Moor Insights & Strategy founder, CEO, and chief strategist Patrick Moorhead had some choice words for the AI market to come crashing down anytime soon, where in a chat with YahooFinance, he said: "This whole notion of AI coming to a screeching halt anytime soon is fiction".

Moorhead's comments are coming from some companies worried of an AI bust, and the entire market coming to a screeching halt, including SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won who recently said at the 47th KCCI Jeju forum, who compared the AI boom to the gold rush, and that "without making money, the AI boom could vanish, just as the gold rush disappeared".

Apple's work on a foldable iPhone isn't surprising, but now we're hearing that the foldable iPhone is in its conceptual stage, will arrive in a clamshell design, and will be released in 2026.

The Information reported in February 2024 that Apple was in the early stages of developing two foldable iPhone prototypes, but now the outlet is reporting that Apple has settled on a design, which should be a clamshell foldable iPhone codenamed "V68."

Apple's new codename V68 foldable iPhone, according to The Information, "the idea has moved beyond the conceptual stage" and is now "in development with suppliers". Apple is reportedly working on flattening the crease on foldable smartphones we have on the market from the likes of Samsung and Motorola, when the phone is unfolded, as well as Apple wanting to make its foldable iPhone is thinner.

Morgan Stanley has said that the global supply chain will see a huge boost in orders from the industry for AI servers, with NVIDIA continuing (and clawing even more) market share to dominate the AI industry further.

NVIDIA is expected to ship between 60,000 and 70,000 units of its Blackwell GB200 AI servers, which will bring in $210 billion. Each server costs $2 million to $3 million, so 70,000 GB 200 AI servers at $3 million each = $210 billion. NVIDIA is making the NVL72 and NVL36 GB200 AI servers, as well as B100 and B200 AI GPUs on their own.

Morgan Stanley estimates that if NVIDIA's new NVL36 AI cabinet is used as the biggest seller by quantity, the overall demand for GB200 in 2025 will increase to 60,000 to 70,000 units. The big US cloud companies are the customers lining up -- or have already purchased -- NVL36 AI cabinets, but by 2025 we could expect NVL72 AI cabinets to be shipping in higher quantities than NVL36.

AMD was all set to launch its next-gen Zen 5-based Ryzen 9000 series "Granite Ridge" CPUs on July 31, but the company has just moved it up to August 15 over some QA issues with the first wave of chips.

We can now expect AMD's new Ryzen 9000 series CPUs to launch on August 15, hitting retail shelves and online e-tailers like Amazon and BestBuy on that day, however the releases will be staggered. On August 15, AMD will launch its 6-core and 8-core Zen 5 chips with the releases of the Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X processors on August 8.

The higher-end 12-core and 16-core Zen 5 processors in the Ryzen 9 9900X and Ryzen 9 9950X chips will launch starting August 15.

Microsoft is aiming for a new cloud-based tier for Xbox Game Pass, sources tell Windows Central's Jez Corden.

Reports indicate that Microsoft may be considering, working on and/or developing a standalone Xbox Cloud Gaming tier as part of its digital subscription aspirations. Sources have told Windows Central that the trillion-dollar firm could be readying such an offering in its Xbox Game Pass subscription in an effort to reach consumers more broadly. The big selling point would be that users would not have to buy an Xbox console in order to play games--and this could help Microsoft reduce its unprofitable console production cycles.

Leaked documents from the FTC v Microsoft trial show that the company is aiming to considerably grow its Xbox Game Pass subscription base to 110 million subscribers by 2030. Cloud is expected to be a big contributor to this growth with 29% of the sum, or about 32 million subscribers.

Capcom acknowledges that digital delivery has helped offset the high risk factors of the games industry through cost reduction and higher volume of readily-available game sales.

Consumers have mostly shifted towards digital game sales through a combination of convenience and insistence among publishers; games companies can pull specific levers through digital distribution, including frequent sales and discounts that aren't available through traditional retail channels.

This tactic has worked very well for most of gaming's biggest players, including Japanese publisher Capcom, who has achieved consecutive year-over-year operating profit growth for 10 years running. The company attributes these results in part to the digital landscape, which has helped Capcom lower the risk factors and general volatility that it used to face across international markets.

While publishers ultimately call the shots with pricing schemes and delivery, consumers are able to effect change through one of the most powerful levers in the space: Review bombing.

Review bombing campaigns have proven to be one of the most effective ways to send a message to publishers. Billion-dollar titans like Sony Interactive Entertainment, Electronic Arts, and even Take-Two Interactive are not immune to mass negative feedback on public storefronts; these negative reviews are a kind of scarlet letter that deter players while sending shockwaves among shareholders. Bad reviews--whether it be on aggregators like Metacritic or the aforementioned Steam--are a clear red flag to investors, and can spook stakeholders into selling their stocks.

Two recent examples of mass review bombing effecting change come to mind: The disastrous PR nightmare of Helldivers II, and the more recent backlash against Apex Legends. Both of these games have contributing significantly to their respective publishers, with Helldivers II's amazing 12 million sales helping boost SIE's earnings at a critical point, and Apex Legends' revenues helping consistently drive EA's multi-billion dollar live service empire.

Windows 11 might get more adverts soon (again), although they could appear in an area of the operating system that you're not too fussed about - or never even visit, perhaps.

Can you guess where this new vehicle for potential adverts - or suggestions, as Microsoft call them - might be? Score a point if you were thinking of the Microsoft Store, as this is where the software giant is making its latest move in the world of promotional activity within Windows 11.

Although we should note that the idea is still in testing - in the Beta channel for Windows Insiders to be precise - it involves suggestions popping up when you search for apps or games in the Microsoft Store.

Electronic Arts and Respawn have reversed one of the most unpopular business decisions in recent memory.

A bit ago, Respawn revealed a new battle pass for Apex Legends, the live service FPS darling that has generated billions of revenue since launching in 2019. There was one big change to Season 22's battle pass: Gamers could no longer spend Apex Coins to get the premium battle pass. Instead, they'd have to shell out a flat $9.99 for S22's premium battle pass.

This predictably led to mass backlash among the Apex faithful. The push for heavier monetization comes at a retraction point in the games industry, with nearly every single video games company on the planet shrinking its employee base with mass layoffs in order to maximize revenues and profits. EA is no different--the company shed itself of thousands of workers despite making $7.1 billion in revenue in FY23; "During FY24, EA returned $1.505 billion to stockholders," reads the company's latest financial report.

As the games industry moves towards digital-based game sales, Japanese publisher Capcom has no plans to discontinue physical disc-based games any time soon.

While digital sales are taking over gaming, physical media remains an important part of the $180 billion interactive entertainment industry. Consumers still buy millions of discs a year at retailers like Walmart, Target, and Amazon, and publishers like Capcom, Electronic Arts, and even Sony Interactive Entertainment are still keen on producing disc-based games.

In a recent Q&A with shareholders, Japanese publisher Capcom was asked how the company plans to deal with the increasing digital-based needs of consumers. Capcom's answer was pretty clear-cut: The firm will continue delivering physical games as long as there is demand.