On January 8, Stripe announced a partnership with Microsoft to embed a Stripe-powered shopping and checkout experience directly inside Copilot for U.S. users. The integration uses the Agentic Commerce Protocol and Shared Payment Tokens so shoppers can discover products and pay within chat while merchants retain control of transaction data. Microsoft is also working with PayPal to enhance inventory surfacing and branded checkouts, and extending agent-based Brand Agents to Shopify merchants.

TSMC reported NT$1.05 trillion ($33.1 billion) in revenue for the quarter ended December, surpassing the NT$1.02 trillion forecast and marking about a 20% increase. Demand for Nvidia's AI chips and Apple processors contributed to the strength. The company will hold its earnings call on January 15, when it is expected to outline a 2026 spending budget of at least $48 billion.

Applied Digital shares climbed 6.73% in premarket trading on January 8, 2026, after the company reported fiscal Q2 2026 revenue of $126.59 million, up 98.2% year over year and well above forecasts. The AI data center operator also posted stronger-than-expected earnings and highlighted major hyperscaler lease deals in North Dakota, alongside a planned spin-off of its Cloud business into ChronoScale.

Anthropic, developer of the Claude AI chatbot, is reportedly preparing to raise $10 billion at a targeted $350 billion valuation, nearly doubling its prior $183 billion mark after a 2025 funding round. The prospective deal, led by GIC and Coatue, comes alongside up to $15 billion in planned backing from Nvidia and Microsoft, as the firm forecasts breaking even by 2028 and eyes an initial public offering this year. New data also shows AI companies attracted roughly half of global funding in 2025, with OpenAI securing a single $40 billion round.

China instructed some domestic tech companies to stop placing new orders for Nvidia's H200 chips this week, according to The Information. The move aligns with a broader plan that could push buyers toward local AI processors. U.S. approvals for H200 exports are still being processed, and shipments would carry a 25% revenue-sharing tax.

Nvidia, which crossed a $5 trillion market capitalization before easing back to $4.57 trillion, has seen its annual share-price gains slow from 238.87% in 2023 to 38.88% in 2025. At CES 2026, the company unveiled upgrades in gaming, automotive and data center platforms, including the Vera Rubin NVL72 rack-scale AI cluster. These developments suggest Nvidia is shifting from rapid expansion to consolidating structural control over key parts of the AI ecosystem.

Chinese AI server maker xFusion has appointed Citic Securities as its investment bank and begun formal IPO preparation following strong 2024 revenue of over 40 billion yuan. The IPO tutoring phase is slated to run from early January through as late as April or May 2026, as the company moves to join a wave of Chinese AI and chip firms listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong amid intensified state backing for domestic technology.

On January 6, 2026 in Dubai, CryptoMarketForecast announced an AI-powered crypto sentiment tool that visualizes market data in a weather-style format. The free service translates price trends, sentiment shifts and buy/sell signals into daily forecasts, with watchlists and alerts available to registered users. Access is offered at cryptomarketforecast.com.