Tonight's Highlights |TSMC's Quarterly Report Boosts Market Confidence; Chip Stocks Rally in U.S. Pre-market Trading

U.S. stock futures showed mixed performance early Thursday, though Nasdaq 100 futures climbed nearly 1% on the back of a semiconductor rally. Major European indices remained choppy.

 

TSMC delivered another record-breaking quarter on Thursday, posting a 35% year-on-year jump in profit. The results have effectively reignited investor optimism across the AI sector.

 

Pre-market Movers: TSMC jumped nearly 6% before the bell, while Micron rose over 3%, AMD gained over 2%, and NVIDIA edged up more than 1%.

 

Tariff Update: President Trump signed a proclamation Wednesday imposing 25% tariffs on certain semiconductors. However, chips imported to support the buildup of the U.S. domestic tech supply chain are notably exempt.

 

Energy Prices: Market sentiment was further supported as crude prices cooled. Both Brent and WTI futures dropped roughly 4%.

 

Geopolitical Context: While geopolitical risks have weighed on markets this week—particularly escalating U.S.-Iran tensions—oil prices pulled back after Trump signaled a potential de-escalation of military rhetoric.

Corporate Briefs

Morgan Stanley Reports $16.9B Full-Year Net Profit

 

Morgan Stanley announced Q4 2025 net revenue of $17.9 billion and a net profit of $4.4 billion ($2.68 per share). For the full year, the bank generated $70.6 billion in revenue and $16.9 billion in net profit ($10.21 per share), marking a significant increase over 2024.

 

TSMC Q4 Profit Surges 35% to NT$505.7B

 

TSMC’s Q4 2025 earnings beat expectations with a net profit of NT$505.7 billion and an EPS of NT$19.5.

 

Advanced Nodes: The company’s most advanced technologies dominated revenue, with 3nm accounting for 28% and 5nm for 35% of total wafer sales.

 

Overall Tech Leadership: High-end nodes (7nm and below) collectively represented 77% of the quarter’s total revenue.

 

OpenAI Reclaims Talent from Murati’s New AI Startup

 

OpenAI’s Fidji Simo confirmed via X (formerly Twitter) that Barret Zoph, Luke Metz, and Sam Schoenholz have rejoined the company. The trio briefly left for Thinking Machines Lab, the new venture led by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati. Murati confirmed Zoph’s departure and named Soumith Chintala as the startup's new CTO.

 

BHP and Rio Tinto Team Up on 200M Tonne Iron Ore Project

 

Mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP announced a deal on Jan. 5 to jointly develop iron ore deposits at the boundary of their existing Pilbara operations in Australia. Production of the projected 200 million tonnes is expected to begin early next decade.

 

OpenAI and Cerebras Ink Multi-Billion Dollar Compute Deal

 

OpenAI has reportedly signed a massive, multi-year deal with Cerebras Systems to secure 750 megawatts of AI compute capacity through 2028. While official figures were not released, sources familiar with the matter value the agreement at over $10 billion.

 

X Cracks Down on Grok-Generated Deepfakes

 

Elon Musk’s X platform announced new restrictions on its Grok chatbot on Jan. 14, banning the generation of non-consensual realistic nudity. The move follows international backlash over the tool’s misuse in creating deepfake pornography.

 

SK Hynix Expedites Production at New Yongin Fab

 

SK Hynix is accelerating its timeline for the first fab at its Yongin, South Korea mega-site. The facility is now slated to go online in February 2027, three months ahead of the original schedule, according to SK Hynix America CEO Sungsoo Ryu.