The Next AI Growth Area?

The Next AI Growth Area?

Content licensing and data marketplace start-ups have raised $215m in funding since 2022, the Financial Times reported. Firms such as PIP Labs, Vermillio, Created by Humans, ProRata, Narrativ and Human Native help creative industries sell their content to artificial intelligence (AI) firms such as OpenAI and Perplexity. “The licensing of content that doesn’t exist on the open internet is going to be a big business,” said Dan Neely, CEO of Vermillio.

Earnings Beat Validates SoftBank AI Drive

SoftBank [SFTBY] posted a 124% surge in Q4 profit to ¥517.18bn, driven by AI-fueled gains in chip sales and start-up valuations. Its Vision Fund returned to profit, helped by a jump in ByteDance’s value and international sales, Bloomberg outlined, which itself was largely driven by TikTok. The results bolster SoftBank’s $100bn AI hardware push and planned $30bn OpenAI investment.

Amazon Warehouse Robots: Not Quite There

New research papers have shown the e-commerce giant [AMZN] has been beta testing “Stow” and “Pick” robots, The Register reported, which achieved success rates of 85% and above. While not yet ready to fully replace human workers, the machines show promise in automating product handling, the papers said. Amazon aims to train the systems further using visuomotor policy learning before scaling up.

Tariff Rollback Could Be Good for India Tech 

Bloomberg analyst Chiranjivi Chakraborty wrote that a sharp reduction in trade war tariffs has prompted renewed optimism for Indian tech giants reliant on American clients. Large-cap firms like Infosys [INFY] and Tata Consultancy [TCS:NS] may benefit as investors reprice growth expectations. On Substack, OPTO recently analyzed India’s AI strategy, and three stocks that could benefit from it, Infosys among them.

Robotaxi Under New Scrutiny

Tesla [TSLA] is facing fresh questions from US regulators over its planned robotaxi fleet, Seeking Alpha has detailed. The Office of Defects Investigation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has sent detailed questions to Tesla as part of its ongoing probe into its Full Self-Driving system. Investigators want clarity on how Tesla will ensure safety in low-visibility conditions, among other areas.

Further Jobs Axed at Nissan 

The Japanese carmaker [NSANY] will cut 11,000 jobs globally and shut seven factories amid weak sales in China and the US, its two largest markets, the BBC reported. The layoffs, mostly in manufacturing, bring total job cuts over the past year to 20,000, or 15% of its workforce. A proposed merger with Honda [HMC] and Mitsubishi [MMTOF] collapsed in February.

Will Alibaba’s AI Push Pay Off?

The Hangzhou-based e-commerce giant [BABA] enjoyed a stellar start to 2025, with its share price hitting an over three-year high and outperforming the ‘magnificent seven’ in the first four months of the year. Ahead of its earnings release on May 15, OPTO examines what the company’s AI pivot and strategic partnerships with RedNote and Apple [AAPL] could mean for BABA stock.