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Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell speaks during the MWC session ‘New strategies for a new era’ on the first day of the 18th edition of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) at Fira de Barcelona’s Gran Via venue in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat on February 26, 2024, in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

Kike Rincon | Europa Press | Getty Images

Shares of Dell Technologies fell more than 16% Friday after investors were discouraged by the company’s lower-than-expected artificial intelligence server backlog and an estimated decline in margins.

Dell reported fiscal first-quarter results on Thursday that beat analysts’ expectations and offered rosy guidance. The company said revenue for the period was $22.24 billion, which was up from the $21.64 billion estimated by analysts according to LSEG.

For its second quarter, Dell said it expects earnings of $1.65 per share, and it expects sales to come in between $23.5 billion and $24.5 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting $23.35 billion. Dell guided for between $93.5 billion and $97.5 billion in sales for the full fiscal year.

The beat wasn’t enough to appease investors, and shares tumbled in extended trading Thursday.

Bernstein analysts said the “principle disappointment” in Dell’s results was that operating margins for its Infrastructure Solutions Group compressed year over year. Additionally, operating profits were flat compared with the same period last year, even though the company brought in around $1.7 billion in incremental AI server revenues.

The analysts said this resurfaced concerns that Dell’s AI servers are being sold at “near-zero margins.” In other words, the company’s AI initiatives are not translating into profits yet.

“On net, relative to very high expectations, Dell’s Q1 25 results were disappointing,” the analysts wrote in a note Friday.

Bank of America analysts said Dell reported a strong quarter, and they reiterated their buy rating on the stock. However, they said the after-hours move was partly because Dell’s AI server backlog of $3.8 billion was lower than estimates, and the company’s growth margin is expected to decline in the fiscal year.

“We reiterate Buy given that we are still in the early stages of AI adoption with continued strong pipeline and momentum around AI servers, where we think DELL will be able to capture higher AI margins over time,” the analysts said in a note Thursday.

JPMorgan analysts said they were not surprised by the investor reaction to the report but added that they believe the concerns are “overblown.” They maintained their overweight rating on the stock and said Dell’s margin choppiness is set to create an attractive buying opportunity.

The analysts said the company is on track to expand both revenue and earnings ahead of its medium-term target, and they expect Dell will see accelerating AI demand trends and a recovery in its traditional infrastructure.

“We expect investors to be disappointed given lofty expectations of a ramp with greater flow-through to the bottom-line, and we would expect an overhang with investors more likely to monitor execution to the promised margin improvement through the remainder of the year,” they wrote in a note Thursday.

CNBC’s Michael Bloom and Kif Leswing contributed to this report.

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Waymo to begin testing in Philadelphia with safety drivers behind the wheel

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Waymo to begin testing in Philadelphia with safety drivers behind the wheel

A Waymo autonomous self-driving Jaguar electric vehicle sits parked at an EVgo charging station in Los Angeles, California, on May 15, 2024.

Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images

Waymo said it will begin testing in Philadelphia, with a limited fleet of vehicles and human safety drivers behind the wheel.

“This city is a National Treasure,” Waymo wrote in a post on X on Monday. “It’s a city of love, where eagles fly with a gritty spirit and cheese that spreads and cheese that steaks. Our road trip continues to Philly next.”

The Alphabet-owned company confirmed to CNBC that it will be testing in Pennsylvania’s largest city through the fall, adding that the initial fleet of cars will be manually driven through the more complex parts of Philadelphia, including downtown and on freeways.

“Folks will see our vehicles driving at all hours throughout various neighborhoods, from North Central to Eastwick, and from University City to as far east as the Delaware River,” a Waymo spokesperson said.

With its so-called road trips, Waymo seeks to collect mapping data and evaluate how its autonomous technology, Waymo Driver, performs in new environments, handling traffic patterns and local infrastructure. Road trips are often used a way for the company to gauge whether it can potentially offer a paid ride share service in a particular location.

The expanded testing, which will go through the fall, comes as Waymo aims for a broader rollout. Last month, the company announced plans to drive vehicles manually in New York for testing, marking the first step toward potentially cracking the largest U.S. city. Waymo applied for a permit with the New York City Department of Transportation to operate autonomously with a trained specialist behind the wheel in Manhattan. State law currently doesn’t allow for such driverless operations.

Waymo One provides more than 250,000 paid trips each week across Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin, Texas, and is preparing to bring fully autonomous rides to Atlanta, Miami, and Washington, D.C., in 2026.

Alphabet has been under pressure to monetize artificial intelligence products as it bolsters spending on infrastructure. Alphabet’s “Other Bets” segment, which includes Waymo, brought in revenue of $1.65 billion in 2024, up from $1.53 billion in 2023. However, the segment lost $4.44 billion last year, compared to a loss of $4.09 billion the previous year.

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Trump advisor Navarro rips Apple’s Tim Cook for not moving production out of China fast enough

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Trump advisor Navarro rips Apple's Tim Cook for not moving production out of China fast enough

Peter Navarro: 'Inconceivable' that Apple could not produce iPhones outside China

White House trade advisor Peter Navarro chastised Apple CEO Tim Cook on Monday over the company’s response to pressure from the Trump administration to make more of its products outside of China.

“Going back to the first Trump term, Tim Cook has continually asked for more time in order to move his factories out of China,” Navarro said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “I mean it’s the longest-running soap opera in Silicon Valley.”

CNBC has reached out to Apple for comment on Navarro’s criticism.

President Donald Trump has in recent months ramped up demands for Apple to move production of its iconic iPhone to the U.S. from overseas. Apple’s flagship phone is produced primarily in China, but the company has increasingly boosted production in India, partly to avoid the higher cost of Trump’s tariffs.

Trump in May warned Apple would have to pay a tariff of 25% or more for iPhones made outside the U.S. In separate remarks, Trump said he told Cook, “I don’t want you building in India.”

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Analysts and supply chain experts have argued it would be impossible for Apple to completely move iPhone production to the U.S. By some estimates, a U.S.-made iPhone could cost as much as $3,500.

Navarro said Cook isn’t shifting production out of China quickly enough.

“With all these new advanced manufacturing techniques and the way things are moving with AI and things like that, it’s inconceivable to me that Tim Cook could not produce his iPhones elsewhere around the world and in this country,” Navarro said.

Apple currently makes very few products in the U.S. During Trump’s first term, Apple extended its commitment to assemble the $3,000 Mac Pro in Texas.

In February, Apple said it would spend $500 billion within the U.S., including on assembling some AI servers.

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CoreWeave to acquire Core Scientific in $9 billion all-stock deal

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CoreWeave to acquire Core Scientific in  billion all-stock deal

CoreWeave founders Brian Venturo, at left in sweatshirt, and Mike Intrator slap five after ringing the opening bell at Nasdaq headquarters in New York on March 28, 2025.

Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Artificial intelligence hyperscaler CoreWeave said Monday it will acquire Core Scientific, a leading data center infrastructure provider, in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $9 billion.

Coreweave stock fell about 4% on Monday while Core Scientific stock plummeted about 20%. Shares of both companies rallied at the end of June after the Wall Street Journal reported that talks were underway for an acquisition.

The deal strengthens CoreWeave’s position in the AI arms race by bringing critical infrastructure in-house.

CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator said the move will eliminate $10 billion in future lease obligations and significantly enhance operating efficiency.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025, pending regulatory and shareholder approval.

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The deal expands CoreWeave’s access to power and real estate, giving it ownership of 1.3 gigawatts of gross capacity across Core Scientific’s U.S. data center footprint, with another gigawatt available for future growth.

Core Scientific has increasingly focused on high-performance compute workloads since emerging from bankruptcy and relisting on the Nasdaq in 2024.

Core Scientific shareholders will receive 0.1235 CoreWeave shares for each share they hold — implying a $20.40 per-share valuation and a 66% premium to Core Scientific’s closing stock price before deal talks were reported.

After closing, Core Scientific shareholders will own less than 10% of the combined company.

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