A missing Santa Rally isn’t necessarily bad news

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on the last day of trading for the year on Dec. 31, 2024 in New York City.  Spencer Platt | Getty Images This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything … Read more

Microsoft expects to spend $80 billion on AI data centers in FY 2025

Vice Chair and President at Microsoft, Brad Smith, participates in the first day of Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, on November 12, 2024. The largest technology conference in the world this year has 71,528 attendees from 153 countries and 3,050 companies, with AI emerging as the most represented industry. (Photo by Rita Franca/NurPhoto via Getty … Read more

History behind hacking method and what’s next

As the ransomware industry evolves, experts are predicting hackers will only continue to find more and more ways of using the technology to exploit businesses and individuals. Seksan Mongkhonkhamsao | Moment | Getty Images Ransomware is now a billion-dollar industry. But it wasn’t always that large — nor was it the prevalent cybersecurity risk it … Read more

A look back at U.S. airlines’ wild 2024, from door plugs to bankruptcy

People check-in for their flights at the airport ahead of the Thanksgiving Holiday at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., November 27, 2024.  Megan Varner | Reuters It’s been another eventful year for U.S. air travel. Just five days into the year, a door panel blew off of a nearly new Boeing 737 … Read more

Why Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Meta are betting on nuclear power

Data centers powering artificial intelligence and cloud computing are pushing energy demand and production to new limits. Global electricity use could rise as much as 75% by 2050, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, with the tech industry’s AI ambitions driving much of the surge. Data centers powering AI and cloud computing could soon … Read more

How five top CEOs described the AI boom in 2024

Throughout 2024, CNBC’s Jim Cramer discussed the seemingly boundless rise of artificial intelligence with dozens of CEOs across the tech world. Here is how five top enterprise leaders characterized AI’s meteoric rise this year. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the “AI computing ramp” is only beginning and will last years. Huang in March painted a … Read more

Google CEO Pichai tells employees ‘The stakes are high’ for 2025

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai gestures during a session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, on January 22, 2020. Fabrice COFFRINI | AFP | Getty Images Google CEO Sundar Pichai told employees last week that “the stakes are high” for 2025, as the company faces increased competition and regulatory hurdles and contends … Read more

OpenAI needs ‘more capital than we’d imagined,’ moves to for-profit

OpenAI said Friday that in moving toward a new for-profit structure in 2025, the company will create a public benefit corporation to oversee commercial operations, removing some of its nonprofit restrictions and allowing it to function more like a high-growth startup. “The hundreds of billions of dollars that major companies are now investing into AI … Read more

Larry Ellison has banner year as Oracle gains most since dot-com boom

Larry Ellison and Monica Seles and Bill Gates (back row) watch Carlos Alcaraz of Spain play against Alexander Zverev of Germany in their Quarterfinal match during the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, on March 14, 2024. Clive Brunskill | Getty Images It’s been a good year for Larry Ellison. Oracle’s co-founder has gained … Read more

Chinese AI models are popular globally and are beating U.S. rivals in some areas

China’s attempts to dominate the world of artificial intelligence could be paying off, with industry insiders and technology analysts telling CNBC that Chinese AI models are already hugely popular and are keeping pace with — and even surpassing — those from the U.S. in terms of performance. AI has become the latest battleground between the … Read more