It might be Sagittarius season right now, but in the world of tech, this month has been all about Gemini.

Last Tuesday, Alphabet launched its new chatbot, Gemini 3, which impressed users and is reportedly superior to its peers like ChatGPT and Perplexity. Then on Thursday, Alphabet launched the latest version of its image generation program, dubbed (for some inexplicable reason) Nano Banana Pro.

The cherry on top came today, with a report that Meta Platforms is in talks to use Google’s chips, which pushed Alphabet 1.62% higher.

Zoom out: When ChatGPT dropped back in 2022, many analysts argued Google had blown its search lead, given OpenAI’s prowess. But part of what has helped Google get its mojo back is its full-stack advantage, meaning it not only makes a range of software platforms to market and distribute Gemini, but also designs its own chips.

Some of those chips, called tensor processing units, or TPUs, may allow companies like Meta to power their AI at a lower cost than Nvidia’s GPUs. If that proves to be the case it would be a major blow to Nvidia, and underscore that Google is making strides on both the software and hardware fronts.

The AI race isn’t over yet

At the same time that the new and improved Gemini wooed investors, it sent shares of competitors tumbling. SoftBank, a major investor in privately-owned OpenAI, fell 11.42% today, and is now down 36.71% over the last month. Meanwhile, Nvidia sank 2.59%, wiping out roughly $243 billion in market value today, according to Bloomberg.

Nvidia released a statement on Google’s recent victory lap this afternoon, which started pretty congenially: “We’re delighted by Google’s success—they’ve made great advances in AI and we continue to supply to Google,” the company posted on X. But Nvidia also made it clear who’s the boss: “NVIDIA is a generation ahead of the industry—it’s the only platform that runs every AI model and does it everywhere computing is done.”

Nvidia may be the name most associated with the AI trade, but in fact, Alphabet has been the best performing Mag 7 stock this year: It has surged 69.94% in 2025, compared to Nvidia’s 32.41% gain. Last Friday, Alphabet surpassed Microsoft to become the third most valuable US firm by market cap, and it’s now only a few billion behind second-ranked Apple.

At this rate, Nvidia may not be the big kahuna of the AI trade for much longer.—LB

🟢 What’s up

• Zoom Communications popped 9.85% after boosting its earnings outlook, lifted by steady hybrid-work demand and growing adoption of its AI-enhanced tools.
• Analog Devices gained 5.27% on strong fourth-quarter results, with revenue climbing 26% despite tariff uncertainty and mixed semiconductor demand.
• Applied Materials rose 5% after UBS upgraded the stock to “buy” and lifted its price target, citing expectations the company will outpace the broader wafer-fab equipment market over the next two years.
• Symbotic climbed 39.36% after reporting 26% year-over-year revenue growth and an expanded product lineup.
• Pony.ai advanced 5.88% as the autonomous-driving company delivered strong third-quarter results and announced plans to scale its robo-taxi fleet in China.
• Barnes & Noble Education ticked up 36.32% after projecting $1.6 billion in preliminary fiscal 2025 revenue, a 2.6% increase from last year.

What’s down

• Alibaba lost 2.31% despite reporting that its cloud-computing revenue surged 34% year over year in the fiscal second quarter, beating expectations.
• Burlington Stores dipped 12.21% as weaker-than-expected third-quarter sales overshadowed an earnings beat.
• SanDisk fell 2.85% despite news it will join the S&P 500 on Nov. 28, replacing Interpublic Group in the index.

Alphabet is dominating the headlines these days, but Amazon is still in the AI race—and spending whatever it takes to win.

Amazon has made data centers a priority of its AI strategy. It already has a head start in the industry thanks to the dominance of its AWS cloud business, but we didn’t know just how big its data center aspirations were—until now. Bloomberg reports that Amazon has built over 900 data centers across 50 countries, and that more are on their way.

While a good chunk of these locations are owned and operated by Amazon itself, the company is also reportedly one of the top renters of colocation spaces, or data centers where Amazon pays for space, in the world. That has helped it to accrue a data center footprint that is three times larger than that of Microsoft, its nearest competitor in the cloud industry, according to comments the company made in 2023.

That lead has likely narrowed as competitors look to roll out their AI offerings and build out data centers of their own, but Amazon clearly intends to keep its edge no matter the cost. Just yesterday, Amazon announced plans to invest up to $50 billion on an AI infrastructure buildout to support US government agencies with things like custom AI solutions.

The AI race isn’t just about who’s got the chattiest chatbot or the most powerful semiconductors, it’s also about building out raw computing power—and Amazon is building bigger than anyone else right now.—MR

Abercrombie & Fitch jumped 37.54% after delivering a resilient third quarter—much needed after a brutal 2025 that’s seen shares plunge 56% through Monday’s close amid tariff pressures and stubborn inflation. Sales rose 7% from a year ago, driven almost entirely by Hollister, which posted a 15% surge in comparable sales that offset a 7% drop at the Abercrombie brand. Riding that momentum, the company raised its full-year sales outlook, with CEO Fran Horowitz noting that holiday trends are likely to mirror the quarter—Abercrombie holding steady while Hollister continues to do the heavy lifting.

• EPS: $2.36, above the $2.17 expected
• Revenue: $1.29 billion, beating forecasts of $1.28 billion

Kohl’s soared 42.53% after delivering a surprisingly strong third quarter and raising its full-year outlook for the second consecutive quarter, a sharp contrast to the retailer’s longstanding struggles with declining sales and shrinking profitability. The rally wasn’t just about fundamentals: with 27.2% of its float sold short, good news forced short sellers to scramble to buy shares and limit losses, adding fuel to the surge in a classic short squeeze. Momentum also comes as incoming CEO Michael Bender, Kohl’s third chief executive in three years, takes over. Heading into the holidays, the company plans to be “highly” promotional to attract lower- and middle-income shoppers.

• EPS: $0.10, higher than forecasts of a $0.16 loss
• Revenue: $3.41 billion, above the $3.32 billion expected

Best Buy rose 5.34% after beating third-quarter expectations, driven by what CEO Corie Barry called a wave of tech upgrades and strong demand for computers, gaming consoles, and smartphones. Consumer behavior remained consistent with recent quarters: shoppers are selective and value-focused, but willing to splurge on high-ticket items when needed, or when there is technological innovation. That dynamic is expected to continue through the holidays, though Best Buy issued a cautious outlook, saying sales trends will likely decelerate from last quarter. After three straight years of declining annual revenue, the updated guidance now points to full-year sales landing slightly above last year’s total.

• EPS: $1.40 adjusted, above projections of $1.31
• Revenue: $9.67 billion, higher than $9.59 billion expected

• Wall Street’s macro traders are on pace for their best year since 2009.
• TSMC sued a former senior vice president for allegedly sharing sensitive trade information with Intel.
• Expensive tunes: Spotify is raising its prices—again.
• Consumer confidence hit its lowest point since April.
• More bad macro news: Private payroll losses have accelerated over the past month.
• Some good macro news: The delayed PPI report revealed that wholesale inflation rose more slowly than expected.
• A Campbell’s Soup executive made disparaging comments about workers and called its products food for “poor people” according to a former employee’s lawsuit.
• Warner Music Group and AI music startup Suno settled their lawsuit.

As we predicted on Friday, while we were supposed to get a first revision of Q3 GDP, the Commerce Department has decided to delay its publication until December 23. The government is also pushing back its September PCE report until December 5. For now, we’ll have to settle for initial jobless claims and a delayed look at durable-goods orders from September, as well as the Fed’s Beige Book.

There’s only a couple of companies brave enough to announce earnings the day before Thanksgiving (or maybe they’re just trying to sneak their quarterly reports by without anyone noticing). We’ll hear from both Deere & Co. and Li Auto.