Europeans Don’t Want Teslas; AMD Pens $60 Billion With Meta; And The KOSPI Is Already Up 40% in 2026

Tesla’s European registrations plunged 17% in January as cheaper, well-packaged models from BYD sprint ahead a blunt reminder that premium EV dominance is no longer guaranteed. In chips and cloud, Advanced Micro Devices landed a blockbuster supply deal worth up to $60 billion with Meta Platforms, while legal overhang eased when OpenAI scored a win in its trade-secrets fight with xAI. And markets? South Korea’s benchmark, the Kospi, just cracked 6,000 up over 40% this year as chips and autos redraw the global leaderboard. All this and more in today’s Read It and Eat!

Markets Around The World

Markets as of 24th February 2026. Cells in RED mean that the value is down, cells in Green mean the value is up.

MAJOR HEADLINES

• Tesla Europe Sales Tumble 17% as BYD Soars

Tesla’s European deliveries hit a rough patch in January, with registrations falling to 8,075 units, down 17% year-on-year according to ACEA proxy figures even as total EV registrations in the region rose 13.9%. The weakness was concentrated in models that face increasing competition from cheaper, well-packaged Chinese alternatives; January’s overall vehicle registrations (all powertrains) were down 3.5%, highlighting that the EV growth story in Europe now looks more like a regional reshuffle than a uniform boom.

Investors and analysts point to one clear dynamic: incumbent premium EV makers face mounting pressure on price and features from aggressive entrants. BYD has accelerated European expansion with competitively priced models and local distribution plays, translating product momentum into market share gains at Tesla’s expense. For buyers, the choice set is wider and cheaper; for Tesla, the margin trade-off between premium positioning and volume share is getting harder to manage.

What to watch next: month-by-month registration trends, localized pricing moves (incentives/discounting), and any near-term product or service responses from Tesla (localized manufacturing, lease bundles, or incentives). If BYD sustains its push and Tesla fails to defend price/value in core European markets, expect further market-share and pricing pressure that could show up in European revenue guidance for the brand. Yahoo Finance

•  AMD Clinches a $60B AI Chip Supply Pact With Meta

Advanced Micro Devices announced a landmark supply agreement with Meta that could be worth up to $60 billion over five years, and includes an option allowing Meta to buy as much as 10% of AMD. The deal underscores how hyperscalers are diversifying compute sources as AI demand explodes; it also marks a major commercial win for AMD against dominant rival Nvidia, signalling that buyers want alternatives to a single-vendor market. AMD’s stock jumped on the news while Nvidia ticked down slightly, reflecting investor re-allocation and competition dynamics ahead of big quarterly results.

Economically, this is about supply security and negotiating leverage. Large AI consumers need committed lanes of GPUs and accelerators to avoid chokepoints and to get preferential pricing, software support, and roadmap co-development. Meta’s pact likely gives it prioritized allocation, co-design input, and potentially custom SKUs optimised for its workloads while AMD gains the revenue visibility and validation to accelerate capacity investments across its supply chain.

Risks and implications: large, long-dated purchase commitments raise execution questions (delivery timelines, yield, and fab capacity), and the deal tightens industrial concentration around a few large buyers and a smaller set of suppliers a dynamic that will attract regulatory and national-security scrutiny. Watch shipment schedules, software stacks (optimisations Meta demands), and whether other hyperscalers follow with multi-vendor agreements to reduce single-supplier dependency. Reuters

• OpenAI Wins Dismissal in xAI Trade-Secrets Suit

A U.S. federal judge granted most of OpenAI’s motion to dismiss a trade-secrets lawsuit brought by Elon Musk’s xAI, giving xAI leave to refile with revised claims. In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Rita F. Lin noted that the complaint failed to point to specific misconduct by OpenAI instead centring on several employees who moved between firms and found the current allegations legally insufficient. Practically, the decision is a procedural setback for xAI, though not a final defeat: they can amend and try again.

The ruling matters because it clarifies the evidentiary bar for trade-secrets claims in the AI talent wars: hiring engineers who formerly worked at rivals is not by itself proof of misconduct; plaintiffs must show clear misuse of protected materials or direction from the acquiring firm. For OpenAI, the win reduces immediate legal overhang and lets the lab focus on product and partnership execution; for xAI, it raises the cost and complexity of proving any alleged misappropriation.

What to watch: whether xAI files an amended complaint with stronger factual detail, and how courts handle discovery demands for source code, communications, and employment records matters that can meaningfully shape hiring practices, IP protection strategies, and the pace of talent mobility across the AI sector. Theverge

• South Korea’s Kospi Rockets 40%+ This Year, Breaks Above 6,000

South Korea’s benchmark indexes surged, with the market cap and performance driven heavily by semiconductors and auto names tied to the AI and EV supply chains; the Kospi which includes companies such as SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics are up +36.41% and +60.97% respectively. The rally reflects concentrated strength in export-oriented tech firms that have captured investor attention as on-shoring, supply-chain realignment, and AI compute demand funnel capital to chipmakers and component suppliers. Local liquidity and foreign flows chasing yield and growth likely amplified the move.

The mechanics are familiar: strong earnings beats from key firms, follow-through analyst upgrades, and a global rotation into non-U.S. AI plays combined to create positive feedback loops. Heavyweights in Korea’s tech complex saw outsized gains, pulling the broader index upward; the market now sits closer to Taiwan and well ahead of several European peers on performance metrics. That concentration, however, increases sensitivity to sector-specific shocks (chip cycle, export controls, currency moves).

For investors, the question is durability. Can Korea’s rally broaden beyond megacaps into mid-and small-caps, and will foreign investors maintain flows if valuation gaps widen? Watch export data, semiconductor inventory cycles, and any geopolitical shifts that might affect chip supply lines these signals will determine whether the surge is the start of a regional re-rating or a concentrated, momentum-driven run that requires active risk management.  Wall Street Journal

Minor Headlines

• JPMorgan's Dimon says he will remain CEO for a few years Reuters

• India's Richest Man, Mukesh Ambani, Is Taking On Elon Musk's Tesla, Mark Zuckerberg's Meta With Budget-Friendly Smart Glasses, Robots Yahoo Finance

• Nvidia, Microsoft back self-driving firm Wayve as it hits $8.6 billion valuation CNBC

• Louvre museum director resigns months after high-profile heist BBC

• Workday CEO Says Anthropic and OpenAI Use His Company’s Software Bloomberg

• Lower prices aren’t to be expected post tariff reversals Reuters

• Harvard-Led Study Says AI Can Predict 71% of Active-Fund Trades   Bloomberg

• No One Wants Lamborghini Luxury EV Yahoo Finance