Wholesale Inflation Surges to Four-Year High, Tariff Costs Transmitting from Wholesale to Retail. Trump Arrives in Beijing with Jensen Huang, NVIDIA Stock Reaches All-Time High.
1 | PPI Soars 6% YoY, Trade Services Increase Exposes Tariff Transmission Pathway
April PPI jumped 6% YoY, the highest since 2022, with a monthly increase of 1.4%, nearly three times the expected rate. Core PPI rose 1% for the month, reaching an annual rate of 5.2%. Energy remains a key driver, but there are more eye-catching numbers in the details. Original BLS data shows a 2.7% monthly increase in trade services, contributing two-thirds of the PPI increase, marking the first official evidence of tariff costs squeezing from the wholesale distribution system to the retail end.
Bitcoin falls below $80,000, market pricing shifts from a June rate cut delay to year-end, increasing rate hike probabilities. Yesterday's 3.8% CPI could still be attributed to energy alone, but today's 6% PPI coupled with a significant surge in trade services indicates that inflation pressure has shifted from a single source to a multi-channel transmission. What appears to be just another inflation figure is actually the first time the tariff cost transmission pathway has become visible in federal data. (Continued from yesterday's report)
(Source: CNBC / Axios / BLS / CoinDesk / Advisor Perspectives)
2 | Jensen Huang Accompanies Trump to Beijing, NVIDIA Stock Hits All-Time High
Trump lands in Beijing aboard Air Force One, calling on Xi Jinping to "open up" the Chinese market. The focus of the entourage list is not a politician but NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. Following the news, NVIDIA's stock price hit a historic high, with Tesla seeing a synchronous increase. Forecasts from CSIS and the Heritage Foundation point to a mild outcome: China is expected to increase purchases of Boeing and soybeans as symbolic concessions, with semiconductor access and rare earth supply being the core strategic game, suggesting a strategic reset is unlikely.
Stanford's AI Index Report has already indicated that the substantial performance gap between Chinese and American AI models has disappeared, making time a key factor for China. For Beijing, just sitting at the chip negotiation table is an achievement in itself. Yesterday's summit was about agenda setting, but today has evolved to focus on specific individuals and prices. Jensen Huang's presence speaks louder about the true agenda of this summit than any joint statement. (Continued from yesterday's report)
(Source: Fortune / Bloomberg / Barron's / CSIS / Heritage Foundation / CNN)
3｜Samsung Chip Factory Strike Countdown, Cerebras IPO Doubles Valuation
A 17-hour marathon negotiation by the Samsung union has collapsed, with an estimated 30,000-40,000 out of 73,000 members set to participate in an 18-day strike starting on May 21. The core of the dispute revolves around performance bonuses tied to AI revenue, with an expected daily loss of $700 million. The South Korean Prime Minister has called for an emergency meeting. The Korea Herald estimates that South Korea's total economic loss could exceed $26.8 billion, further straining HBM production capacity, with Micron and SK Hynix seen as beneficiaries.
On the same day, AI chip company Cerebras priced its IPO at $185, oversubscribed 20 times. After two price range increases, the valuation reached $56.4 billion, raising at least $5.55 billion. While traditional chip giants have stalled profit distribution from AI, AI-native chip companies have entered the scene with higher-than-expected valuations. The power structure of the chip supply chain is currently undergoing both consolidation and expansion simultaneously.
(Source: Tom's Hardware / CNBC / SemiAnalysis / Korea Herald / Barron's)
4｜Ramp Data: Anthropic Enterprise Customers Surpass OpenAI for the First Time
The latest data from the corporate spend management platform Ramp shows that Anthropic's enterprise adoption rate has reached 34.4%, surpassing OpenAI at 32.3%. Over the past 12 months, Anthropic's enterprise customers have quadrupled, with the fastest-growing product being developer tool Claude Code, rather than a chat interface or API. This marks the first reversal at the enterprise payment level in the AI competitive landscape.
On the same day, Anthropic and OpenAI jointly warned that 8 unauthorized secondary market SPV transactions were invalid, causing PreStocks token on Solana to plummet by nearly 40%. Developers voted with their feet for Anthropic, and speculators suffered losses on both fronts. Ownership in the AI enterprise market is now determined by developer tools rather than model performance, with Ramp's data quantifying this trend for the first time.
(Source: TechCrunch / VentureBeat / CoinDesk)
5｜xAI Gas Turbine Sued, Data Center Water Theft Exposed in the Same Week
Elon Musk's xAI operates 46 "mobile" gas turbines in the Mississippi Colossus 2 data center, bypassing air pollution regulations, emitting 1700 tons of nitrogen oxides annually. Civil rights organization NAACP and environmental law organization Earthjustice have applied for an emergency injunction. In the same week, data centers in Arizona and Georgia were found to be unauthorizedly extracting water, both exposed after complaints of water pressure drops.
On the other side, Bill Gates-backed geothermal startup Fervo Energy saw a 33% increase on its IPO debut day, surpassing a $10 billion valuation. Its flagship 500MW project in Utah will come online this year, having a 115MW power supply agreement with Google. The energy gap driven by AI computing power expansion has led to two paths: bypassing regulations to seize existing resources or opening up incremental supply. Which path becomes the industry norm depends on the enforcement strength and technical validation in the next 12 months.
(Source: TechCrunch / Fortune / Earthjustice)
Also Worth Knowing ↓
LinkedIn is laying off around 5%, about 875 people, affecting engineering and product teams. Despite a 12% year-on-year revenue growth for the quarter, the CEO stated the need to "create greater value and improve profitability." On the same day, Cisco laid off about 4000 employees as part of AI-driven transformational restructuring. Growth-stage layoffs are turning into a standard operation for enterprises in the AI era.
(Source: Reuters / Bloomberg)
Anduril's valuation doubles to $61 billion, with Thrive Capital and a16z leading a $5 billion funding round. Founder Palmer Luckey stated they will "aggressively invest" in manufacturing and R&D. The valuation has doubled in six months from $30.5 billion, further accelerating the defense technology funding spree.
(Source: CNBC / Bloomberg)
The Clarity Act is up for Senate deliberation, with 44 amendments submitted by Warren. The Senate Banking Committee started deliberations on Thursday, with over 130 amendments involving stablecoin yields, DeFi liability, and mixer categorization. Most amendments are not expected to pass, but the debate process will define the boundaries of the crypto regulatory framework.
(Source: Fortune / CoinDesk)
Alibaba's core profit plunges by 84%, accelerated by AI and cloud spending. CEO Daniel Zhang mentioned that capital expenditures over the next three years may far exceed 380 billion yuan, with AI model and application ARR expected to break 10 billion yuan in the June quarter. Ant Group's profit also fell by 79%. The scale of the bet on exchanging profits for AI infrastructure is escalating.
(Source: CNBC / Reuters / 36Kr)
Amazon axes Rufus in favor of Alexa-powered shopping AI assistant. Alexa for Shopping replaces the standalone chatbot Rufus and is integrated into the search bar. The AI strategy shifts from a standalone entry point to being embedded in the core shopping experience. (Source: CNBC / TechCrunch)
Meta introduces end-to-end encrypted AI Stealth Chat on WhatsApp. The Incognito Chat feature is launched, with Meta stating, "The stealth modes in other apps can still see what you're typing, we can't." Privacy is becoming a key selling point for AI assistants. (Source: Wired / Reuters)
NFT-backed Sovereign Debt surpasses $15 billion. Amid Bitcoin stagnation and rising interest rate concerns, the scale of NFT-backed Sovereign Debt continues to grow. Institutional funds are turning to on-chain for stable yields. (Source: CoinDesk)
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