the lack of specificity about the revenue outlook is generating some concerns.”

To be sure, Gil Luria of D.A. Davidson said that Nvidia provided more detailed guidance for the year than it usually does. He told CNBC that he remains optimistic that the company will be making a large investment in OpenAI despite the “confusing” language in the regulatory filing.

Axon Enterprise‘s stock surged more than 20% after the maker of Tasers, body cameras and drones topped Wall Street’s fourth-quarter estimates as artificial intelligence accelerated demand for its software products

The company reported adjusted earnings of $2.15 per share on $797 million in revenue, surpassing the $1.60 per share and $755 million in revenue expected by analysts surveyed by LSEG.

Axon also issued upbeat revenue guidance for 2026, calling for growth between 27% and 30%, compared to a 25.8% estimate.

CEO Rick Smith said that since starting the company in 1993, AI has brought a “moment unlike anything” he has seen.

“If we deploy AI more aggressively and more thoughtfully than anyone else in this space, while honoring the responsibility that comes with the operating environment we operate in, we will create value that our customers simply cannot replicate,” he told analysts on an earnings call Tuesday.

Axon said AI capabilities accounted for about 10%, or $750 million, of total bookings last year as it infused more tech into its tools.

Some of those AI features include automatic license plate recognition and a voice-activated companion built into a body camera. The tool, known as Axon Assistant, attracted more than 500 customers.

Finance chief Brittany Bagley said Axon expects its software business, which grew 40% during the quarter to $343 million, to soon outpace hardware growth due to AI tailwinds.

Revenue grew 39% from a year ago. Net income totalled about $3 million, or 3 cents per share, down from $135 million, or $1.67 per share a year ago. Axon attributed the shift to operating losses and strategic investment activities.

The company also set 2028 targets for $6 billion in annual revenue and 28% adjusted EBITDA margin.

The global mergers and acquisitions boom that defined 2025 is carrying into 2026, as companies reassess their portfolios and artificial intelligence-led demand fuels large-scale transactions. However, a tightening capital pool is forcing executives to be more selective than ever.

Despite a sluggish start as Trump’s sweeping tariffs early last year briefly scuttled acquisitions and new public listings, the total value of deal-making activity surged nearly 40% to a record of $4.9 trillion in 2025, according to private market intelligence firm Pitchbook.

It surpassed the previous high of $4.86 trillion set in 2021, as deal count and value activity reached records, PitchBook said. Activity accelerated as central banks cut interest rates, valuations improved and companies increased spending on artificial intelligence.

Markets are betting that the surge will continue, as Wall Street regains its appetite for large deals amid the prospect of lower borrowing costs.

A Bain & Company survey of 300 M&A executives found that 80% expect to sustain or increase deal activity this year, citing improved macroeconomic conditions and a growing backlog of private equity and venture capital assets awaiting exit.

Goldman Sachs, drawing on its own poll of 600 corporate and financial sponsor clients, found that 57% believe scale and strategic growth will be the primary driver of deal decisions this year.

“As abrupt shifts in trade policies settled into a pattern of less threatening change, relief turned into confidence and then a fear of missing out,” said Jake Henry, global coleader of McKinsey’s M&A Practice.

Central to the shift is a decisive push by companies to reassess their portfolios, as geopolitical risks, economic fragmentation and uneven global growth force boards to reconsider where they operate and the risks they are willing to take.

“Leaders across industries recognize that many traditional business models have reached the limits of their historical growth engines,” said Suzanne Kumar, executive vice president of Bain’s global M&A and divestiture practice.

“Companies urgently need to reinvent themselves to get out ahead of the big forces of technology disruption, a post-globalization economy, and shifting profit pools,” Kumar added.

Goldman topped the global M&A ranking last year, advising on nearly 40 deals worth $1.48 trillion in total volume. It marked the strongest period for mega-deals by volume, according to Reuters, citing LSEG records dating back to 1980.

Still, companies remain cautious. Boston Consulting Group’s M&A sentiment index rebounded to 75 from its low in late 2022…

American tech companies should “worry a little bit” about the subsidies their Chinese competitors receive from their government in the AI race, Microsoft President Brad Smith told CNBC.

As competition between U.S. and Chinese companies intensifies to develop the most advanced models, Smith said that the U.S. has “an advantage in terms of access to the most powerful chips in the world” and “other technology innovation.”

But, speaking in an interview on the sidelines of the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, India, he also said: “I do think we always have to think about, maybe even worry a little bit about Chinese subsidies.”

Chinese AI companies have been supported by their government with measures such as a multi-billion-dollar national investment fund and vouchers for cheaper energy for their computing needs. Smith’s warning comes after Chinese firms released a slew of models over the past two weeks, and their lower-cost AI models could be attractive in developing nations.

Smith said subsidies from Beijing to Chinese companies were “the fundamental approach that China successfully took to disrupt the telecommunications market,” when state money and support helped companies like Huawei and ZTE expand.

“Some American companies disappeared. European companies like Ericsson and Nokia were thrown on the defensive,” Smith added.

Smith said data centers from Chinese firms Huawei and Alibaba exist around the world and “it will not be difficult for China to subsidize those.”

“I think for the rest of us, we have to compete with that, and we have to be good at competing with that, with the support of our governments,” Smith said.

CNBC approached Alibaba and Huawei for comment about whether they have accepted Chinese state subsidies but had not received a response as this article went live.

Alibaba’s cloud computing division, through which it sells its AI services, operates globally. But outside China, it doesn’t always build data centers, instead partnering with other infrastructure players.

Cities across the country, from Shanghai to the tech hub of Shenzhen, have offered “vouchers” to reduce the cost for companies looking to rent computing power.

Cheap energy has been another advantage for Chinese companies that are trying to build out the power-hungry infrastructure needed to train and run AI models.

Microsoft on Wednesday said it was on pace to invest $50 billion by the end of the decade to help bring AI to developing countries in the “Global South,” which includes investments in infrastructure and reskilling.

Rory Green,…