Amazon is looking to expand its competitor to Temu and Shein beyond the U.S.
The company intends to launch its discount storefront, called Haul, in Europe later this year, according to two people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the plans are confidential.
Recent job postings indicate Amazon is eyeing a wider global rollout. One listing stated the company is looking to hire a software development engineer in the Haul team to help with a worldwide launch. The job was posted to Amazon’s website but has since been removed. Another role is for a senior product manager to assist with a launch in Mexico. Both openings were posted earlier this month.
An Amazon spokesperson said the company didn’t have anything to share on its plans for Haul, which were earlier reported on by The Information.
“We are always exploring new ways to work with our selling partners to delight our customers around the world with more selection, lower prices, and greater convenience,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The expansion comes months after Haul’s debut. Amazon unveiled the online store in November, describing it as an “engaging shopping experience that brings lower-priced products into one convenient destination.” Haul is only accessible through Amazon’s mobile app, and most items are priced at $20 or less.
With Amazon Haul, the company is responding to the rise of Temu, Shein and TikTok Shop, which all have ties to China, the world’s second-largest economy. The platforms have rapidly gained popularity in the U.S. over the past few years by hooking deal-hungry shoppers with their low prices on clothing, makeup, home goods and other items. Like Temu, Haul offers ultra-low-priced products, like $1 eyelash curlers and cosmetic bags, or a $2.99 cubic zirconia ring.
Haul remains in beta for U.S. users, but Amazon has continued to build out the service, suggesting the company sees it becoming a more permanent fixture of its online store.
The since-removed job listing indicates Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s S-team, consisting of top leaders, has set goals this year to make Haul “Go Big” in the U.S. and worldwide.
The launch of Haul in Europe could come with some challenges. Amazon would likely use plastic packaging for Haul shipments, which would conflict with its sustainability goals in the region, according to one of the sources. The company in 2023 transitioned to using only recyclable paper bags, cardboard envelopes and boxes or, in some cases, no added packaging, for deliveries in Europe.
Amazon is taking a page from its legacy online store to monetize Haul in more ways. The company this month began showing sponsored products in some Haul search results, allowing sellers to pay to have certain items appear at the top of the page. The company has stuffed more sponsored items into search results on its desktop site and mobile app over the years. They account for the bulk of Amazon’s ad revenue, which totaled $56.2 billion in 2024.
Amazon has added curated storefronts from lifestyle influencers within the Haul homepage. One features “fashion picks” from Michaela Delvillar, an influencer with more than 150,000 followers on TikTok, whose Amazon storefront says she’s a “Top Creator.”
Amazon is growing Haul, which relies on goods from China-based sellers, even as the practice comes under scrutiny from President Donald Trump. Earlier this month, Trump suspended, then reinstated, the de minimis rule, which allows exporters to ship packages worth less than $800 into the U.S. duty-free.
The loophole is expected to be shut again once the Commerce Department and customs officials put systems in place to process and collect tariffs on the millions of de minimis packages that flow into the U.S. daily. A significant portion of those packages originate from China.
Jassy was asked about the de minimis scrutiny on Thursday in an interview with Bloomberg Television. He said Amazon has a “certain number of items that are shipped in that way” for Haul, but likely fewer than Chinese e-commerce companies like Shein and Temu.
Lip-Bu Tan, chief executive officer of Intel Corp., departs following a meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025.
Alex Wroblewski | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Intel shares rose 7% on Thursday after Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration is in talks with the chipmaker to have the U.S. government take a stake in the struggling company.
Intel is the only U.S. company with the capability to manufacture the fastest chips on U.S. shores, although rivals including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Samsung also have U.S. factories. President Donald Trump has called for more chips and high technology to be manufactured in the U.S.
The government’s stake would help fund factories that Intel is currently building in Ohio, according to the report.
Earlier this week, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan visited Trump in the White House, a meeting that took place after the president had called for Tan’s resignation based on allegations he has ties to China.
Intel said at the time that Tan is “deeply committed to advancing U.S. national and economic security interests.” An Intel representative declined to comment about reports that the government is considering taking a stake in the company.
“We look forward to continuing our work with the Trump Administration to advance these shared priorities, but we are not going to comment on rumors or speculation,” the spokesperson said.
Tan took over Intel earlier this year after the chipmaker failed to gain significant share in artificial intelligence chips, while it was spending heavily to build its foundry business, which manufactures chips for other companies.
Intel’s foundry business has yet to secure a major customer, which would be a critical step in moving towards expansion and giving other potential customers the confidence to turn to Intel for manufacturing.
In July, Tan said that Intel was canceling plans for manufacturing sites in Germany and Poland and would slow down development in Ohio, adding that spending at the chipmaker would be closely scrutinized.
Under Trump, the U.S. government has increasingly moved to put itself at the center of deals in major industries. Last week, it said it would take 15% of certain Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices chip sales to China. The Pentagon bought a $400 million equity stake in rare-earth miner MP Materials.It also took a “golden share” in U.S. Steel as part of a deal to allow Nippon Steel to buy the U.S. industrial giant.
Intel shares are now up 19% this year after losing 60% of their value in 2024, the worst year on record for the chipmaker.
Alexander Karp, chief executive officer and co-founder of Palantir Technologies Inc.
Scott Eelis | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Palantir‘s astronomical rise since its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange in a 2020 direct listing has been nothing short of a whirlwind.
Over nearly five years, the Denver-based company, whose cofounders include renowned venture capitalist Peter Thiel and current CEO Alex Karp, has surged more than 1,700%. At the same time, its valuation has broken new highs, dwarfing some of the world’s technology behemoths with far greater revenues.
The artificial intelligence-powered software company continued its ascent last week after posting its first quarter with more than $1 billion in revenue, reaching new highs and soaring past a $430 billion market valuation.
Shares haven’t been below $100 since April 2025. The stock last traded below $10 in May 2023, before beginning a steady climb higher.
Last month, retail poured $1.2 billion into Palantir stock, according to data from Goldman Sachs.
Here’s a closer look at Palantir’s growth over the last five years and how the company compares to megacap peers.
Government money
Government contracts have been one of Palantir’s biggest growth areas since its inception.
Last quarter, the company’s U.S. government revenue grew 53% to $426 million. Government accounted for 55% of the company’s total revenue but commercial is showing promise. Those revenues in the U.S. grew 93% last quarter, Palantir said.
Still, one of the company’s oldest customers is the U.S. Army.
Earlier this month, the company inked a contract worth up to $10 billion for data and software to streamline efficiencies and meet growing military needs. In May, the Department of Defense boosted its agreement with Palantir for AI-powered battlefield capabilities by $795 million.
“We still believe America is the leader of the free world, that the West is superior,” Karp said on an earnings call earlier this month. “We have to fight for these values; we should give American corporations, and, most importantly, our government, an unfair advantage.”
Beyond the U.S.
The U.S. has been a key driver of Palantir’s growth, especially as the company scoops up more contracts with the U.S. military.
Palantir said the U.S. currently accounts for about three-quarters of total revenues. Commercial international revenues declined 3% last quarter and analysts have raised concerns about that segment’s growth trajectory.
Over the last five years, U.S. revenues have nearly quintupled from $156 million to about $733 million. Revenues outside the U.S. have doubled from about $133 million to $271 million.
Paying a premium
Palantir’s market capitalization has rapidly ascended over the last year as investors bet on its AI tools, while its stock has soared nearly 500%.
The meteoric rise placed Palantir among the top 10 U.S. tech firms and top 20 most valuable U.S. companies. But Palantir makes a fraction of the revenue of the companies in those lists.
Last quarter, Palantir reported more than $1 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time, and its forward price-to-earnings ratio has surged past 280 times.
By comparison, Apple and Microsoft posted revenue of $94 billion and $76 billion during the period, respectively, and carry a PE ratio of nearly 30 times.
Forward PE is a valuation metric that compares a company’s future earnings to its current share price. The higher the PE, the higher the growth expectations or the more overvalued the asset. A lower price-to-earnings ratio suggests slower growth or an undervalued asset.
Most of the Magnificent Seven stocks, except for Nvidia and Tesla, have a forward PE that hovers around the 20s and 30s. Nvidia trades at more than 40 times forward earnings, while Tesla’s sits at about 198 times.
At these levels, investors are paying a jacked-up premium to own shares of one of the hottest AI stocks on Wall Street as its valuation has skyrocketed to astronomical heights.
“This is a once-in-a-generation, truly anomalous quarter, and we’re very proud,” Karp said on an earnings call following Palantir’s second-quarter results. “We’re sorry that our haters are disappointed, but there are many more quarters to be disappointed.”
Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) at Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California, US, on Monday, June 9, 2025.
Apple said the redesigned feature is coming to some Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 users on Thursday. The update was possible because of a recent U.S. Customs ruling, the company said.
In 2023, the International Trade Commission found that Apple’s blood oxygen sensors infringed on intellectual property from Masimo, a medical technology company. Apple paused the sale of some of its watches and began selling modified versions of the wearables without the blood oxygen feature.
“Apple’s teams work tirelessly to create products and services that empower users with industry-leading health, wellness, and safety features that are grounded in science and have privacy at the core,” the company said in a release announcing the feature rollout.