Rare Earths: Automakers are Worried

Rare Earths: Automakers are Worried

China produces roughly 60% of the world’s rare earth minerals and materials, which are key elements in electric vehicles, combustion engines and defense tech (image shows a quarry in Xinjiang). In April, China imposed export curbs on rare earths in response to US tariffs, CNBC detailed. This move has already shut down some European auto supplier plants, according to industry association CLEPA, and the effects are also being felt in Japan.

CoreWeave Climbs on Nvidia Breakthrough

CoreWeave [CRWV] rose 3% after reporting record-breaking MLPerf Training v5.0 results using Nvidia’s [NVDA] GB200 Grace Blackwell GPUs on its artificial intelligence (AI) cloud. Running 2,496 GPUs, CoreWeave completed training the massive Llama 3.1 405B model in just 27.3 minutes, Seeking Alphaoutlined. The company claims its GB200 cluster delivered over 2x faster performance than similar setups. 

Wise Move

Fintech Wise [WPLCF] announced on Thursday that it plans to shift its primary listing to the US, dealing another blow to the London Stock Exchange. The money transfer firm will adopt a dual listing, keeping a secondary presence in London. Shares rose 11% on the news. Wise went public in London via a direct listing in 2021 at a £8bn valuation, in what was seen as a rare tech coup for the City, and is now worth £11.07bn.

Planet Labs: Healthy Q1, Buoyant Outlook

The satellite data provider [PL] reported Q1 revenue of $66.26m, up 9.6% year-over-year and $4.01m ahead of estimates, with non-GAAP EPS at $0.00, beating estimates by $0.03. For Q2, the company anticipates revenue of $65–67m and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $2–4m. FY2026 revenue is forecast at $265–280m. Planet Labs’ Chief Financial Officer Ashley Johnson recently joined OPTO Sessions to discuss the company’s mission.

Meta CTO Defends Defense Pivot

“There’s a much stronger patriotic underpinning than I think people give Silicon Valley credit for,” said Meta’s [META] Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth at the Bloomberg Tech summit on Wednesday, referring to his company’s new partnership with defense contractor Anduril Industries. Silicon Valley was historically close to the military, so “there’s really a long history here that we are kind of hoping to return to,” Bosworth added.

Apple + Alibaba Partnership Stalls Over Tariffs

Apple’s [AAPL] launch of its AI services in China, in partnership with Alibaba [BABA], is being delayed by Beijing regulators, the Financial Times reported. The companies’ co-developed Apple Intelligence features are waiting on a green light from China’s Cyberspace Administration. The setback marks another fallout from US President Donald Trump’s trade war, despite Apple CEO Tim Cook’s efforts to maintain ties with both Washington and Beijing.

What’s the Lowdown on this Defense AI Pure Play?

BigBear.ai [BBAI] is an AI firm which derives the majority of its revenue from US government defense contracts. It has sparked investor interest in 2025 amid ongoing geopolitical tensions, higher defense spending proposals and calls to modernize national security in the US. OPTO discusses the latest developments, earnings, market performance and outlook for BBAI stock, and compares it to its few peers in the field.