Now, that’s just good sportsmanship.

On Thursday, Nvidia announced that it would invest $5 billion into fellow chipmaker Intel for a roughly 4% stake. It’s a friendly gesture to an industry rival (or should we say, rival-in-name-only, given Intel’s prolonged flailing). Rest assured, Nvidia sees plenty of upside for itself in the deal.

Spirit of Competition

Silicon Valley history has a way of repeating itself. Back in 1997, Microsoft invested $150 million into a teetering Apple. Beyond helping a frenemy in need, Microsoft helped ensure there would be a thriving Mac market for Microsoft’s software. In the present day, Nvidia and Intel might be a match made in computer-processing heaven. The two companies — headquartered just two miles from each other in Santa Clara, California — are technically chip-designing rivals, though each excels in different sectors. Despite whiffing amid the AI boom, Intel still holds a majority market share in the personal computer and laptop chip sectors. Nvidia, of course, has essentially owned the much more lucrative AI chip-designing space, with its products now packed into data centers the world over.

It’s why the two firms have had wildly divergent fortunes in the past few years. As recently as 2022, Intel pulled in nearly double the $26 billion in annual revenue of Nvidia. Now? Nvidia is on track for about $200 billion in sales this year, while Intel continues its slow decline. But thanks to Thursday’s deal, the two companies will help each other broach new chip-designing territory:

• Intel will make a new line of its x86 CPUs custom-fit to Nvidia’s AI platforms in data centers, an option that could be preferable for many hyperscaling clients. It will also produce new PC and laptop chips using graphics processing units from Nvidia, giving Nvidia a route into personal computing.
• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says the deal overall may be worth $50 billion a year. That could be crucial for the company, which continues to face a regulatory squeeze and rising competition in China.

Intel stock soared more than 22% on Thursday, great news for the US government and Japanese investment giant Softbank, which took 10% and 2% stakes, respectively, in the company last month.

Lost and Foundry: Unfortunately for Intel, the deal does not provide a direct lifeline to its floundering chipmaking foundry. Nvidia stressed it would continue to rely on current contractor TSMC, which means Intel’s foundry remains stuck in something of a doom loop: The capital-intensive unit needs more cash to get off the ground, which means it needs major clients, but no major clients are willing to ditch TSMC until Intel proves it can achieve liftoff. Think Joseph Heller’s Catch-22.

The era of the $1,000 annual credit card fee may arrive sooner than you expected. American Express just upped its Platinum card’s yearly price to $895 from $695, making it more expensive than rival travel cards.

American Express justifies the nearly 30% hike with more than $3,500 in benefits, including credits that go toward dining, flights and entertainment. It now has partnerships with Uber, Resy, Oura and Lululemon as travel cards grow increasingly linked to luxurious living beyond vacations.

Split It Three Ways

Amex pioneered the points-based card system that’s the standard for today’s issuers. But rivals are trying to beat Amex at its own game:

• Chase upgraded its premium Reserve card in June, raising its price 45% from $550 to $795, which was briefly more than Amex’s Platinum card (not anymore). It added new perks like status with Southwest, luxury hotel credits and a points-boosting feature that encourages users to book travel on Chase’s own platform.
• One day after Chase’s announcement, Amex teased its latest update. And a month later, Citibank joined the fight for high spenders’ wallet space by introducing its Strata Elite card for the relative bargain of $595. It includes $1,500 in potential annual rewards (around half of what Amex and Chase promise), which are mostly travel-related.

Card issuers are opting for more premium prices and perks as they chase a more premium consumer. The top 10% of earners made up more than half of second-quarter spending, a three-decade high, Moody’s Analytics found.

Coupon Cutting: More expensive in the luxury space isn’t necessarily a bad look. Higher prices can make a product feel more exclusive, attracting high spenders while edging out lower spenders overcrowding the lounges. Amex’s premium travel card has historically been the most expensive on the market, and boosting its price above Chase’s could help it maintain that prestige. But a price increase only gets a pass if customers think it’s worth it. Some are downgrading their cards, a Bankrate analyst told CNBC. Others are comparing the bulky benefits to coupon books, since they have to track their spending closely to optimize rewards, and coupons don’t feel very luxe.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg drew heaps of fashion and lifestyle coverage for a “tech bro glow up” in which he traded his trademark monochrome hoodies for chain necklaces, much blogged–about shearling coats and his very own designer T-shirts.

This week, his influencer status took an appropriately tech-centered turn, as Meta debuted a new range of AI-powered augmented reality smart glasses in partnership with eyewear brands Ray-Ban and Oakley. One leading observer, Deepwater Asset Management cofounder Gene Munster, wrote that, with his social media giant’s deeper push into hardware, Zuck has the “power to will [AI] glasses into reality long term,” taking his personal makeover global. Shares in Meta, up 33% this year, edged up another 0.6% Thursday as Wall Street analysts lined up to reaffirm their bullish view on the bro-in-chief.

The Future is Brando

Zuckerberg launched the AI-powered glasses on Wednesday, the same day the Federal Reserve eased monetary policy by lowering its benchmark interest rate, which is expected to add to Wall Street’s recent rally. Deliberate or not, it was an auspicious day to unveil the devices, which feature a full-color, high-resolution screen where users can make video calls and review messages, as well as a high-end camera lens. The Ray-Ban model can be paired with a “neural wristband” that enables users to perform tasks such as sending messages by using hand gestures.

That may not yet sound like a product with mass appeal, and it’s true: Unlike the original Ray-Bans, Meta’s AI version hasn’t had its bad boy, Marlon Brando in The Wild One, moment to propel it to the mainstream. Wall Street seems to think it could happen in the medium term:

• “Given extensive audio and visual use cases, and AI enhancement capabilities, we remain optimistic that AR glasses are likely to become the leading device for the AI era,” Bank of America analysts said, though they cautioned that Meta’s newest hardware, given its $800 price point and “limited style choices,” will likely be a precursor to mass adoption.
• “I believe glasses will go mainstream, but not for a while,” wrote Deepwater’s Munster, who estimates Meta’s AI-powered glasses sales will grow from 5 million this year to 50 million in 2030, after which it “could scale into the high hundreds of millions of units annually.”

Street Style: Meta will likely soon face competition from Amazon, Alphabet, Snap and other tech firms with augmented-reality glasses in different stages of development. Apple is reportedly developing its own commercial hardware as well. Meta shares hit $783.50 on Thursday, while analysts at BofA, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Stifel, Truist and Wedbush all affirmed their buy ratings with price targets between $850 (Morgan Stanley) and $920 (Wedbush). In other words, Zuck’s fall collection won’t be his last turn on the wearables fashion runway.