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Amazon’s Dave Limp, who runs the e-retailer’s hardware division, said the company’s jump into home robots this week started with a focus on security and then developed into a product that can also deliver a drink or take a video call.

“We wrote a document where we thought customers especially would like the security aspects of a home robot,” Limp told CNBC’s Jon Fortt in an interview that aired Friday on “TechCheck.” “It since has evolved to cover much more surface area than that, but that was the original kind of idea.”

Amazon has built an array of hardware devices over the years, from its early Kindle e-readers to modern tablets, voice-activated smart speakers and a smart TV. But its latest device, an Alexa-powered robot called Astro, may be its most ambitious yet.

Amazon unveiled Astro on Tuesday at its annual hardware event. The company started experimenting with robots in its own warehouses before eventually developing a consumer product. Limp said Amazon spent the past four years working on the device.

Astro is packed with sensors that allow it to navigate smoothly throughout the home and around objects. It includes two Qualcomm chips that power features like visual ID, which enables it to recognize one user from another. Astro can patrol your home autonomously, answer commands and serve up reminders.

While Amazon has typically targeted the thrifty with its lower-cost Echo speakers and TV streaming sticks, the Astro starts at $1,000 for users who get an invitation for early access and will cost $1,500 for those who buy it at launch.

“We still find some of our highest volume products are the ones that are around $50,” Limp said. “That being said, some of these brands have been around for a while, and as that happens, customers ask us to add more features.”

Recent upgrades in smart-home technology like sensors and processors allowed Amazon to consider launching an Alexa-powered robot, Limp added.

“The combination of that sort of got us excited about, well, we should get started on this,” he said.

Amazon still counts on e-commerce, cloud computing and now advertising for the bulk of its revenue, and it doesn’t break out device sales. The company generally views devices as a way to get consumers to use other services, like Prime shipping or music and video streaming.

WATCH: Amazon introduces Astro, the robot

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We’re raising our CrowdStrike price target following a beat and raise quarter

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We're raising our CrowdStrike price target following a beat and raise quarter

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Okta shares fall as company declines to give guidance for next fiscal year

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Okta shares fall as company declines to give guidance for next fiscal year

Cheng Xin | Getty Images

Okta on Tuesday topped Wall Street’s third-quarter estimates and issued an upbeat outlook, but shares fell as the company did not provide guidance for fiscal 2027.

Shares of the identity management provider fell more than 3% in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

Here’s how the company did versus LSEG estimates:

  • Earnings per share: 82 cents adjusted vs. 76 cents expected
  • Revenue: $742 million vs. $730 million expected

Compared to previous third-quarter reports, Okta refrained from offering preliminary guidance for the upcoming fiscal year. Finance chief Brett Tighe cited seasonality in the fourth quarter, and said providing guidance would require “some conservatism.”

Okta released a capability that allows businesses to build AI agents and automate tasks during the third quarter.

CEO Todd McKinnon told CNBC that upside from AI agents haven’t been fully baked into results and could exceed Okta’s core total addressable market over the next five years.

“It’s not in the results yet, but we’re investing, and we’re capitalizing on the opportunity like it will be a big part of the future,” he said in a Tuesday interview.

Revenues increased almost 12% from $665 million in the year-ago period. Net income increased 169% to $43 million, or 24 cents per share, from $16 million, or breakeven, a year ago. Subscription revenues grew 11% to $724 million, ahead of a $715 million estimate.

For the current quarter, the cybersecurity company expects revenues between $748 million and $750 million and adjusted earnings of 84 cents to 85 cents per share. Analysts forecast $738 million in revenues and EPS of 84 cents for the fourth quarter.

Returning performance obligations, or the company’s subscription backlog, rose 17% from a year ago to $4.29 billion and surpassed a $4.17 billion estimate from StreetAccount.

This year has been a blockbuster period for cybersecurity companies, with major acquisition deals from the likes of Palo Alto Networks and Google and a raft of new initial public offerings from the sector.

Okta shares have gained about 4% this year.

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Marvell to acquire Celestial AI for as much as $5.5 billion

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Marvell to acquire Celestial AI for as much as .5 billion

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. headquarters in Santa Clara, California, on Sept. 6, 2024.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Semiconductor company Marvell on Tuesday announced that it will acquire Celestial AI for at least $3.25 billion in cash and stock.

The purchase price could increase to $5.5 billion if Celestial hits revenue milestones, Marvell said.

Marvell shares rose 13% in extended trading Tuesday as the company reported third-quarter earnings that beat expectations and said on the earnings call that it expected data center revenue to rise 25% next year.

The deal is an aggressive move for Marvell to acquire complimentary technology to its semiconductor networking business. The addition of Celestial could enable Marvell to sell more chips and parts to companies that are currently committing to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on infrastructure for AI.

Marvell stock is down 18% so far in 2025 even as semiconductor rivals like Broadcom have seen big valuation increases driven by excitement around artificial intelligence.

Celestial is a startup focused on developing optical interconnect hardware, which it calls a “photonic fabric,” to connect high-performance computers. Celestial was reportedly valued at $2.5 billion in March in a funding round, and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan joined the startup’s board in January.

Optical connections are becoming increasingly important because the most advanced AI systems need those parts tie together dozens or hundreds of chips so they can work as one to train and run the biggest large-language models.

Currently, many AI chip connections are done using copper wires, but newer systems are increasingly using optical connections because they can transfer more data faster and enable physically longer cables. Optical connections also cost more.

“This builds on our technology leadership, broadens our addressable market in scale-up connectivity, and accelerates our roadmap to deliver the industry’s most complete connectivity platform for AI and cloud customers,” Marvell CEO Matt Murphy said in a statement.

Marvell said that the first application of Celestial technology would be to connect a system based on “large XPUs,” which are custom AI chips usually made by the companies investing billions in AI infrastructure.

On Tuesday, the company said that it could even integrate Celestial’s optical technology into custom chips, and based on customer traction, the startup’s technology would soon be integrated into custom AI chips and related parts called switches.

Amazon Web Services Vice President Dave Brown said in a statement that Marvell’s acquisition of Celestial will “help further accelerate optical scale-up innovation for next-generation AI deployments.”

The maximum payout for the deal will be triggered if Celestial can record $2 billion in cumulative revenue by the end of fiscal 2029. The deal is expected to close early next year.

In its third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, Marvell earnings of 76 cents per share on $2.08 billion in sales, versus LSEG expectations of 73 cents on $2.07 billion in sales. Marvell said that it expects fourth-quarter revenue to be $2.2 billion, slightly higher than LSEG’s forecast of $2.18 billion.

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