As renewed concerns over artificial intelligence spending drag down tech stocks, shares of European semiconductor companies declined. In Asia, shares of South Korean memory chip manufacturer SK Hynix closed down nearly 15%, while Samsung Electronics fell 13%. In Europe, Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML and smaller rival ASM International saw their shares drop 1.9% and 2.9% respectively. German chip manufacturer Infineon Technologies slid 2.3%, and STMicroelectronics shares fell 1.7%. Me

On the afternoon of August 14 local time, U.S. President Trump, while speaking at an event in Garden City, New York, urged Americans to “accept higher gasoline prices” as a price that must be paid to “prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.” Trump also stated, “After we defeat Iran... I will soon declare the Strait of Hormuz to be U.S. territory.” It remains unclear how seriously these remarks should be taken. (CCTV International News)

The stalemate between the US and Iran continues; Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister says “acceptance of failure” is the prerequisite for reopening the Strait.

According to The Wall Street Journal: Sources say Nvidia (NVDA.US) and OpenAI have revised the structure of the deal proposal for the 10 GW data center project in Ohio. Nvidia will guarantee 5 GW of the project, reducing the guarantee amount from $250 billions to less than $120 billions.

Warren Buffett's successor begins to deploy massive cash reserves! Berkshire (BRK.A.US, BRK.B.US) increased holdings in Delta Air Lines (DAL.US) and Alphabet (GOOGL.US) in Q2, net buying nearly 20 billions USD in stocks.