Marvell Technology has agreed to buy Lumentum, which makes lasers and optical components used in artificial intelligence and cloud computing, for $115 billion in stock, the companies said Monday. It's the biggest M&A deal of the year on an equity basis, per Bloomberg data, and the second-largest ever in the global tech sector, behind the SpaceX-xAI merger. Marvell's deal also cements 2026 as record-holder for most announced M&A deals worth $10 billion or more. Post-merger, the combined company will be in direct competition with chip giant Broadcom.
Apple and its new CEO, John Ternus, have a lot to live up to when the company reports earnings late on Monday. Shares have surged 25% since late June, adding around $1 trillion to Apple's market value. Wall Street expects revenue to rise 11% to $113.5 billion, but there are concerns over slowing growth. Investors will be looking for clues about demand for the Duo; success of the company's new foldable iPhone "is critical for Apple," says Bloomberg.
The average price of gas during President Donald Trump's second term is expected to hit $3.46 a gallon on Monday, setting a new record just one day before the midterm elections, according to a new Financial Times analysis. "High energy prices are a key driver of the affordability concerns that are going to be top of mind for people at the polls," said Columbia University energy expert Jason Bordoff. The cost of gas has ballooned by more than a third since Trump took office again in January of 2025.
Anthropic just dropped an updated pre-IPO filing, and the numbers are staggering. The AI giant disclosed a massive $895.4 billion in total spending commitments for compute and infrastructure. Nearly half of that—around $447.5 billion—is slated to be spent by the end of 2030, with almost $70 billion due over the next twelve months alone. To power its next generation of models, Anthropic is placing one of the largest infrastructure bets in corporate history.
Soaring Revenue Meets Eye-Watering Spend
The massive capital outlay comes alongside hyper-growth on the top line. Anthropic pulled in $17 billion in revenue for the third quarter of 2026, marking a 47% leap from the previous quarter and more than a 12-fold increase year-over-year. For the first nine months of the year, revenue reached $33.2 billion. Backed by $131.8 billion in cash and short-term investments, Anthropic's balance sheet now rivals major global institutions, giving it the immediate firepower needed to fund its jaw-dropping expansion.
Safety Clashes with Zero Data Retention
Beyond the balance sheet, the filing reveals a growing tension between user privacy and AI safety. Anthropic noted that a substantial portion of its traffic operates under Zero Data Retention agreements, preventing the company from storing prompts or outputs. The company explicitly warned that strict privacy demands could eventually become incompatible with advanced safety monitoring for frontier models. If safety enforcement forces Anthropic to restrict model capabilities for privacy-focused enterprise customers, users could be pushed toward competitors with looser oversight.
Recursive Self-Improvement and Financial Headwinds
The amended paperwork also highlighted a key technical milestone: Anthropic reported it is nearing an accelerated progress loop where Claude models actively assist in training and refining their successors. However, this technical momentum arrives amid a tightening macro environment. Capital markets for AI infrastructure are showing signs of exhaustion, and reports suggest Anthropic may struggle to secure an investment-grade rating on its debt. As even major rivals face scaling back funding targets, Anthropic’s high-stakes race between explosive revenue and astronomical infrastructure costs will test the limits of the AI boom.
