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Apple CEO Tim Cook delivers the keynote address during the 2020 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) at Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California.
Brooks Kraft/Apple Inc/Handout via Reuters

Apple on Tuesday sued NSO Group, an Israeli firm that sells software to government agencies and law enforcement that allows them to hack iPhones and read the data on them, including messages and other communications.

Earlier this year, Amnesty International said it discovered recent-model iPhones belonging to journalists and human rights lawyers that had been infected with NSO Group malware called Pegasus.

Apple is seeking a permanent injunction to ban NSO Group from using Apple software, services, or devices.

The U.S. government blacklisted NSO Group earlier this month, prohibiting it from using American technology in its operations

Apple also said on Tuesday it has patched the flaws that enabled the NSO Group software to access private data on iPhones with what are “zero-click” attacks where the malware is delivered through a text message and leaves little trace of infection.

Then, the Pegasus’s users can remotely surveil the iPhone owner’s activities, including by accessing the device’s microphone and camera, and collect emails, text messages, and browsing history, Apple alleged in its lawsuit.

Apple said the attacks were only targeted at a small number of customers, and said on Tuesday it will inform iPhone users that may have been targeted by Pegasus malware.

“To deliver FORCEDENTRY to Apple devices, attackers created Apple IDs to send malicious data to a victim’s device — allowing NSO Group or its clients to deliver and install Pegasus spyware without a victim’s knowledge,” Apple said in its announcement. “Though misused to deliver FORCEDENTRY, Apple servers were not hacked or compromised in the attacks.”

Apple says that NSO Group have created Apple ID accounts and agreed to iCloud terms of service to operate its spyware.

NSO Group is accused of using “0day” bugs to create its spyware, or flaws that Apple has not yet been able to fix. Once Apple fixes an exploit, it’s no longer a 0day and users can protect themselves by updating their iPhone software to the latest version.

Earlier this year, Amnesty International said that it found evidence of a hacked iPhone 12 and had obtained a leaked list of 50,000 phone numbers targeted by NSO Group software. NSO Group software is alleged to have been used to monitor relatives and people close to Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who was killed in Turkey by assassins working on behalf of Saudi Arabia. Amnesty International said it discovered NSO Group malware on the iPhones of a French human rights lawyer, a French activist, an Indian journalist, and a Rwandan activist

The U.S. Commerce Department blacklisted NSO Group earlier this month, prohibiting it from using American technology in its operations. Meta and Facebook subsidiary WhatsApp is also separately suing NSO Group.

NSO Group was not immediately available for comment. Earlier this year, a spokesperson said NSO sells its technology to law enforcement and intelligence agencies to prevent crime and terror acts, and that it vets its customers.

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

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Google’s $85 billion capital spend spurred by cloud, AI demand

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Google's  billion capital spend spurred by cloud, AI demand

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet Inc., during Stanford’s 2024 Business, Government, and Society forum in Stanford, California, April 3, 2024.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Google is going to spend $10 billion more this year than it previously expected due to the growing demand for cloud services, which has created a backlog, executives said Wednesday.

As part of its second quarter earnings, the company increased its forecast for capital expenditures in 2025 to $85 billion due to “strong and growing demand for our Cloud products and services” as it continues to expand infrastructure to power more AI services that use its cloud technology. That’s up from the $75 billion projection that Google provided in February, which was already above the $58.84 billion that Wall Street expected at the time.

The increased forecast comes as demand for cloud services surges across the tech industry as AI services increase in popularity. As a result, companies are doubling down on infrastructure to keep pace with demand and are planning multi‑year buildouts of data centers.

In its second quarter earnings, Google reported that cloud revenues increased by 32% to $13.6 billion in the period. The demand is so high for Google’s cloud services that it now amounts to a $106 billion backlog, Alphabet finance chief Anat Ashkenazi said during the company’s post-earnings conference call.

“It’s a tight supply environment,” she said.

The vast majority of Alphabet’s capital spend was invested in technical infrastructure during the second quarter, with approximately two-thirds of investments going to servers and one-third in data center and networking equipment, Ashkenazi said.

She added that the updated outlook reflects additional investment in servers, the timing of delivery of servers and “an acceleration in the pace of data center construction, primarily to meet Cloud customer demand.”

Ashkenazi said that despite the company’s “improved” pace of getting servers up and running, investors should expect further increase in capital spend in 2026 “due to the demand as well as growth opportunities across the company.” She didn’t specify what those opportunities are but said the company will provide more details on a future earnings call.

“We’re increasing capacity with every quarter that goes by,” Ashkenazi said. 

Due to the increased spend, Google will have to record more expenses over time, which will make profits look smaller, she said.

“Obviously, we’re working hard to bring more capacity online,” Ashkenazi said.

WATCH: Alphabet shares Q2 shares sink despite revenue and earnings beat

Alphabet shares Q2 shares sink despite revenue and earnings beat

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Nvidia supplier SK Hynix second-quarter profit and revenue hit record highs, topping estimates

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Nvidia supplier SK Hynix second-quarter profit and revenue hit record highs, topping estimates

The SK Hynix Inc. logo is displayed on a glass door at the company’s office in Seoul, South Korea, on Monday, Jan. 27, 2014. SK Hynix aims to select a U.S. site for its advanced chip packaging plant and break ground there around the first quarter of next year.

SeongJoon Cho | Bloomberg | Getty Images

South Korea’s SK Hynix on Thursday posted record operating profit and revenue in the second quarter on sustained demand for its high bandwidth memory technology used in generative AI chipsets. 

Here are SK Hynix’s second-quarter results compared with LSEG SmartEstimates, which are weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate: 

  • Revenue: 22.23 trillion won ($16.17 billion) vs. 20.56 trillion won
  • Operating profit: 9.21 trillion won vs. 9 trillion won

Revenue rose about 35% in the June quarter compared with the same period a year earlier, while operating profit rose nearly 69%, year on year.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, revenue rose 26%, while operating profit jumped 24%.

The company said in a statement that it enjoyed strong demand and favorable pricing conditions in the first half of the year. SK Hynix added that there was a low likelihood of sharp demand corrections for the rest of 2025, due to stable customer inventory levels and expected demand from new product launches.

SK Hynix is a leading supplier of dynamic random access memory — a type of semiconductor memory commonly found in PCs, workstations and servers that is used to store data and program code.

Much of the company’s recent success can be credited to its business in high bandwidth memory, or HBM — a type of DRAM used in artificial intelligence servers. 

SK Hynix has established itself as the global leader in HBM, supplying clients such as U.S. AI darling Nvidia. In the first quarter, this had seen the company overtake rival Samsung Electronics in the global DRAM market for the first time, according to Counterpoint Research.

A report from Counterpoint Research earlier this month estimated that SK Hynix had tied Samsung’s combined DRAM and NAND revenues in the second quarter, with both vying for the top position in the global memory market. NAND is a type of flash memory that is commonly used in storage devices. 

Samsung and US.-based memory maker Micron Technology are both seeking to catch up to SK Hynix in the HBM space. However, analysts expect SK Hynix’s dominance to persist in the short-term.

“As of now, I believe SK Hynix still holds its leadership in the HBM race … despite Samsung’s and Micron’s catch‑up efforts,” said Ray Wang, research director of semiconductors, supply chain and emerging technology at The Futurum Group. 

“I expect this edge to persist through the rest of 2025 and extend into 2026,” he added.

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IBM shares drop despite earnings beat

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IBM shares drop despite earnings beat

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna appears at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 16, 2024.

Stefan Wermuth | Bloomberg | Getty Images

IBM shares fell as much as 5% in extended trading on Wednesday after the tech conglomerate issued second-quarter results that topped Wall Street projections.

Here’s how the company did in comparison with LSEG consensus:

  • Earnings per share: $2.80 adjusted vs. $2.64 expected
  • Revenue: $16.98 billion vs. $16.59 billion

IBM’s revenue increased nearly 8% year over year in the quarter, according to a statement. Growth in the first quarter was below 1%. Net income, which includes costs related to acquisitions, rose to $2.19 billion, or $2.31 per share, from $1.83 billion, or $1.96 per share, a year ago.

Software revenue climbed about 10% to $7.39 billion, exceeding the $7.43 billion consensus among analysts surveyed by StreetAccount. Hybrid cloud revenue, including Red Hat, showed 16% growth. The software unit’s gross margin of 83.9% was barely narrower than StreetAccount’s 84.0% consensus.

Revenue from consulting rose almost 3% to $5.31 billion, higher than StreetAccount’s $5.16 billion consensus. Infrastructure revenue went up 14% to $4.14 billion, above the $3.75 billion StreetAccount average estimate.

During the quarter, IBM announced the next-generation z17 mainframe computer and the acquisition of data and artificial intelligence consulting firm Hakkoda.

IBM called for over $13.5 billion in 2025 free cash flow, similar to a projection from April. The company still sees at least 5% revenue growth at constant currency for the year.

As of Wednesday’s close, IBM shares were up 28% so far in 2025, while the S&P 500 index has gained around 8% in the same period.

Executives will discuss the results with analysts on a conference call starting at 5 p.m. ET.

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

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Cramer's Stop Trading: IBM

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