TMTB Morning Wrap
Futures +65bps early as Trump heads to China to meet Xi, and it looks like Jensen is joining in on the fun:
Minimax/Zhipu both up a ton overnight on expectations around chip control relaxation. Asia green overnight: TPX +1.2%, NKY +0.84%, Hang Seng +0.15%, HSCEI -0.07%, SHCOMP +0.67%, Shenzhen +1.55%, Taiwan TAIEX -1.25%, Korea KOSPI +2.63%. Positive price action from AI semis with stocks opening down but rallying throughout the session. Samsung -5% to start but finished +5%. SK Hynix +10%
In Tech, NBIS +17% (4GW contracted number by year end better than expects) and TSEM +18% after a very solid beats helping semis rally early while WIX -16% and DT -8% missed and has software underperforming. BABA -1% looks a tad weaker after a softer March Q (38% y/y cloud below street at 40% and buyside low 40s)
NFLX upfronts today at 2pm ET and CSCO post-close.
Let’s get to it…
AKAM: BofA Upgrades to Buy on AI Infrastructure Inflection
BofA upgrades AKAM to Buy and raises PT to $175, arguing the company is successfully pivoting from legacy delivery toward distributed AI infrastructure. The firm highlights CIS growth inflecting to ~40% y/y driven by AI workloads and edge inference use cases, with large multi-year wins validating Akamai’s positioning versus hyperscalers. BofA also sees the mix shift toward CIS/security offsetting delivery declines and supporting accelerating revenue growth and long-term EPS expansion despite elevated near-term AI investment.