Apple Goes Golden As It Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary; OpenAI's Latest $100+ Billion Funding Round; And Is AMD About To Acquire Intel?

Big Tech’s past, present, and future are colliding all at once. As Apple clocks 50 years, the bigger question is whether it can still lead in an AI-first era now dominated by aggressive players like OpenAI, which just locked in a staggering $122 billion funding round ahead of a potential IPO. Meanwhile, the semiconductor playbook is being rewritten in real time, with Advanced Micro Devices moving to acquire longtime giant Intel in a deal few would have imagined a decade ago. And beyond Earth, investor capital is already chasing the next frontier, AI-powered satellite infrastructure riding momentum ahead of a potential SpaceX debut. From legacy dominance to capital-fueled disruption, all this and more in today’s Read It And Eat!

Markets Around The World

Markets as of 31st March 2026. Cells in RED mean that the value is down, cells in Green mean the value is up.

MAJOR HEADLINES

• Apple's 50-Year Journey From Garage To Tech Titan

In early 1976 in California, Steve Wozniak had just completed the design of a computer circuit board he intended to share with fellow hobbyists at a prominent local club. His friend Steve Jobs also saw a business opportunity ​to manufacture and sell the boards, and thus Apple was born.

The company turns 50 on Wednesday. Its rise has shaped ‌both the technology industry and popular culture by making first desktop computers and then smartphones mainstream, popularizing mobile apps and showing how tightly integrated devices and software can work. But the iPhone maker is now under pressure to show it can remain a technology powerhouse in the age of artificial intelligence as software ​rivals Alphabet spend tens of billions of dollars to seize a lead. Its stock is the second-worst performer among the "Magnificent ​Seven" since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November 2022. Despite embedding machine learning features in its chips since 2017, analysts and ⁠investors say delays in roll-out of features, including a revamped Siri, suggest Apple was underprepared for how consumers would use AI.

Rivals such ​as OpenAI are also planning to launch AI devices that aim to shake the long-held dominance of smartphones. Still, Apple's devices remain widely popular. Strong demand for ​the latest iPhone 17 series drove its December-quarter earnings, while the $599 MacBook Neo, its cheapest laptop ever had a strong launch. "The company made it fifty years with no one truly competing with its integrated business model; the fate of its next fifty years may rest on the question of just how compelling AI ​ends up being, and if OpenAI can out-Apple the original," independent tech analyst Ben Thompson said on Stratechery.com on Tuesday. Reuters

• OpenAI Closes Record-Breaking $122 Billion Funding Round; At An $852 Bn Valuation

OpenAI on Tuesday announced that it closed a record-breaking funding round at a post-money valuation of $852 billion. The round totaled $122 billion of committed capital, up from the $110 billion figure that the company announced in February. SoftBank co-led the round alongside other investors, including Andreessen Horowitz and D. E. Shaw Ventures, OpenAI said. 

As of March, ChatGPT supports more than 900 million weekly active users, including more than 50 million subscribers.  "AI is driving productivity gains, accelerating scientific discovery, and expanding what people and organizations can build," OpenAI said in a release. OpenAI said Tuesday that it's generating $2 billion in revenue per month. It made $13.1 billion in revenue last year. The company is still burning cash and is not yet profitable.

In February, OpenAI revealed $110 billion of commitments from some of its strategic investors that anchored its funding round. Amazon agreed to invest up to $50 billion in the startup, Nvidia invested $30 billion, and SoftBank invested $30 billion. The additional $12 billion of capital that OpenAI raised came from a broader pool of investors. OpenAI said it extended participation to investors through bank channels for the first time and raised $3 billion from individual investors. Microsoft, one of OpenAI's longtime partners, also participated, but OpenAI did not disclose the size of the company's investment in its Tuesday release. As of late last year, Microsoft had invested more than $13 billion in the startup. CNBC

• AMD Makes Brazen Attempt To Acquire Microchip Founding Company; Intel

The all-stock transaction, which AMD described as a "once-in-a-generation opportunity to unify x86 innovation," would combine the two companies under a single umbrella just a few years ago such an outcome would have sounded ridiculous. For most of modern computing history, Intel was the empire and AMD the scrappy survivor, the perpetual second source that somehow kept finding ways to stay alive. Now, after a bruising run of manufacturing delays, product stumbles, strategic resets, and a historic reversal in investor confidence, Intel is poised to be absorbed by the smaller company it long treated as a footnote. If completed, the acquisition would instantly create the most awkward family reunion in semiconductor history.

AMD Chief Executive Lisa Su, in a statement notable for its restraint, said the merger would allow the combined company to "accelerate roadmaps, simplify the customer experience, and preserve healthy internal competition somehow." Intel, for its part, said the deal would help unlock shareholder value while giving its engineering teams "the focus and support needed to build world-class products again, this time with fewer org charts." Industry analysts were still trying to process the symbolism.

People briefed on the matter said AMD is considering a holding structure that would preserve both brands, at least initially. One internal concept reportedly describes Intel as a "heritage performance division," a phrase that sounds charitable and devastating in equal measure. Wall Street welcomed the news with disbelief, meme creation, and cautious optimism that the combined company could finally end the era of x86 civil war by turning it into a monopoly with legacy compatibility. At press time, the companies said the deal was expected to close shortly after the industry finished checking the calendar. TechSport

• AI Satellite Start-Ups Gain Traction With Investors Ahead Of SpaceX IPO

AI-focused satellite startups are experiencing a surge in investor interest as SpaceX prepares for its anticipated initial public offering. Both SpaceX and Blue Origin are actively working on projects to launch AI data centers comprising thousands of satellites into orbit, signaling a new frontier in space-based computing. 

Nvidia recently unveiled new AI chips specifically designed to work in the space environment, further validating the concept of orbital AI infrastructure. The heightened investor interest in AI satellite companies comes as the broader space sector anticipates significant capital flows following SpaceX's IPO, which is expected to be one of the largest ever in the technology sector. This convergence of AI and space technology represents a rapidly emerging investment thesis, with potential applications including improved earth observation, global communications, and distributed computing. 

The trend suggests that the space economy is increasingly becoming intertwined with terrestrial AI development, creating new opportunities and competitive dynamics in both industries. The convergence of AI and space technology is creating a new investment frontier, with major tech companies betting on orbital infrastructure as the next frontier for computing and data processing.Financial Times

Minor Headlines

• NASDAQ will allow immediate index inclusion of SpaceX post-IPO Bloomberg  

• Oracle reportedly has begun cutting thousands of jobs CNBC

• United Airlines plans to add lie-flat beds to its economy class Delicious 

• Blackrock mulls a move to HSBC’s Canary Wharf tower CityAM

• LeBron, McIlroy, Ronaldo in $575m Whoop raise at $10bn valuation CityAM

• Unilever, McCormick strike deal to create $65 billion food giant Reuters

•  Strategy may have paused bitcoin accumulation last week, ending a 13-week buying streak CoinDesk

• Judge halts construction of Donald Trump’s $400mn White House ballroom Financial Times

Earnings Headlines

Apparel / Footwear 

• Nike beat Q3 earnings and revenue estimates despite economic headwinds as its turnaround efforts gain traction, though its China market continues to struggle (CNBC)