Consumer Tech News (Dec 31-Jan 2): Wall Street Braces for Sluggish 2026 Start, AI Spending, and Chip Wars Define Market Pulse & More

The U.S. job market is expected to start 2026 sluggishly due to trade uncertainty, stricter immigration policies, and cautious corporate investment in AI, but JP Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)  predicts a rebound later in the year.

U.S. policy changes and a tightening global memory chip market are putting South Korea’s largest semiconductor makers under renewed scrutiny.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) accused President Donald Trump of compromising U.S. national security by accepting payments from Nvidia Corp's (NASDAQ:NVDA) linked projects to ease restrictions on selling advanced microchips to China.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) renewed his long-standing push to tax automation, arguing that companies like Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) are replacing workers with robots to boost profits while avoiding the costs tied to human labor.

China's push to localize its semiconductor supply chain is starting to reshape the global chip equipment market, adding fresh pressure on foreign suppliers while accelerating demand for domestic tools.

Governor Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) slammed President Donald Trump for making gaming expensive as chipmakers mull price hike amid semiconductor tariffs.

Software & IT Services

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) said that it has completed the issuance and sale of more than 214 million shares of common stock to Nvidia in a $5 billion private placement.

NVIDIA is reportedly in advanced discussions for another M&A deal aimed at acquiring talent, as it faces pressure from Google‘s internal chip development.

TikTok parent ByteDance is ramping up its artificial intelligence spending and plans to allocate about 100 billion yuan ($14 billion) to Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) chips in 2026.

Elon Musk says X plans to significantly boost creator payouts to outcompete YouTube, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google, but the world’s most subscribed YouTuber is cautioning that matching Google’s monetization machine will be a steep climb.

Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. (NASDAQ:DJT) announced plans to distribute a new digital token to its shareholders in partnership with Crypto.com. 

Brand Engagement Network Inc. (NASDAQ:BNAI) finalized a Vendor Services Project Agreement with a prominent global advertising agency.

Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is accelerating its push to build practical, revenue-generating artificial intelligence tools as it looks to capitalize on years of heavy AI investment.

Semiconductor, Technology & Smartphones

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (NYSE:TSM) is under renewed scrutiny following a powerful earthquake near Taiwan, which has raised fresh concerns among investors about potential production disruptions.

Taiwan Semiconductor plans to raise prices for its advanced chips, shrugging off heightened geopolitical tensions as China carried out military drills near the island.

Taiwan Semiconductor secured a one-year U.S. export license allowing it to import the U.S. chipmaking equipment into its China operations.

Despite securing a massive $634 million legal victory against Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Masimo Corp. (NASDAQ:MASI) is flashing warning signals in its underlying fundamentals.

Apple reportedly scaled back production and promotion of its Vision Pro headset after sluggish sales underscored the company’s struggle to turn its much-hyped mixed-reality device into a mass-market success.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (OTC:SSNLF) is signaling a potential turnaround in the high-stakes AI memory race after customers praised the competitiveness of its next-generation HBM4 chips, lifting investor confidence that the South Korean tech giant is regaining momentum as demand for artificial intelligence hardware accelerates.

Consumer Goods, Retail & Entertainment

Mondelez International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDLZ) expanded a U.S. voluntary recall related to certain CHIPS AHOY! snacks.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) is reportedly likely to turn down Paramount Skydance’s (NASDAQ:PSKY) sweetened hostile bid even after billionaire Larry Ellison stepped in with a personal guarantee.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is permitting employees stranded in India due to visa delays to work remotely until early March.

Automotive

REE Automotive Ltd. (NASDAQ:REE) signed a strategic, non-binding memorandum of understanding with Cascadia Motion, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of BorgWarner Inc. (NYSE:BWA).

XPeng Inc. (NYSE:XPEV), in collaboration with Peking University, announced on Monday that its autonomous driving research paper has been accepted by AAAI 2026.

XPeng reported strong December performance, delivering 37,508 vehicles in December 2025, a 2% year-over-year increase.

Nio Inc. (NYSE:NIO) reported a record 48,135 vehicle deliveries in December 2025, an increase of 54.6% year over year.

Alphabet Inc.-backed self-driving cab service Waymo was recently spotted testing its Robotaxi in London.

Stellantis NV-backed (NYSE:STLA) Chinese automaker Zhejiang Leapmotor has raised over $530 million in funding from the State-owned automaker FAW.

Electric vehicle giant Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) could struggle to follow up on a record third quarter marked by strong customer demand. Deepwater Asset Management’s Gene Munster is predicting fourth-quarter deliveries could be even weaker than consensus estimates.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has shared that the EV giant’s anticipated Cybercab will scale up production next year.

Elon Musk donated more than 210,000 of the EV giant’s shares, according to an SEC filing.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) is reportedly opposed to attending a Senate committee hearing on vehicle safety features like automatic emergency braking, led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) next month.

Chinese EV giant BYD Co. Ltd. (OTC:BYDDY) (OTC:BYDDF) has shared its latest sales figures for December, showcasing a strong overseas performance as it looks to bolster its European footprint.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

SoftBank Group Corp. (OTC:SFTBF) (OTC:SFTBY) said Monday it has agreed to acquire DigitalBridge Group Inc. (NYSE:DBRG) in a cash deal valued at about $4 billion, marking a significant step in its push to scale global infrastructure for artificial intelligence.

Core AI Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:CHAI) said Monday it has signed and closed a definitive agreement to divest Siyata Mobile Inc. and its subsidiaries, effective immediately.

South Korean telecom operator SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (NYSE:SKM) on Saturday announced the launch of A.X K1, the country's first hyperscale artificial intelligence model, featuring 519 billion parameters.

OpenAI is reportedly shifting its first AI hardware project to Foxconn Technology Group, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd, as it accelerates plans to launch a Jony Ive–designed consumer device.

Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has accelerated its artificial intelligence push with the acquisition of Manus AI, a fast-rising Chinese startup focused on autonomous agents.

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) will merge its cloud computing unit with Ekso Bionics Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:EKSO) to form ChronoScale Corporation, an accelerated compute platform designed for AI workloads.

VivoPower International PLC (NASDAQ:VVPR) announced that it has signed an exclusive heads of agreement to acquire an operating, hydro-powered data center site in Norway, positioning the asset as a cornerstone of its AI-focused digital strategy.

Elon Musk said his artificial intelligence startup xAI has acquired a third building as it races to scale computing power and challenge leading AI rivals dramatically.

Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity AI, issued a contrarian warning about the future of artificial intelligence, saying on-device intelligence running on personal devices could disrupt the centralized data center model, driving massive infrastructure investments.