Granted, the average price didn't clear the round number by much, $3.9990 last.
But we take what we can get.
Here's the AAA map and commentary.
And state by state.
*March 31: $4.02
Thursday, June 18, 2026
Nio's CEO William Li Warns of 15% To 20% Decline In China's New Car Market This Year
Hi-ho, it's off to Europe we go.
From CNEV Post, June 14:
Nio's William Li warns of China auto sales drop while backing own growth
- William Li expects domestic retail sales in China's auto industry to fall by 15% to 20% this year.
- He also reaffirmed expectations of Nio achieving a 40% to 50% annual sales growth this year.
William Li, founder, chairman and CEO of Nio Inc (NYSE: NIO), issued a stark warning that domestic retail sales in China's auto industry could fall by 15% to 20% this year. At the same time, he reaffirmed expectations for the company to achieve strong growth against the broader market trend.
Speaking at the China Auto Chongqing Summit on June 13, Li painted a grim macroeconomic picture for attendees. He noted that China's auto industry has entered the most brutal final stage of competition starting this year. The entire market is undergoing a fundamental shift from an era of incremental expansion to a saturated market driven by replacement demand.
Despite the challenging macroeconomic environment, the Chinese EV maker remains highly optimistic about its own growth....
...Regarding the overall domestic market, Li pointed out that any illusions within the industry about a sales rebound should be completely shattered. In the first five months of this year, the domestic auto retail market fell by 19.5% year-on-year.
Entering June, the decline widened further, with the drop in the first few days even exceeding 22%, he noted.
Li emphasized that the auto industry is a marathon on a muddy road....
....MUCH MORE
"Nvidia Takes the Lead in Another AI Market Beyond Chips...." (NVDA)
From TipRanks, June 18:
Story Highlights
- Nvidia became the top vendor in data center Ethernet switching for the first time.
- IDC said Nvidia’s switching revenue jumped 193% year-over-year in the first quarter.
- The gain shows Nvidia is expanding beyond GPUs into a larger share of AI infrastructure spending.
Nvidia is best known for its AI chips, but the company has now taken the lead in another fast-growing corner of the AI market. According to new data from market research firm IDC, Nvidia became the top vendor in data center Ethernet switching by revenue during the first quarter of 2026. The company generated $2.1 billion in switching revenue during the quarter, up 193% from a year ago, giving it a 21.5% share of the data center Ethernet switching market.
The huge win highlights how Nvidia is becoming much more than a chip supplier. As companies build larger AI systems, they need not only powerful GPUs but also high-speed networks that can connect thousands of those chips together....
....MUCH MORE
If there is any money to be made from artificial intelligence Mr. Huang seems bound-and-determined that it go to Nvidia.
In other news, the move to optical and photonics from wires is real and accelerating.
From Nvidia's blog, June 16:
Coherent Breaks Ground on Expanded Texas Facility, Scaling AI’s Optical Backbone
Coherent’s expansion at its Sherman, Texas, campus scales what it calls the world’s first volume production 6-inch indium phosphide fab, a key supplier across NVIDIA’s AI stack.
AI runs at the speed of light. More and more, that light is made in Texas.
Coherent broke ground today on an expanded manufacturing building in Sherman, Texas.
The company makes the lasers, optical components and compound semiconductors that wire AI systems together — and runs what it calls the world’s first 6-inch indium phosphide fab.
NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang and Coherent CEO Jim Anderson were on hand for the ceremony, joined by Sherman Mayor Shawn Temann and Adriana Cruz, executive director of Texas Economic Development and Tourism, who delivered remarks.
The expanded building will scale production of the same InP wafers that carry data between chips, servers and data centers at the speed of light — the optical backbone of modern AI infrastructure.
It’s the kind of milestone that turns a commitment into construction: a concrete step in expanding advanced semiconductor manufacturing in the United States.
“AI is the ultimate general-purpose technology,” Huang said during a conversation with Anderson at the groundbreaking. “Because intelligence is fundamental — the ability to process information, to reason and solve problems — it affects every single industry.”
Public programs like the CHIPS Act, funded at roughly $50 billion, were designed to bring chip manufacturing back to the U.S.
As part of today’s event, Coherent is announcing a $50 million CHIPS Act grant to help finance the expanded Sherman facility — building on roughly $17 million in earlier support from the Texas CHIPS program and the Sherman Economic Development Corporation.
NVIDIA’s own commitment to produce up to $500 billion of AI infrastructure in the U.S. through industry partnerships with new sites in Arizona and Texas adds private-sector momentum....
....MUCH MORE
Previously:
March 12 - FrenchTech: "Nvidia-backed startup Scintil Photonics starts testing laser chips"
March 31 - Photonics: "Nvidia Invests $2 Billion in Marvell, Announces Partnership" (MRVL; NVDA)
April 8 - Photonics: "How Nvidia learned to embrace the light in its quest for scale" (NVDA)
And many more going back to NVLink in 2015.
As noted exiting from that March 2 post:
...This network stuff is not new. You may recall that Nvidia purchased networking gear specialist Mellanox for just under $7 billion in 2019, back when a billion was real money.
"Connecting The Dots On Why Nvidia Is Buying Mellanox" (NVDA)
A year later we saw Mellanox InfiniBand system interconnects in five of the world's top ten fastest supercomputers. (and more than half of the Top500).
In the most recent earnings report, "NVIDIA Q4 2026 Earnings Call Transcript - February 25, 2026 (NVDA)" this was highlighted:
Networking revenue -- $11 billion for the quarter, over 3.5x year over year; full-year Networking exceeded $31 billion, up more than 10x versus fiscal 2021 (year of Mellanox acquisition [sic]).
n.b. 2020 was the year Mellanox was integrated into NVDA, not 2021.
Mr. Huang is not fooling around.
Well maybe fooling around a little bit. He is a master showman/salesman and would not turn down an opportunity to do a photo op for a partner company:
Nice Words For Quanta Systems From The Dow Jones Empire (PWR)
Quanta has been a member of our hyper-concentrated electricity mini-portfolio for going-on three years. 3-Year performance: up 285.94% vs the S&P's +68.27%. 1-year performance: up 99.53% vs. +24.03% for the S&P 500. Year to date: up 69.45% vs. +8.39%.
They are the class act of heavy-duty electrical contracting.
First up, the older of the two articles, this from The Trader column at Barron's June 12:
Quanta Services’ AI-Fueled Run Isn’t Done
Key Points
- AI-related and growth stocks experienced a midweek selloff, with the Nasdaq Composite falling 2% amid investor reassessment of valuations.
- Quanta Services benefits from AI’s energy demands, leading to a record $48.5 billion backlog and a 50% share price increase.
- Earnings are projected to rise 26% this year. A $1 billion share repurchase plan was authorized.
Artificial intelligence stocks have reached dizzying levels this year, and some investors are suddenly finding they have a fear of heights. Nothing could be more grounded than Quanta Services.
Tech stocks led the midweek selloff, with the Nasdaq Composite falling 2% on Wednesday, just a few days after it suffered its worst one-day point decline on record on June 5. It’s not surprising that these highfliers would take the brunt of the pain, given how quickly they’ve risen and with old worries like geopolitics and inflation reminding the market that the real world isn’t as cut and dry as a ChatGPT jaw session.
“After a powerful rally, especially in AI-related and growth stocks, investors are reassessing how much they’re willing to pay for future earnings in an environment where interest rates could remain higher for longer,” notes David Miller, chief investment officer at Catalyst Funds.
Quanta Services was caught up in the AI tumult, and that wasn’t a surprise either....
....MUCH MORE
And from their confreres at Investor's Business Daily, June 16:
IBD Stock Of The Day: AI Data Center, Power Grid Company Trades In Buy Zone
Power plant and grid builder Quanta Services (PWR), a big beneficiary of the AI data center boom, is the IBD Stock of the Day as shares trade in a new buy area.
The nation's largest electrical construction company has seen its backlog swell to a record $48.5 billion as not just data centers but other construction trends sustain growth. At its investor day in March, Quanta drew a path to doubling its adjusted earnings per share by 2030, thanks to growth in electric utility, power generation and large-load markets.
Under its latest forecast, Quanta expects full-year revenue of between $34.7 billion and $35.2 billion and adjusted earnings per share range of $13.55 to $14.25. That would represent a 23% increase in revenue at the midpoint and a 43% increase in EPS.
Analysts' 2026 consensus sales estimates are $34.961 billion in sales and $13.96 in EPS, per FactSet.
Quanta Services Named Top Analyst Pick
Last month, UBS analysts named Quanta one of their top picks in the industrial sector, citing expected spending in electric grid, data centers and power generation, with additional supporting growth from telecom providers.Analyst Steven Fisher said the company's mix of large, fixed price and high voltage grid projects should boost margins. Plus, management is making operational improvements, such as improving communications across its organization in order to enable more resource sharing.
More than 30 analysts cover Quanta. Some 71% have buy or outperform ratings, according to FactSet. Another 23% have hold ratings, and 6% give underperform ratings.
On May 22, the company authorized a new stock buyback of up to $1 billion. That would amount to about 1.375 million shares at current prices, or less than 1% of the floating supply of shares, according to MarketSurge.
Quanta Stock In Buy Zone
After climbing to a record high on May 6, Quanta Services stock pulled back for a quick dip below the 50-day moving average. In just a couple of sessions, the stock was back above the line. That rebound from support also offered an entry at the 21-day exponential moving average, around 703. In addition, the stock moved above a trendline on Monday, providing another entry.
Quanta shares have shot up nearly 300% from a breakout in December 2023, a period that roughly traces the construction boom in data centers....
....MORE, including a bit of chartology.
Coming into the open the stock is up $13.43 (+1.88%) at $728.00 after trading down $4.44 yesterday.
PWR trails another component of the mini-portfolio, GE Vernova at one and three years but is a bit ahead year-to-date.
Capital Markets: "Dollar Glows After the Fed's Hawkish Hold"
From Marc Chandler at Bannockburn Global Forex:
The Federal Reserve delivered a hawkish hold yesterday. The jump in US rates spurred a strong dollar advance that has been extended a little today. The new Fed chair received mostly high marks and dealt a blow to those narratives that saw him as beholden to the president’s wishes. He repeatedly underscored his and the Fed’s commitment to price stability. Warsh appears to harken back to Greenspan’s era before greater transparency replaced ambiguity in the communication. Less is more. On Tuesday, the Fed funds futures were discounting 21 bp of tightening this year, and now it is near 40 bp.
Three other G10 central banks met today, Norway’s Norges Bank, the Swiss National Bank, and the Bank of England. All three kept policy unchanged. Norway signaled another hike is likely this year. The swaps market has it discounted for September. The Swiss National Bank kept its deposit rate at zero. The BOE’s target rate remained at 3.75% and the swaps market anticipates at least one hike by year end. Today’s byelection in Makerfield will shape the near-term course of national politics and set the stage for a formal challenge to Prime Minister Starmer. Lastly, reports indicate ships are beginning to transit the Strait of Hormuz and oil prices are extended their slide....
....MUCH MORE
Last I saw the DXY futures were at 100.51.
"South Korea's SK hynix drops degree requirements for new hires"
This seems to be a worldwide human resources trend.*
From Korea's Asia Today via United Press International, June 17:
Chipmaker will prioritize job skills, experience and growth potential as it recruits hundreds of entry-level employees
....MUCH MORESouth Korean chipmaker SK hynix said Wednesday it had eliminated college degree requirements for entry-level applicants as the company shifts its hiring focus from academic credentials to practical skills and growth potential.
The new policy applies to the company's rolling recruitment campaign that began Wednesday.
SK hynix plans to hire hundreds of new employees across major areas, including semiconductor design and other technical positions.
Previous job postings required applicants to hold at least a bachelor's degree from a four-year university. Those requirements have been removed.
Applicants will instead be evaluated on their experience, job-related abilities, potential for development and compatibility with the company's workplace culture, SK hynix said.
The company said candidates may apply and be selected regardless of their educational background as long as they demonstrate the capabilities required for the position.
"The competitiveness of future talent in a rapidly changing AI environment cannot be explained solely by a particular degree or standardized qualifications," an SK hynix official said.
The company said it changed its hiring standards to identify candidates capable of solving complex problems creatively and responding quickly to technological change....
*Yesterday: "AI Revolution: Replacing Degrees with Digital Prowess in Germany"
Fiscal Problem In the KSA: "The Price Collapsed Before Saudi Barrels Could Move"
From House of Saud, June 18:
Brent fell 40% to $75.49 while Saudi
Arabia's Hormuz exports remain blocked by mines. Markets priced Iranian
supply before Saudi could ship a single barrel.
DHAHRAN — Brent crude has fallen 40% from its 2026 conflict peak to $75.49 per barrel while not a single commercial tanker has transited the Strait of Hormuz. The oil market has priced in an Iranian supply resumption that remains physically impossible for Saudi Arabia — whose exports are blocked by naval mines for an estimated 40 to 180 more days — creating a structural inversion in which the kingdom absorbs the full price collapse before recovering a single export barrel.
Saudi Arabia now faces a $32–36 per barrel gap between market price and its $108–111 fiscal breakeven, translating to roughly $160–175 million in lost revenue per day. When Saudi crude eventually resumes flowing through Hormuz, it will price into a market already repriced downward by the anticipation of Iranian barrels that have not yet arrived either. The mechanics of that inversion run across six dimensions: the price signal, the physical blockade, the fiscal damage, the insurance barrier, the PGSA fee layer, and the precedent set by similar episodes in 2015–16 and 2011.
The Price Moved Before the Barrels
In a functioning commodity market, a supply deal benefits the exporting country once the supply comes online. The sequence runs: agreement, then production, then price adjustment. What has happened with Hormuz since mid-June 2026 inverts that sequence entirely. The market moved first, marking down crude on the expectation that Iranian barrels would flow — and in doing so, it repriced the barrel that Saudi Arabia has not yet been able to ship.Brent fell from approximately $83.17 on June 15 — the day the MOU was confirmed — to $75.49 by June 18, a drop of $7.68 per barrel in 96 hours, according to Trading Economics. That 9.3% decline occurred while Hormuz remained closed to commercial traffic, while BIMCO’s CONWARTIME clause was still triggered, and while the Lloyd’s Market Association maintained its safety designation. The price moved on a signal. The barrels did not.
The beneficiary of that repricing is, in theory, the consumer. The cost is borne by the producer who cannot ship. Saudi Arabia’s Aramco had already cut the Arab Light July OSP by $6 per barrel — the largest reduction since 2022 — publishing the cut on June 8, a full week before the MOU signing. The Asian premium collapsed from $19.50 to $9.50 per barrel between May and July, a 51% decline, compressing revenue on cargoes that had not yet loaded.
That compression is structural, not cyclical. When Saudi exports do resume, they will enter a market already repriced downward by anticipated Iranian supply. The kingdom does not recapture the spread it lost while its exports were physically blocked. It absorbs the loss and prices into a lower market on the other side.
How Far Has Brent Fallen From Its Conflict Peak?
Brent crude has fallen approximately 40.3% from its 2026 conflict peak of $126.41 per barrel to $75.49 on June 18, according to Trading Economics and Barchart.com data. From the April–early May high of roughly $114 per barrel, the decline measures 33.8% in approximately six weeks — one of the fastest sustained drops in crude prices outside a global recession.The decline did not occur in a single move. The first leg, from the $126 peak to the low $80s, tracked ceasefire optimism and the early stages of MOU negotiations through late May and early June. Goldman Sachs cut its Q4 2026 Brent forecast from $90 to $80 per barrel on June 16, projecting Gulf export normalisation by end-July, according to Reuters and InvestingLive. The bank’s 2027 full-year projection stands at $75 — a level that assumes sustained Iranian supply at volumes Iran has not produced since before the conflict.
The second leg, from $83 to $75, was concentrated in the four days surrounding the MOU signing confirmation. That acceleration coincided with PBS and NPR reporting that markets expected “a gush of 100 million barrels” from stranded ships, even as energy analysts quoted in the same reports cautioned it would take three to six months to restore the pre-war status quo. The market priced the gush. It did not price the delay....
....MUCH MORE
Also at House of Saud, June 17:
The Sequence: Iran’s Crude First, Everyone Else’s Later
They do not sound pleased. Not at all.
"Wave of Persian Gulf oil set to leave Asian refiners swamped"
From Bloomberg via The Japan Times, June 18:
An impending wave of oil that’s been trapped inside the Strait of Hormuz is set to be unleashed on Asia, which would suddenly swamp a region that had managed to make up for lost supply in recent weeks.
Around 31 supertankers, capable of carrying about 62 million barrels of crude, are stuck inside the Persian Gulf and set to sail out once the waterway opens up, according to Signal Group data. The actual tally may still be higher yet, with some vessels possibly turning their satellite transponders off.
The gush could happen soon after the U.S. and Iran signed an interim deal that will see the strait reopen. The oil would take about one week to get to India, or three weeks to East Asia.
The crude, however, is coming at a time when refiners in Asia are already well supplied for this month and next after scrambling to replace Middle Eastern flows, according to traders familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named as they’re not authorized to speak publicly. They’d also cut processing rates as high prices curbed demand for fuels.
It’s a stark reversal from the early stages of the war, when prices were spiking and the oil market was warning of dramatic shortages. Refiners locked in purchases from places such as the U.S., while China had largely stayed out of the market, and countries such as Japan tapped local storage.
At the same time, Persian Gulf sellers such as Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. and Kuwait Petroleum Corp. have been marketing supply and getting some of their barrels out of Hormuz. Oil production in Iraq has also jumped and is set to continue climbing.
Already, more tankers are moving out of the Persian Gulf. Three oil supertankers controlled by Bahri, Saudi Arabia’s national shipping company, emerged in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday after last being seen inside the Persian Gulf about two months ago....
....MUCH MORE
Both Brent and WTI futures are down over 2%.
Nukes: Here Are Three More Small Modular Reactor Awards That Will Be Going To Rolls-Royce
From ReMix, June 12:
Czechia plans three small modular reactors as part of wider European nuclear push
The projects are planned for Temelín, Dětmarovice and Tušimice as Prague looks to secure a role in the Rolls-Royce SMR supply chain
Czechia is preparing to build three small modular reactors as part of a wider strategy to expand nuclear power and position domestic industry inside a growing European supply chain.
The planned sites are Temelín, Dětmarovice and Tušimice, while officials are also examining other possible locations, Industry and Trade Minister Karel Havlíček said after visiting Škoda JS in Pilsen with Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.
As cited by Echo24, Havlíček said the program should not be viewed only as a domestic energy project, but as part of a broader European nuclear effort in which Czech companies could play a major manufacturing role.
“At the moment, we have three locations, and we are looking for other possible locations, but this is already a fairly decent number. Not to mention that our ambition is to be in the supply chain. This means that for us this is not just a Czech project, but at least a pan-European one,” Havlíček said.
The minister said the government wants Czech industry, including Škoda JS, to capture a significant share of future SMR production, adding that components made in the country could become part of around 10 percent of small modular reactor deliveries worldwide.
Škoda JS, which is part of the ČEZ group, was selected in May by Rolls-Royce SMR as one of two suppliers of key components, including reactor pressure vessels, internal reactor parts and primary circuit equipment. ČEZ has held a 20 percent stake in Rolls-Royce SMR since last year.
Rolls-Royce SMR is expected to build its first three small modular reactors in Wales. Havlíček said the first British unit is expected in the mid-2030s, with the first Czech reactor likely to follow within about a year.
Škoda JS chief executive Karel Bednář said the Pilsen-based company is working to establish itself firmly in the Rolls-Royce SMR supply chain.
“We have signed contracts for the preparation of the production of major components with a long-term deadline, such as the reactor vessel and the installation of internal parts....
....MORE
June 17: BritTech: "Sweden's Vattenfall picks Rolls-Royce SMR for nuclear power project"
Wednesday, June 17, 2026
"Hollywood’s Mass Exodus: Why Film and TV Production Is Fleeing L.A. and What Can Be Done About It"
From Variety, June 16:
“Baywatch” was a staple of low-budget, first-run syndication in the 1990s, as natural to Los Angeles as David Hasselhoff’s chest hair and as defining of the city in that era as the O.J. trial and the Sunset Strip.
By the time it ended its run in 1999, it had become too costly to produce at a profit.
But the show’s red trunks and swimsuits returned to L.A. lifeguard towers in March of this year. Like an endangered pelican reintroduced to its native habitat, the Fox reboot was hailed as a triumph for the industry’s hometown, which is suffering through a long slide in production activity. Gov. Gavin Newsom bragged that the show was back “where it belongs,” at a cost to the state of $21 million.
Soon, however, the producers ran into obstacles. Officials from the county Beaches and Harbors Department and the California Coastal Commission told them they couldn’t park their trucks overnight, light fires or drive on the sand.
“We’re a lifeguard show,” “Baywatch” co-creator Greg Bonann remembers saying. “What do you mean we can’t drive a truck on the beach?”
Suddenly the show was at risk of becoming the wrong kind of symbol: this one, a victim of California’s tangle of regulations. No one in power — not Newsom or L.A. Mayor Karen Bass — wanted to read the headline about “Baywatch” bailing out of Los Angeles. When elected leaders were summoned to the Fox lot to smooth things over, the show held all the leverage. “After a while, you have to sit down with the right people and say, ‘Guys, do we want to have this show here or not?’” Bonann says.
Los Angeles has been the world’s entertainment capital for 100 years and still has an unmatched concentration of talent and infrastructure. But in an age of globalization, with easy international travel and communication, the city is losing its edge.
Everything costs more in L.A., starting with labor, due to the high cost of living and elaborate union agreements. Other states and countries have developed crew bases of their own, are more solicitous of producers’ needs and offer more generous incentives. Producers are also under pressure from the audience to deliver ever more spectacular experiences. Creating a premium product — at a price — often means going overseas.
These trends have been underway for 20 or 30 years. But since the end of the streaming bubble in 2022, America has lost 73,000 production jobs — two-thirds of them in Los Angeles — bringing the issue of foreign competition to a rapid boil.
In the chaotic race for L.A. mayor, the candidates have clashed over who lost Hollywood. At a debate in May, Councilmember Nithya Raman accused Bass of failing to cut red tape. “That’s what happened in ‘Baywatch,’” she said. “The city and county weren’t talking to each other.” Spencer Pratt, the reality star who conceded last week, bemoaned the sorry state of California’s incentive program: “Even Massachusetts has better tax credits than Hollywood.”
The contenders for governor are also battling to show that they can revive the industry with the right package of incentives. Newsom doubled the state program to $750 million in 2025. Everyone seems to agree it should be more — maybe a lot more — and that it should cover above-the-line salaries for actors, writers and producers.
“In my understanding, California’s rebate is one of the least beneficial for anybody who is financing motion pictures and television,” says Charles Roven, co-founder of Atlas Entertainment and producer of “Oppenheimer” and “Wonder Woman.” “It’s capped and it has no above-the-line.”
But the state can do only so much to compete with the 81 countries that have embraced filming as an economic development tool. The U.K. alone spent $2.2 billion on film and TV subsidies in 2024, and national incentives are often stacked on top of local rebates.
California “went into this knife fight without a weapon, and now folks are bringing guns,” says Xavier Becerra, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate who is the favorite to succeed Newsom.
As she runs for reelection, Bass has to walk a fine line between projecting confidence in the city’s ability to retain production and lobbying for more federal help for Hollywood. “I don’t feel like we’re going to lose our industry,” Bass says, noting that studios and networks are still grappling with the business changes wrought by the streaming revolution. “When all of that settles, I feel confident that we can maintain our industry.”
Once a pipe dream, the idea of a federal film subsidy now seems like a real possibility.
“In order to save this industry in America, we need to be competitive with tax credits,” says Sen. Adam Schiff, the California Democrat who is working on introducing an incentive bill in Congress. “We have a lot of our influence around the world as a result of American film and TV. We don’t want to lose that soft power.”
Advocates warn that unless the U.S. responds to foreign subsidies, Hollywood is at risk of becoming Detroit, which has bled jobs as automakers pursued low-wage labor and generous incentives in other states and abroad....
....MUCH MORE
The list of shows that are not shooting in Hollywood surprised me.
BritTech: "Sweden's Vattenfall picks Rolls-Royce SMR for nuclear power project"
Bastards.
From Reuters, June 15:
- Rolls-Royce picked over GE Vernova for new Swedish nuclear project
- Deal is worth several billion British pounds, UK government says
- Reactors could add 12 terawatt hours (TWh) per year
OSLO, June 15 (Reuters) - Swedish utility Vattenfall said on Monday it has selected Rolls-Royce SMR, opens new tab to supply small modular nuclear reactors, choosing the British company over U.S. rival GE Vernova (GEV.N), in a deal worth several billion pounds.
Sweden's parliament last year passed legislation to finance a new generation of reactors, the first built in Sweden for more than 40 years and which the government says is necessary for energy security and achieving net zero emissions by 2045.
The Rolls-Royce SMR agreement was a significant step towards building new nuclear power and would result in lower electricity prices for consumers, Swedish Energy Minister Ebba Busch told a press conference.The British government, which had lobbied for Rolls-Royce to secure the contract, said it expected it would be a "multibillion-pound deal", although final terms will be decided at a later time."This deal is a major win for Britain's economy - showcasing UK engineering on the world stage and securing high value jobs, investment and export growth for years to come," Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement.Sweden has said it is prepared to spend several hundred billion crowns, or tens of billions of dollars, to revive its nuclear energy industry.Last August, Vattenfall said its Videberg Kraft venture planned to order either five BWRX-300 reactors from GE Vernova or three Rolls-Royce small modular reactors (SMRs)....
....MORE
Previously:
October 2025 - "What Will Rolls-Royce Gain From the UK–US Nuclear Deal?"
Although this reads a bit like a Rolls-Royce promotional piece it is good background. The company will be popping up in more and more discussions of small modular reactors.*February 2026 at Yahoo News - Rolls-Royce drops plan for nuclear reactor on the moonApril 2026 - "Reeves hands Rolls-Royce £600m to build mini-nukes in Britain"
"AI Revolution: Replacing Degrees with Digital Prowess in Germany"
I don't think Heidelberg Uni. has to worry yet but students may want to switch from German romantic literature to biological sciences.
From DevDiscourse, June 12:
A recent survey by the German economic research institute Ifo indicates that nearly 20% of German companies using artificial intelligence find it feasible to replace employees with university degrees with AI-enabled staff, highlighting a significant shift towards digital capabilities over traditional qualifications.
A groundbreaking survey conducted by the Institute for Economic Research in Germany, Ifo, has unveiled that the advent of artificial intelligence is reshaping the workforce landscape. According to the survey, nearly 20% of companies utilizing AI have found it increasingly plausible to substitute traditional staff, equipped with university degrees, for AI-enabled personnel lacking such academic credentials.
This finding underscores a looming revolution in the employment sector, with implications that stretch beyond just technological capabilities. The shift suggests that practical AI skills and applications might soon hold more value than traditional educational qualifications in certain industries....
....MORE
Microsoft Is Considering China's DeepSeek For Copilot
It's all about the cost.
From Axios, June 16:
Microsoft is moving Copilot Cowork to usage-based pricing as it expands access to the enterprise AI tool — and is considering a Microsoft-hosted version of DeepSeek as a cheaper model option.
Why it matters: Microsoft's move to add a model from a Chinese AI company could draw criticism.
The big picture: Agentic tools like Copilot Cowork, Anthropic's Claude Code and OpenAI's Codex can keep calling AI models as they work through tasks — boosting productivity but also creating bonkers AI bills.
Driving the news: Microsoft says companies using Copilot Cowork will pay based on how much compute they use.
- The company tells Axios it is exploring a fine-tuned version of DeepSeek V4, or another open-source model, as a lower-cost alternative to the Anthropic and OpenAI models now powering Copilot Cowork.
- Microsoft says it expects to make a lower-cost model available in the coming weeks and will confirm its choice then.
Zoom out: The testing reflects Microsoft's broader push toward a multi-model approach, rather than relying only on models from OpenAI and Anthropic.
Between the lines: If Microsoft goes forward with DeepSeek, the company says, the model would be optional for customers and fully hosted on Azure, keeping customer data within Microsoft's cloud and covered by Azure's enterprise security, compliance and data-residency controls....
....MORE
Related:
June 14 - "OpenAI Considers Drastic Price Cuts, Anticipating War for Users With Anthropic"
More Barclays On GE Vernova And The Data Center Migration To 800 Volt DC (GEV)
Following on June 16's quick hit: "GE Vernova, nVent best positioned for 800VDC technology, says Barclays" (GEV; NVT).
From AI Invest, June 13:
GE Vernova and the 800VDC Bet: Why Barclays Thinks It Can Win AI's Next Infrastructure Layer
Why 800VDC matters in the AI power stackBarclays' core thesis: AI's next bottleneck is power, not serversThe key question is not whether AI demand is strong. It is whether the market is still valuing GE Vernova mostly as an industrial earnings story while missing the power infrastructure opportunity underneath AI compute. That debate matters because the demand signal has intensified: data centers bought more electrical equipment in the first three months of 2026 than in all of 2025, and GE Vernova said orders across its business rose almost 80%, with electrification orders essentially doubling. If power infrastructure becomes the binding constraint, companies tied to that layer could be revalued before the earnings impact is fully visible.
800 VDC power distribution improves efficiency, reduces copper usage, and simplifies system architecture as AI facilities move to higher power density. That shift is not just theoretical: it is linked to NVIDIA's upcoming Kyber rack architecture, and GE Vernova has partnered with NVIDIA on reference designs for gigascale AI factories centered on 800 VDC. Barclays has highlighted the technology's commercial rollout as it is expected to begin from 2028, with GEV seen as a potential beneficiary.The broader buildout also helps explain why this is an infrastructure story rather than a short-cycle server trade. Global data-center capacity is projected to move from 135 gigawatts to 300 gigawatts by 2030. The main risk to the thesis is timing: if adoption stalls after design wins, or if deployment slips well beyond the expected commercial ramp, the opportunity may take longer to show up in results than bulls expect.
GE Vernova's position in the grid-to-rack chain
That 800VDC shift matters because power delivery is becoming the real constraint. AI facilities are moving toward 1 to 5 gigawatt AI factories and rack loads that can reach one megawatt per rack. In that environment, power is no longer a support function; it shapes how quickly a site can be built and how much compute can actually be installed. The recent procurement signal also points to acceleration, with data-center buyers purchasing more electrical equipment in the first three months of 2026 than in all of 2025.
Hardware sits at the critical grid interface
The bottleneck is not just megawatts. It is the ability to move those megawatts through transformers, switchgear, substations, and grid controls without creating reliability problems. GE Vernova's electrification business makes that equipment, and the recent doubling in those orders matters because those products sit at the interface between the utility grid and the AI factory. They are the hardware nodes where voltage is stepped down, distributed, and protected before power reaches the compute floor....
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The winners in the whole data center buildout will be those companies that can deliver the most compute for the fewest watts.
"From Jeff Bezos to Europe’s AI push: Everything to know about VivaTech 2026"
From EuroNews, June 17:
Euronews will be at the tech conference, which is now in its 10th edition.
Paris officially opens its doors to the tech elite and striving startups as the VivaTech conference kicks off on Wednesday.
From Jeff Bezos and Yann LeCun making appearances to artificial intelligence and tech sovereignty being high on the agenda, here is everything to watch out for at the 2026 edition.
10-year anniversary
VivaTech this year is making a big deal of turning 10, with a free event open to all on Sunday that turned the Champs-Élysées into a walkway of robots, the mobility of the future and all types of innovation.The public event is not the only one as Saturday, 20 June, is also dedicated to the general public to explore the exhibition space.
To mark the anniversary, VivaTech also changed its name, which was previously Viva Technology.
The organisers say the name change reflects that, over the past 10 years, the event has become “much more than just a gathering: a true “VivaTech Generation” has emerged, a global community of entrepreneurs, startups, investors, thought leaders, countries and students, all united by a shared desire to innovate, collaborate and build the world of tomorrow”.
Key speakers
Some of the biggest names in technology and business will be attending, including the Co-CEO of Prometheus, Jeff Bezos, one of the so–called godfathers of AI, Yann LeCun, Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch, OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger, and LVMH boss Bernard Arnault.There will also be a slew of politicians, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s digital minister Karsten Wildberger, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the European Commission’s tech executive Henna Virkkunen....
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Also at EuroNews:
France and Germany call for European AI sovereignty at VivaTech
Jeff Bezos at VivaTech: We need to colonise the Moon to save Earth
Life on Mars, ‘honest’ AI, and a job-free future: Elon Musk opens up at VivaTech Q&A
French spy service drops Palantir in favour of French company, says Lecornu
Critical Minerals: "Mining tycoon Gina Rinehart buys over $1 billion SpaceX stake" (SPCX)
From the Wall Street Journal via MSN, June 15:
Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest person, has bought a more-than $1 billion stake in SpaceX, betting on founder Elon Musk and what she says is the potential for his rocket maker to shape industries for decades.
The stake in SpaceX, which last week pulled off the largest initial public offering ever, is the single largest investment outside of iron ore made by her closely held company, Hancock Prospecting, one of the world’s major exporters of the steelmaking commodity.
The investment reflects Hancock’s confidence in Musk and recognizes the need for the West to keep investing in technology and innovation, Rinehart said in emailed remarks on Monday.
“We see SpaceX as a rare business: led by a truly exceptional person, technically exceptional and operating in sectors that are crucial, and with long-term potential,” she said. Rinehart didn’t specify the value of the investment but a person familiar with the investment said it was valued in excess of $1 billion....
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If there is any moon-mining to be done she'll be there and if SpaceX has need for rare earths her stakes in Lynas and MP may offer an edge on the procurement front.
Tuesday, June 16, 2026
"Europe frets about U.S. AI as tech world flocks to France for G7, VivaTech"
From Reuters, June 17:
Tech sovereignty dominates G7 and VivaTech discussions as Europe confronts U.S. AI dominance U.S. export controls on advanced AI models underscore European vulnerability to foreign policy shifts European AI firms remain dependent on U.S. cloud infrastructure, chips, and models Europe's quest for technological sovereignty will dominate discussions at the G7 in France and the VivaTech conference in Paris this week, as policymakers and technology executives fret about American AI, with alternatives remaining scarce.The gatherings come days after the United States tightened restrictions on Anthropic's most advanced AI models for foreign nationals, underscoring Europe's vulnerability that political whims could derail its race to build domestic AI champions."Tech sovereignty will be top of mind this week at VivaTech," Ana Paula Assis, senior vice president at IBM told Reuters."For European organisations to get this right, it is vital to understand sovereignty is about having control where it matters — not where the technology is from."The debate reflects a broader dilemma facing Europe: how to maintain strategic autonomy while remaining dependent on American technology companies that dominate cloud computing, semiconductor design, and cutting-edge AI research.The Group of Seven (G7) nations have gathered in Evian, France, where they are meeting top executives from the biggest AI companies including Anthropic, OpenAI, Alphabet's Google, and Mistral to discuss AI competitiveness, regulation, and reliance on China for critical minerals.In Paris, over 180,000 visitors, startups, investors, policymakers and executives including Amazon's
Jeff Bezos are expected to attend VivaTech, where discussions are likely to focus as much on geopolitics and policy as on the actual tech.French startup Mistral, seen as Europe's leading AI contender, is doubling down on partnerships with European firms, particularly in industries where the region says it has an edge.Despite billions of euros of investment, European AI firms continue to rely heavily on U.S.-controlled cloud infrastructure, chips, and foundational AI models....
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"Three Iranian tankers exit U.S. blockade for first time in months as shipowners eye Hormuz in ‘wary disbelief’"
From CNBC June17:
Two Iranian supertankers under U.S. sanctions have made it through the U.S. Navy blockade perimeter, carrying a combined total of 3.8 million barrels of crude oil. A third Iran-linked tanker carrying one million barrels of Iranian crude exited the blockade line on Wednesday. The prospect of a reopening prompted some shipowners to begin repositioning vessels toward Gulf ports in anticipation of a surge in restocking demand, while most are more cautious. At least three Iranian tankers carrying nearly five million barrels of crude oil have exited the U.S. Navy blockade in the Strait of Hormuz in the first such outbound shipment in two months, as shipowners cautiously reposition ahead of a U.S.-Iran deal signing in Geneva on Friday.
Two supertankers named Diona and Hero 2 — both owned by the National Iranian Tanker Company and under U.S. sanctions — made it through the U.S. Navy blockade perimeter, carrying a combined total of 3.8 million barrels of Iranian crude oil, according to shipping data provided by Kpler.
A third Iran-linked tanker carrying 1 million barrels of Iranian crude exited the blockade line on Wednesday, according to Kpler.
“Their apparent departure from the blockade suggests that other Iranian-trading tankers are also preparing to resume trading,” said Michelle Wiese Bockmann, senior maritime intelligence analyst at Windward....
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"GE Vernova, nVent best positioned for 800VDC technology, says Barclays" (GEV; NVT)
Lifted in toto from The Fly via TipRanks, June 9:
Barclays says the emergence of 800VDC technology in data centers seems to be “on the cusp” of commercial product launches. The technology’s emergence could be “quite disruptive,” particularly from 2028 onwards, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Barclays says Vertiv (VRT) has one of the broadest data center electrical equipment portfolios of any company globally, the highest data center percentage of sales in its coverage, and the highest percent of total sales accruing from data centers. There is still “substantial upside potential” to Street sales estimates for Vertiv and other data center suppliers for 2027 and 2028, the firm contends.
However, Barclays believes the company and other data center suppliers could see a “sharp deceleration in growth” in 2029 and 2030 as the data center capacity additions may be levelling out by then. It assumes minimal impact from 800VDC in 2026 and 2027, saying penetration rates will likely be very low still. However, the impact increases sharply from 2028 onwards, according to Barclays. The biggest winner from higher voltages in the data center IT room could be GE Vernova (GEV), followed by nVent Electric (NVT), the firm predicts.
Previously:
March 27 - Opportunity: "Data Centers Are Transitioning From AC to DC 800-volt DC power delivery: will enable next-gen AI data centers"Change equals opportunity.May 28 - Powering Data Centers: "Inside the 800VDC Revolution"
"Here's Where Electricity Prices Jumped The Most In America"
From/via ZeroHedge, June 5:
Electricity prices are becoming one of the fastest-rising household expenses in parts of America.
Using data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), this map, via Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld, shows how residential electricity prices changed across all 50 states over the past year.
The differences are striking. Washington D.C. saw electricity prices surge 23% year over year, over two times the national average increase of 10%, while several states in the West saw little change or outright declines.
Much of the pressure is being driven by rising grid investment costs and growing electricity demand, including from AI-related data center expansion in some regions....
*****
....Electricity prices climbed significantly across much of America over the past year, but the increases varied significantly by region.Several Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states recorded some of the nation’s largest increases. Washington D.C. saw prices rise 23%, while New Jersey and New Hampshire both posted gains of 18%. Maryland followed at 17%.
For households in the hardest-hit states, electricity bills are becoming a larger budget concern. Unlike many consumer purchases, electricity is a recurring necessity, meaning even moderate price increases can quickly add up over a year.
Why Utility Costs Are Climbing Nationwide
Electricity prices are rising as America’s power grid faces growing strain from aging infrastructure and surging demand.Utilities are investing billions into grid upgrades, transmission networks, and wildfire prevention projects, while electricity demand is accelerating due to AI data centers, population growth, and the shift toward electric vehicles and electric heating systems.
AI-related data center growth is becoming a major source of new electricity demand. In Maryland, for example, Amazon Web Services recently expanded its data center operations as utilities across the region race to keep up with rising power needs.....
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Capital Markets: "The Dollar Holds above JPY160 after BOJ Hikes, Aussie is Firmer after RBA Stands Pat"
From Marc to Market:
Investors are still in the dark over the precise details of the memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran, but they apparently are sufficiently comfortable to take July WTI to a new two-month low, with August Brent at three-month lows. Softer oil prices are helping ease interest rates, and peripheral European benchmark 10-year yields are at three-month lows. The 10-year US Treasury yield has fallen a dozen basis points since Monday, June 8. Most G10 and emerging market currencies are firmer today.
As widely expected, the Bank of Japan hiked its overnight rate to 1% and would stop tapering its bond purchase next April, stabilizing them around JPY2 trillion (~$12.5 bln) month. The market leans toward another hike late this year. The dollar has held above JPY160 so far today. The Reserve Bank of Australia kept its policy rate steady at 4.35%. The market has around a 50% chance of another hike discounted in the fourth quarter. Chile’s central bank meets late today and is expected maintain its 4.5% overnight target rate....
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"Meta launches $115M program to train workers to build AI data centers, then offers them a job" (META)
Despite the huge infrastructure spend,* Meta is at risk of being left behind by the two hyperscalers that seem to know what they want from AI, Google and Amazon.
In effect, unless Zuckerberg gets it together, he risks the Metaverse fiasco all over again.
From People Magazine, June 9:
"At Meta, we see this as an incredible opportunity for these American heroes to power America's future," the tech giant said
NEED TO KNOW
- Meta announced the launch of America's Workforce Academy, a free program that trains workers to construct AI data centers
- Louisiana, Ohio, Indiana and Texas will serve as this year's pilot locations
- The initiative comes as development of data centers is rapidly expanding across the country
Amid the controversy surrounding AI data centers, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is now looking to train future workers to build them under a new initiative that ultimately promises jobs.
Amid the controversy surrounding AI data centers, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is now looking to train future workers to build them under a new initiative that ultimately promises jobs.
Partnering with the National Urban League, the Associated Builders and Contractors, CBRE and others, the tech giant announced the launch of America's Workforce Academy on Monday, June 8.
About $115 million has been invested in the program's first year with Louisiana, Ohio, Indiana and Texas as the 2026 pilot locations, Meta said.
“The United States labor market needs hundreds of thousands of fiber technicians, welders, plumbers, electricians and other skilled trade workers,” the company said. “At Meta, we see this as an incredible opportunity for these American heroes to power America's future.”
Meta said that America's Workforce Academy program is free and open to “qualified veterans, recent graduates, career changers and other new entrants to the trades from all 50 states,” adding that no prior experience is required.
The company said that it is funding all costs associated with the program, “with its operating partner administering the program to provide candidates with tuition, airfare, lodging, and a daily stipend during training.”
The program lasts five weeks, and a Meta data center construction job is guaranteed upon completion, Meta said, The Wall Street Journal reported....
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*TheNextWeb, May 19:
Meta’s $200 billion Hyperion data centre in Louisiana is the most expensive private infrastructure project in American history
"Biosphere lands Pentagon funding to build portable “protein from air” bioreactors"
Gimme that nitrogen.
From AgFunderNews, May 5:
Biosphere—a California-based startup developing UV-sterilized bioreactors it claims can slash biomanufacturing costs—has won a grant from the US Dept of Defense (DoD) totaling $9 million over 3.5 years to fund the development of portable bioreactors producing protein via gas fermentation.
The move reflects a strategic focus on biomanufacturing at the DoD, which is exploring distributed production across multiple scales from skid-sized units to larger facilities for food, materials, and therapeutics in “contested” environments where securing supplies via normal channels is challenging.
This initiative will culminate in a prototype capable of continuous operation with UV sterilization protocols, water and media recycling systems, and downstream processing, says the firm, which was founded in 2022 by materials scientist Brian Heligman PhD and molecular biologist Arye Lipman.
While Biosphere’s core business is providing bioreactor tech to the fermentation industry enabling firms to ditch costly and complex steam-in-place sterilization systems, it has recently acquired IP from a distressed gas fermentation company making “protein from air” that it will deploy in the DoD project, Heligman tells AgFunderNews.
“We made a strategic acquisition that we will be announcing in the near future, but our focus is on making robust hardware systems that can reliably operate in automated ways with streamlined maintenance and operations.”
UV sterilization
For aseptic production biomanufacturing, bioreactors are typically sterilized between batches using capex-intensive steam-in-place sterilization systems characterized by a vast array of pipes and valves, boilers, and a lot of water.
By killing contaminants with UV light instead, firms can reduce capex and maintenance costs, speed up the sterilization process, and develop smaller, more productive bioreactors unconstrained by steam sterilization protocols, says Heligman.
To date, Biosphere has validated the tech at benchtop-scale, advanced pilot scale clean in place systems, and is now working on a 20,000-L demo scale facility, he explains.
Gas fermentation: not for the faint-hearted
The DoD contract around gas fermentation—using gases instead of sugars as feedstocks for microbes—creates room to experiment with more exotic bioreactor designs that would be harder to fund in purely commercial settings, says Heligman.
While gas fermentation technology is best-known for making fuel and chemicals (LanzaTech, Phase Biolabs, and Again), it is also being used by several firms (Calysta, Circe, Solmeyea, Air Protein, Solar Foods, Unibio, Jooules) as a platform for food and feed production. LanzaTech is also moving into food and feed, having honed its tech for ethanol and specialty chemical production.
Using gases instead of sugars to feed microbes can lower input costs and allow for longer campaigns (because there is less risk of contamination), and potentially leverage waste or byproduct gases....
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When it all started going downhill for Sweden
From The Register, February 29, 2008:
Swedes demand return of heraldic lion's todger
Nordic Battlegroup emasculated
Disgruntled Swedish heraldists are demanding the Nordic Battlegroup reconsider a decision to emasculate their crest's lion which has seen the rampant beast relieved of his todger.
For those of you not up to speed on the shock case of the leonine penis outrage, the unit's commander - Karl Engelbrektsson - last December ordered the chop "having read UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security", according to The Local.
In a decidedly non-military act of political correctness, Engelbrektsson decided he "did not consider the male appendage an appropriate symbol for his troops to wear into battle" since female civilians were often at the receiving end of sexual abuse in the world's war zones.
Accordingly, the offending member (see pre and post-op pic), was given its marching orders.
This has not gone down at all well with staff at the National Archives....
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