CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator told CNBC Tuesday that the firm’s proposed acquisition of Core Scientific would be a “nice to have” rather than a necessity as shareholders prepare to potentially block the deal.

In July, AI cloud provider Coreweave proposed an all-stock deal valued at around $9 billion to buy the Bitcoin miner and data center firm, Core Scientific. Immediately after the news, Core Scientific’s stock price fell, plummeting nearly 18%.

The deal has received criticism with key proxy advisor Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recommending on Monday that shareholders vote against the acquisition. Core Scientific’s share price has conitnued to rise after the deal was announced which suggests some investors think that the company is valued higher than what CoreWeave has offered, ISS said.

Intrator said that he was “disappointed” by the ISS report and continues to believe that the deal is “in the long-term interest of Core Scientific shareholders.” However, CoreWeave will not raise the price of the offer.

“We think that the bid that we put out there for [Core Scientific] is a fair representation of the relative value of the two companies as an all stock deal,” Intrator told CNBC. “We are going to just kind of proceed as we have, in the event that the transaction does not go through. It is a nice to have, not a need to have for us.”

“Everything has a value, and the number we put out is the value we’re willing to pay for them under all circumstances,” Intrator added.

Earlier this month Two Seas Capital, a major Core Scientific shareholder publicly opposed the acquisition saying that the price CoreWeave is offering is too low. Shareholders will vote on the deal on October 30.

“We see no reason why Core Scientific shareholders should accept such an underwhelming deal. Based on recent trading data, we see little evidence that they will,” Two Seas Capital said in a Friday letter to shareholders.

CoreWeave has aggressive pursued acqusitions this year to buy AI-related firms like OpenPipe, Weights & Biases, and Monolith as it looks to expand its product offering.

The company, which has built data centers and offers Nvidia-powered computing power to hyperscalers like Microsoft, has been riding the wave of artificial intelligence investments.

“We’ve been in acquisitive mode as we continue to build and extend the functionality of our company,” Intrator said.

Critics may sneer at the iPhone 17 Pro’s fluorescent orange finish, but Apple’s “Cosmic Orange” smartphone seems to be dazzling where it counts — in sales and shares.

The newest iPhone 17 series, which includes the base iPhone 17 and its overachieving Pro and skinny Air siblings — that come in colors other than orange, to be clear — has been outselling its predecessor in the U.S. and China, according to Counterpoint Research. In China, the iPhone Air reportedly sold out within minutes of going on sale, per the South China Morning Post.

Investors noticed. Shares of Apple popped nearly 4% on the news and closed at an all-time high. That must be welcome news for CEO Tim Cook and investors for a stock that’s been trailing its Magnificent 7 peers. That brings Apple’s year-to-date gains to around 5%, compared with Nvidia’s 36% and 25% for Meta.

Another member of the Mag 7, however, had a bumpy Monday. Amazon’s cloud arm, Amazon Web Services, suffered an outage that took down sites such as Reddit and Snapchat, plunging millions, including yours truly, into existential crises. Still, Amazon shares managed to climb around 1.6%.

U.S. markets also rose more broadly, with major indexes ending Monday in the green. This week, investors will be keeping their eye on the U.S.’ trade developments with China as well as earnings reports from companies such as Netflix, Tesla and Intel — a mix that could make the next few days almost as colorful as Apple’s latest phone.

AI set to be a boon for emerging markets — but some investors aren’t convinced

“AI will change everything for emerging markets,” said Anton Osika, CEO and co-founder of Swedish startup Lovable, which allows others to create apps and websites via prompting, removing the need for technical knowledge. 

However, AI doesn’t solve structural challenges faced by emerging markets. That means plenty of points of friction still exist, such as local funding availability and confidence that startups will secure revenue, according to Emmet King, managing partner and co-founder of J12 Ventures, an investment firm.

— Tasmin Lockwood

Shares of some of Australia’s largest critical metals and rare earths companies surged on Tuesday following the announcement of a massive minerals deal between Washington and Canberra worth up to $8.5 billion.

The agreement — signed by U.S. President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday — includes funding for multiple projects aimed at boosting the supply of key materials used in defense manufacturing and energy security.

Lynas Rare Earths, Australia’s largest rare earths producer by market capitalization, jumped about 4.7% in early Asia trading. Mineral sand miner Iluka Resources advanced more than 9% while lithium producer Pilbara Minerals added roughly 5%.

Other smaller rare earth miners also made gains, with VHM soaring around 30%, while Northern Minerals popped over 16%. Meanwhile, Latrobe Magnesium, Australia’s primary producer of the critical metal magnesium, rose nearly 47%. 

NYSE-listed Alcoa, which is developing a project in Western Australia to recover and refine the critical metal gallium, was identified as one of the two priority projects under the new minerals deal. Washington will make an equity investment in the initiative.

Shares of Alcoa, also traded on the Australian Securities Exchange through depositary receipts, rose nearly 10%.

Rare earths and critical metals are essential for high-tech products such as electric vehicles, semiconductors and defense equipment. 

China, the global leader in the production of rare earths and many other critical minerals, has tightened export controls on the materials amid a trade war with the U.S., accelerating international efforts to diversify global supply chains. 

Albanese said the two countries will each contribute $1 billion over the next six months for projects that are “immediately available.”

However, a White House fact sheet later stated that Washington and Canberra will invest more than $3 billion in critical mineral projects over the same period, describing the agreement as a “framework.”

The White House also said that the Export-Import Bank of the United States will issue seven letters of interest for more than $2.2 billion in financing, potentially unlocking up to $5 billion in total investment.