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OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman & and Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella.

Hayden Field | CNBC

The past few days have been chaotic for the AI industry, with technology experts weighing what this could mean for the nascent sector and some of its key players.

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT which launched AI into the mainstream late last year, said Friday that it was removing its CEO Sam Altman and making its technology chief Mira Murati interim CEO in his place.

But before the weekend was even over, OpenAI appeared to change course, announcing that former Twitch chief Emmett Shear would take over from Altman instead, at least on a temporary basis.

Meanwhile, Altman himself has already found a new role leading a new advanced AI research team at Microsoft, where he will be joined by former OpenAI Board Chair Greg Brockman and several other employees.

But Altman’s move could simply be a case of “damage control” for Microsoft, according to Richard Windsor, founder of digital research company Radio Free Mobile. This is linked to Microsoft’s immense investments in OpenAI, he said on CNBC’s “Street Signs Europe” Monday.

Microsoft began investing in OpenAI as early as 2019, initially with around $1 billion. That figure has ballooned since to an amount reported to be closer to $13 billion. Microsoft has also integrated OpenAI’s technologies in products like search engine Bing and various softwares.

“A large amount of that value is tied up in the founders and in the engineers that are inside the company,” Windsor said.

Meanwhile, other tech experts have been backing Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s swift move to hire Altman in-house.

Analyst discusses Sam Altman's ouster and implications for Microsoft

“Incredible execution by Satya in one of the most dynamic situations in tech history,” Aaron Levie, CEO of cloud-sharing and management company Box, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Aviral Bhatnagar, an investor at Venture Highway, had a similar view.

“You now understand why Satya Nadella is one of the greatest tech CEOs of this generation,” he said in a post on X.

“Kept Altman in the fold, kept the transition as neat as possible, managed the chaos and the wild board decision making, didn’t destroy OpenAI. What a boss move.”

OpenAI’s future

The chaotic developments have also been criticized by Shear himself, the new interim CEO of OpenAI.

“It’s clear that the process and communications around Sam’s removal has been handled very badly, which has seriously damaged our trust,” he said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, in which he also confirmed he would step in as interim CEO.

Shear suggested he would launch an investigation to examine the process that led to the recent events and produce a report on them within his first thirty days at OpenAI.

This has been echoed by experts, including Windsor, who said that the situation could severely damage the company’s reputation and undermine public confidence in the company.

Microsoft's relationship with OpenAI is 'absolutely critical': RBC Capital Markets

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Palantir is soaring while its tech peers are sinking. Here’s why

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Palantir is soaring while its tech peers are sinking. Here's why

Alex Karp, chief executive officer of Palantir Technologies Inc., speaks during the AIPCon conference in Palo Alto, California, US, on March 13, 2025.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Tech stocks have struggled in 2025, as recession and trade war fears sap investor appetite for riskier assets.

Palantir is the exception.

Against a volatile market backdrop, the software maker’s stock has gained 45% and is the best performer among companies valued at $5 billion or more, according to FactSet. The closest tech names are VeriSign, up 33%, Okta, up 30%, Robinhood, up 29%, and Uber, up 29%.

President Donald Trump‘s frenzy of government department overhauls is partially to thank for the pop.

“When you think about macroeconomic concerns, you as a company need to be more efficient, and this is where Palantir thrives,” said Bank of America analyst Mariana Pérez Mora.

Palantir has set itself apart in the software world for its artificial-intelligence-enabled tools, gaining recognition for its defense and software contracts with key U.S. government agencies, including the military. In the fourth quarter, its government revenues jumped 45% year-over-year to $343 million.

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Companies have faced immense volatility in 2025 as tariffs threaten to jeopardize global supply chains and halt day-to-day manufacturing operations by hiking costs. Those fears have brought the broad market index down about 7% this year, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite has slumped 11%.

Tech’s megacap companies — Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Tesla — are all down between 7% and 31% so far this year.

At the same time, the Trump administration has clamped down on government spending, giving Tesla CEO Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency freedom to slash public sector costs. Some administration officials have touted shifting dollars from consulting contracts to commercial software providers like Palantir, said William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma.

“Palantir’s business model is highly aligned with the priorities of the Trump administration in terms of increasing agility and being very quick to market,” he said.

That’s put Palantir in the league with major contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, which have outperformed in this year’s downdraft. Many companies in the space are also looking to partner with the firm and tend to flock to defense during recessionary times, DiPalma said.

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Palantir vs. the Nasdaq Composite

CEO Alex Karp has also been a vocal supporter of American innovation and the company’s central role in helping prop up what he called the “single best tech scene in the world” during an interview with CNBC earlier this year. Karp also told CNBC that the U.S. needs an “all-country effort” to compete against emerging adversaries.

But the ride for Palantir has been far from smooth, and shares have been susceptible to volatile swings. Shares sold off nearly 14% during the week that Trump first announced tariffs. Shares rocketed 22% one day in February on strong earnings.

Its inclusion in more passive and quant funds over the years and the growing attention of retail traders has added to that turbulence, DiPalma said. Last year, the company joined both the S&P and Nasdaq. Palantir trades at one of the highest price-to-earnings multiples in software and last traded at 185 times earnings over the next twelve months. That puts a steep bar on the stock.

“There really is no margin for error,” he said.

WATCH: Palantir CEO on Elon Musk & DOGE: Biggest problem in society is the ‘legitimacy of our institutions’

Palantir CEO on Elon Musk & DOGE: Biggest problem in society is the 'legitimacy of our institutions'

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NXP Semi shares sink on tariff concerns, CEO Kurt Sievers to step down

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NXP Semi shares sink on tariff concerns, CEO Kurt Sievers to step down

Kurt Sievers, chief executive officer of NXP Semiconductors NV, during the Federation of German Industries (BDI) conference in Berlin, Germany, on Monday, June 19, 2023.

Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz | Bloomberg | Getty Images

NXP Semiconductor Inc. fell about 8% on Monday after the chip company announced that CEO Kurt Sievers will step down as part of its latest earnings.

Here’s how the company did, versus LSEG consensus estimates:

  • Earnings per share: $2.64 adjusted vs. $2.58 expected
  • Revenue: $2.84 billion vs. $2.83 billion expected

Sievers will retire at the end of the year, with Rafael Sotomayor stepping in as president on April 28, 2025.

The company beat expectations on the top and bottom lines but cited a “challenging set of market conditions” looking forward.

“We are operating in a very uncertain environment influenced by tariffs with volatile direct and indirect effects,” Sievers said in an earnings release.

Sales in NXP’s first quarter declined 9% year over year.

The company posted $1.67 billion in auto sales during the first quarter, trailing analyst estimates of $1.69 billion.

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NXP Semi said that second-quarter sales would come in at a midpoint of $2.9 billion, ahead of the $2.87 billion that analysts were projecting. Second-quarter adjusted EPS will be $2.66, in line with analyst estimates.

The company logged first-quarter net income of $490 million, which was a 23% year-to-year drop from $639 million.

NXP’s net income per share was $1.92 compared to $2.47 during the same time a year ago. A drop of 22%.

This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.

WATCH: Uncertainty from Big Tech is fine right now.

Uncertainty from Big Tech earnings is fine right now, says Big Tech's Alex Kantrowitz

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Microsoft says U.S. can’t afford falling behind China in quantum computers

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Microsoft says U.S. can't afford falling behind China in quantum computers

Microsoft President Brad Smith speaks during signing ceremony of cooperation agreement between the Polish Ministry of Defence and Microsoft, in Warsaw, Poland, February 17, 2025.

Kacper Pempel | Reuters

The U.S. cannot afford to fall behind China in the race to a working quantum computer, Microsoft President Brad Smith wrote Monday.

President Donald Trump and the U.S. government need to prioritize funding for quantum research, or China could surpass the U.S., endangering economic competitiveness and security, Smith wrote.

“While most believe that the United States still holds the lead position, we cannot afford to rule out the possibility of a strategic surprise or that China may already be at parity with the United States,” Smith wrote. “Simply put, the United States cannot afford to fall behind, or worse, lose the race entirely.”

Microsoft’s position is the latest sign that research into quantum computing is starting to heat up among big tech companies and investors who are looking for the next technology that could rival the artificial intelligence boom.

Smith is calling for the Trump administration to increase funding for quantum research, renew the National Quantum Initiative Act and expand a program for testing quantum computers by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. The Microsoft executive is also calling on the White House to expand the educational pipeline of people who have the math and science skills to work on quantum machines, fast-track immigration for Ph.D.s with quantum skills and for the government to buy more quantum-related computer parts to build a U.S. supply chain.

Microsoft did not detail how China surpassing the U.S. in quantum computing technology would endanger national security, but a National Security Agency official last year discussed what could happen if China or another adversary surprised the U.S. by building a quantum computer first.

The official, NSA Director of Research Gil Herrera, said that if such a “black swan” event happened, banks might not be able to keep transactions private because a quantum computer could crack their encryption, according to the Washington Times. A working quantum computer could also crack existing encrypted data that is usually shared publicly in a scrambled fashion, which could reveal secrets on U.S. nuclear weapon systems.

In February, Microsoft announced its latest quantum chip called Majorana, claiming that it invented a new kind of matter to develop the prototype device. Last year, Google announced Willow, a new device the company claimed was a “milestone” because it was able to correct errors and solve a math problem in five minutes that would have taken longer than the age of the universe on a traditional computer.

While the computers people are used to use bits that are either 0 or 1 to do calculations, quantum computers use “qubits,” which end up being on or off based on probability. Experts say that quantum computers will eventually be useful for problems with nearly infinite possibilities, such as simulating chemistry, or routing deliveries.

But the current quantum computers are far away from that point, and many computer industry participants say it could take decades for quantum computers to reach their potential.

Microsoft’s chip, Majorana, has eight qubits, but the company says it has a goal of least 1 million qubits for a commercially useful chip. Microsoft needs to build a device with a few hundred qubits before the company starts looking at whether it’s reliable enough for customers.

WATCH: How quantum computing could supercharge Google’s AI ambitions

How quantum computing could supercharge Google's AI ambitions

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