☕️ China forces Meta to unwind $2B Manus deal

Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Finpresso.

In today's newsletter:

🇨🇳 China forces Meta to unwind $2B Manus deal

🤖 Anthropic signs $9.1B compute deal with Riot

💰 Meta launches $1B data center fund

🖥️ Super Micro guides for up to $72B in sales

☁️ CoreWeave revenue doubles, backlog hits $104B

Plus: 🌍 12 macro news, 🏢 8 corporate news, 💰 9 deal flow, and 📑 5 research & reports.

📊 Before The Bell

• Chinese regulators have forced Meta to unwind its $2 billion purchase of AI-agent startup Manus, which said it will "soon resume operating as an independent company" after Beijing ordered the deal reversed in April.
• Meta announced the acquisition last December of Manus, founded in China in 2022 before moving to Singapore, but the deal drew scrutiny in Beijing and Washington over foreign-investment rules amid the US-China race for AI talent, hardware and data.
• The reversal strips Meta of technology it had planned to embed in consumer and enterprise products as it builds an AI subscription business against Google, Anthropic and OpenAI; users must now back up data created on or after December 29, 2025.

• Anthropic has signed a $9.1 billion, 20-year deal with bitcoin miner Riot Platforms to lease AI data center capacity at Riot's Rockdale, Texas, campus, with extension options that could lift the total to $16.1 billion.
• The lease covers 191 megawatts of computing capacity through June 2048, built in stages to 96 megawatts by December 2027 and full capacity by June 2028, funded initially by a $573 million interim credit facility from Morgan Stanley.
• Riot's shares jumped more than 25% in after-hours trading after closing down 5.46%; the deal, alongside an earlier AMD agreement, gives Riot 241 megawatts of signed capacity and roughly $9.8 billion in contracted revenue in six months.

• Meta is setting up a $1 billion fund to invest in communities that host its data centers, part of a push by US tech firms to counter growing bipartisan opposition to the sprawling AI facilities.
• CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the fund in a 6,500-word essay on Monday, while OpenAI issued an open letter to Texas' governor on Friday promising to be a partner in "responsible AI infrastructure development."
• The outreach follows a fast-rising local backlash: New York banned data-center construction outright, and local bans nationwide climbed from 300 in late June to over 500 in July, signaling political risk for the industry's expansion.

• Super Micro Computer reports fiscal Q4 results after Tuesday's close, with Wall Street expecting revenue of $11.2 billion, a 91% jump from a year earlier, and adjusted earnings of $1.33 per share, up from $0.41.
• Shares rose 1.1% to $31.46 on volume 26% above normal, buoyed by more than $60 billion in fresh AI-server bookings and a raised gross-margin forecast of 15%-17%, well above earlier guidance of roughly 8%.
• Despite the demand story, the stock is down 30% over the past year versus gains of 230% for Dell and 160% for HPE, as investors weigh negative operating cash flow of -$7.56 billion and swelling inventories.

• CoreWeave's second-quarter revenue more than doubled to $2.58 billion, beating estimates, while its backlog of unbilled deals jumped 246% year-over-year to $104.2 billion, sending shares up more than 14% in after-hours trading Tuesday.
• Demand for the AI data center provider's services left near-term capacity "effectively sold out," CEO Michael Intrator said, with prices for access to Nvidia's Blackwell and Vera Rubin chips "setting new highs" and older chips also renting higher.
• Despite the surge, CoreWeave lost $626 million in the quarter, driven by $640 million in net interest costs, as some investors worry the $46.7 billion of chips and equipment on its balance sheet could quickly lose value.

🌍 Macro News

• FinCEN permanently exempts US companies from corporate ownership-disclosure rules. LINK
• Russia's central bank approves Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT for retail trading. LINK
• BRICS nations consider linking digital currencies to cut cross-border payment costs. LINK
• Cleveland Fed's Hammack still backs rate hikes despite weak jobs data. LINK
• Russia imports gasoline from India for first time amid refinery strikes. LINK
• Nearly 300 French newspapers challenge Google's AI search summaries at regulator. LINK
• CFTC uses emergency powers to keep Kalshi operating in New York. LINK
• Oil nears $90 a barrel as Trump's new Iran demands stall deal. LINK
• Trump administration limits tariff refunds to companies that actually sued. LINK
• French power prices jump 21.8% as heatwave curbs nuclear output. LINK
• SEC to propose Reg Crypto rule easing capital-raising path for crypto firms. LINK
• Norway's wealth fund posts record $184 billion half-year profit, discloses SpaceX stake. LINK

🏢 Corporate News

• OpenAI operating chief Brad Lightcap resigns to start new venture. LINK
• Uber sells entire stake in delivery-robot company Serve Robotics. LINK
• Google names Koray Kavukcuoglu as new DeepMind CEO, replacing Demis Hassabis. LINK
• Appeals court allows over 3,000 youth-addiction lawsuits against social media giants to proceed. LINK
• Ryanair partners with Google Cloud to deploy Gemini AI tools. LINK
• Trump Media reports $238 million quarterly loss on crypto holdings. LINK
• Adit Ventures settles SEC fraud case; founder disputes agency's allegations. LINK
• OpenAI splits Daybreak cybersecurity program into two access tiers for defenders. LINK

📈 Stocks

📑 Research & Reports

• Bank of America finds no broad evidence AI is destroying US jobs. LINK
• JPMorgan raises 2026 S&P 500 target to 8,000 on earnings optimism. LINK
• US companies raised record $252 billion in stock amid AI spending surge. LINK
• Swiss Re warns Europe faces chronic, worsening heat-related economic risks. LINK
• New York Fed says rising credit card delinquencies overstate household financial stress. LINK

💰 Deal Flow

• River AI raises $1.1 billion led by General Catalyst and AMP. LINK
• Fermi shares jump 16% after landing $6.5 billion data-center lease. LINK
• Accel closes $800 million fund for European and Israeli startups. LINK
• David Sacks' Craft Ventures seeks $1 billion for new fund. LINK
• RBC and BMO sell payments processor Moneris to Francisco Partners for C$2 billion. LINK
• Joby Aviation buys defense startup Resonant Sciences for about $500 million. LINK
• IBM and Together AI ink $240 million deal for AI inference cluster. LINK
• eToro to acquire US brokerage TradeZero in deal worth $231 million. LINK
• Ari Emanuel's Mari buys London's ATG Entertainment from Providence Equity. LINK

📅 Market Calendar

📚 Finance Resources

💬 How did you find today's edition?

We read every reply — just reply to this email and let us know how we can improve!