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Nippon Paint Holdings agreed to buy AkzoNobel's decorative paints businesses across Southeast Asia, Australia and Papua New Guinea for $1.35 billion, sending its shares up 1% to 1,169 yen on Monday. The transaction covers AkzoNobel's decorative paints operations in Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Papua New Guinea and Australia and represents an enterprise value of about $1.35 billion. AkzoNobel said the deal values the business at 21 times 2025 EBITDA, while Nippon Paint puts the purchase price at about 16 times projected 2026 EBITDA. The businesses generated $291 million of revenue and $65 million of EBITDA in 2025, according to Nippon Paint, with an EBITDA margin of about 22%. Nippon said the acquisition is expected to be profit accretive after completion and will be funded through cash and bank borrowings rather than issuing new shares, limiting immediate dilution for existing shareholders. The Indonesia transaction is expected to close separately in late 2026, while the remaining transactions are expected to be completed around mid-2027, subject to regulatory approvals. The deal marks a partial success for Nippon Paint after it previously sought to acquire AkzoNobel's entire decorative paints business, which Akzo rejected at proposals valuing it at about €7.5 billion, and after Nippon Paint and Sherwin-Williams abandoned a joint attempt to acquire the entire company earlier this year.

Applied Materials expanded its partnership with BE Semiconductor Industries, also known as Besi, to develop advanced packaging technologies for artificial intelligence infrastructure, sending its shares up 2.5% in the afternoon session. Under the agreement, Besi joined the company's EPIC Center as an Innovation Partner, with the collaboration focused on next-generation 3D integrated circuit scaling, logic and memory integration, photonics, and interconnect architectures. The expanded partnership builds beyond hybrid bonding to develop new interconnect architectures that support artificial intelligence scaling requirements. After the initial pop, the shares cooled down to $522.95, up 2.3% from the previous close. Applied Materials is up 94.5% since the beginning of the year, but at $522.95 per share it is still trading 27.7% below its 52-week high of $723 from June 2026.

The European Central Bank's digital euro project has cleared a key political hurdle, with the European Parliament's economic affairs committee voting 43 to 14 in favor of the digital central bank currency, and a 12-month pilot now scheduled to begin in the second half of 2027 with 36 finance firms including Deutsche Bank, Revolut, Adyen, and UniCredit signed up to participate. Businesses across the EU will be required to accept digital euros, in-store and online, by 2029. The push comes as Visa and Mastercard processed 47% of the eurozone's card payments value in 2025, according to GlobalData, with concentration even higher in the U.K., where 95% of card transactions rely on payment systems owned by the two U.S. companies. Fifteen of the euro area's 21 countries still lack a domestic digital payment solution, according to the ECB, and no current European payment scheme works seamlessly across the entire bloc. The ECB estimates the digital euro could collectively cost European banks €4 billion to €6 billion over four years, with its own setup costs estimated at €1.3 billion and ongoing operating costs of roughly €300 million a year. The project faces uneven support from some of Europe's largest banks, as BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, and Rabobank have all backed Wero, a bank-funded digital wallet with 50 million users, and it has taken six years to reach the pilot stage.

ArcelorMittal SA is aiming to reach a final investment decision by the end of the year on a 5B-real ($961M) expansion of its Pecém steel mill in Brazil, according to Bloomberg News, citing Jorge Oliveira, Chief Executive Officer of the company's Brazilian operations. Speaking on the sidelines of a steel conference in São Paulo, Oliveira said the proposed project would add a hot-rolled coil production line with an annual capacity of 1.5M tons at the facility in the northeastern state of Ceará. The capital expenditure plan reflects ArcelorMittal's strategy to move up the value chain in South America by transforming Pecém's primary slab output into higher-margin rolled steel products. If approved by the board before year-end, construction would mark one of the largest industrial steel investments in the region in recent years.

UBS analyst Francois-Xavier Bouvignies maintained a constructive outlook on European semiconductor stocks heading into third-quarter 2026 earnings, naming ASML Holding NV, ASM International NV and STMicroelectronics NV as his top three picks in a September 29 research note. The investment bank raised its wafer-fab equipment forecast for 2026 through 2028, projecting total WFE reaching approximately $225 billion in 2027, up 43% year-over-year, with potential to climb toward $275 billion to $300 billion by 2028, and it keeps 2027-2028 earnings estimates more than 10% above consensus across the sector. ASML remains the top pick with a Buy rating and a €2,350 price target, and UBS expects the company to guide fiscal 2027 revenue growth above 30% year-over-year when it reports third-quarter results on October 14, with its third-quarter revenue estimate of €12.1 billion sitting 3% above consensus. ASM International is second, with UBS forecasting 36% revenue growth in fiscal 2027 versus consensus at 29% and 33% growth in 2028 versus consensus at 19%, translating to EPS estimates 10% above consensus in 2027 and 20% above in 2028 ahead of results due October 27. STMicroelectronics completes the top three with a Buy rating and €80 price target, as UBS sees 2027 EPS roughly 20% above consensus, silicon photonics revenues reaching about $2.0 billion in 2027 and $2.5 billion in 2028, and total datacenter revenues of approximately $2.5 billion, or about 14% of group sales, in 2027 rising to roughly $3.8 billion, or 19% of group sales, by 2028, with fourth-quarter revenue guidance expected up approximately 10% quarter-over-quarter when it reports on October 29.

KLA Corporation's backlog climbed to $12.57 billion at the end of fiscal 2026 from $7.86 billion a year earlier, driven primarily by demand tied to the AI infrastructure buildout. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, the company raised its calendar 2026 wafer fabrication equipment market expectation, including advanced packaging, to the low-$150-billion range, up from its earlier view of more than $140 billion and compared with roughly $120 billion in calendar 2025. KLA expects second-half calendar 2026 revenues to increase roughly 20% from the first half as additional supply becomes available, and it forecasts advanced-packaging process-control systems revenues of approximately $1.1 billion in calendar 2026, up more than 70% year over year. Rivals are expanding too: Applied Materials expects its process diagnostics and control business to grow more than 50% in 2026, while ASML Holding expects full-year 2026 advanced foundry and logic revenues to rise about 25%, memory revenues to increase 75% and EUV revenues to grow roughly 45%. KLA shares have risen 55.7% year to date, and the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its earnings stands at $1.18 per share, unchanged over the past 30 days and implying 34.09% year-over-year growth.

Arcadis set mid-single-digit organic revenue growth and long-term profitability targets on Tuesday, alongside plans to streamline its portfolio and cut overhead. The Dutch engineering and consultancy group expects mid-single-digit organic net revenue growth over 2027-2029 and an operating EBITDA margin in the mid- to high-teens by 2029, with a dividend payout ratio of 30%-40% of net income from operations and net debt of 1.5-2.5 times operating EBITDA. Arcadis plans to divest the majority of its architecture business and its China operations, disposals expected to lift its operating EBITDA margin by about 100 basis points, and to cut its overhead base by around 1,000 full-time employees in 2027 while continuing to hire in growth areas. The company reaffirmed 2026 guidance for low-single-digit organic net revenue growth and an operating EBITA margin of 11.7%-12.0%, which it said corresponds to a margin of 14.3%-14.6% on the new EBITDA basis. Core businesses, including transportation and energy and water, account for 53% of revenue and Accelerate businesses, including industrial manufacturing and technology, account for 21%, with their combined share expected to rise from 74% to 85% of revenue by 2029. The announcement comes shortly after WSP withdrew its proposed takeover of Arcadis, which had proposed €51.50 per Arcadis share.

BOMESC announced on the evening of September 29 that its wholly owned subsidiary Tianjin BOMESC signed a construction contract with Single Buoy Moorings Inc. for the topside modules of a floating production storage and offloading vessel. The contract value is approximately 1.6 billion to 2.1 billion yuan, roughly equivalent to BOMESC's total 2025 annual revenue of 1.9 billion yuan. The contract was signed and took effect on September 24, 2026, with completion planned for the second half of 2028. The FPSO will be deployed in South America after construction, and the main scope of work covers design, material procurement, and construction of the topside modules. The contract value consists of a fixed-price portion plus a variable-price portion calculated based on currently estimated work volumes, with the final amount subject to confirmation of actual completed work volumes by both parties at contract close. BOMESC stated that signing the contract will strongly secure the company's workload and have a positive impact on current and future performance, though the specific amount of the contract's impact on financial indicators cannot yet be measured.

A number of listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges issued important announcements on the evening of September 29. Wangsu Science & Technology plans to use 300 million yuan of its own funds, equivalent to 44.4517 million US dollars, to subscribe for 2.1054 million Series A+ preferred shares at 21.1137 US dollars per share in the video generation model company Sandai Cayman, and will hold a 4.3963 percent equity stake after the transaction is completed. The full industry chain project for producing 60,000 tonnes of energy-grade titanium and titanium alloy materials per year, invested and built by Anning Iron & Titanium, has produced its first furnace of titanium sponge, with a single furnace output of about 13 tonnes, and the project has entered the trial production stage. BOMESC's wholly-owned subsidiary Tianjin BOMESC signed a contract with Single Buoy Moorings Inc. for the construction of FPSO topside modules, with a contract value of approximately 1.6 billion to 2.1 billion yuan, scheduled for completion in the second half of 2028. The controlling shareholder of Dongyangguang, Shenzhen Dongyangguang Industrial, proposed that the company repurchase shares through centralized competitive trading, with a capital scale of no less than 600 million yuan and no more than 1.2 billion yuan. Huazhijie plans to acquire 83.5052 percent equity in Geliming through the issuance of shares and payment of cash, and to raise supporting funds, and its shares will resume trading when the market opens on September 30. Jianyan Institute's shares will be suspended from trading when the market opens on September 30 because related parties are planning major matters involving the company, and the suspension is expected to last no more than two trading days.

OCI Global reported net profit attributable to shareholders of USD 1 million in H1 2026, down from USD 343 million in H1 2025, as the company advanced the final stages of its strategic review. The H1 2026 result includes a USD 238 million gain on the disposal of OCI Ammonia Holding, largely offset by an impairment charge at OCI Nitrogen, while the prior-year result included a USD 688 million gain on the sale of OCI Methanol. The OCI Nitrogen segment reported revenue of USD 534 million, down from USD 566 million a year earlier, but operating profit rose to USD 53 million from a loss of USD 21 million, even as the segment posted negative free cash flow of USD 2 million and a net loss attributable to shareholders of USD 175 million following a USD 215 million non-cash impairment charge. Management estimates adjusted EBITDA of approximately USD 8 million and negative free cash flow of USD 16 million for July and August 2026, and expects less favourable market conditions for the remainder of the year. On the strategic front, NNS Holding (Cyprus) Limited's all-cash public offer for all OCI shares at EUR 4.10 per share opened on 15 September 2026 and closes on 17 November 2026, while an extraordinary general meeting is set for 30 October 2026 to vote on the proposed combination with Orascom Construction, which is expected to complete in Q4 2026. Held-for-sale net cash stood at USD 1.05 billion as of 30 June 2026, compared with net debt of USD 54 million on 31 December 2025.

A consortium of six global banks—ASB, Bank of America, Capital One, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, ING, and NatWest—released a document titled Building Trust in Agentic Commerce on September 22, 2026, setting out voluntary governance principles for AI-agent-driven transactions ahead of formal regulation. The paper outlines five pillars: Transparency, Safety, Privacy and data, Choice, and Interoperability, and suggests liability should reflect where risks or errors are introduced. The banks are responding to a market where 89% of merchants are preparing for agentic commerce but only 3% of transactions involve AI agents, with consumer trust at 24%. Mark Monaco, Head of Global Payments Solutions at Bank of America, said establishing trust and confidence across the ecosystem will be critical to its long-term success. The principles carry no implementation timetable, and the consortium plans a follow-up paper on implementation while the industry awaits the NIST AI Agent Interoperability Profile, expected in Q4 2026.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and ASML Holding announced a collaborative industry initiative on September 8 to transition the semiconductor sector to a 12-inch Extreme Ultraviolet photomask format, replacing the 6-inch masks chipmakers currently use for High NA EUV systems. The shift aims to boost scanner productivity, eliminate stitching constraints on ultra-large chips, and lower long-term advanced node manufacturing costs, with the initiative targeting a pilot line by 2031 and 12-inch High-NA production by 2033. TSMC plans to adopt High-NA EUV starting in 2030, with the 12-inch masks providing a multi-year roadmap for scaling complex AI architectures. For ASML, establishing a 12-inch standard locks in the long-term economic case for its High-NA scanner line, supporting its 15% revenue expansion outlook, while for TSMC the larger format helps defend its leading-edge and AI/HPC manufacturing dominance. The decade-long roadmap carries execution risk, as the entire global supply chain, from mask blanks and inspection equipment to automated handling, must retool from scratch, and TSMC faces near-term gross margin dilution from its N2 ramp and overseas fab expansions while ASML contends with gross margin pressure in late 2025 and geopolitical growth uncertainties through 2026.

Asset Plus Fund Management assesses that the rally in technology stocks and the massive investment in AI infrastructure still show no clear sign of entering bubble territory. Kamolyot Sukhumsuwan, Chief Investment Officer, said such concerns are reasonable given the rapid rise in share prices and the accelerating investment by hyperscalers in data centers, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence infrastructure, pushing capital expenditure budgets to record highs. However, any assessment should look at demand across the entire supply chain rather than share prices or the size of CapEx alone. Upstream, ASML reported sales of 9.3 billion euros, beating market expectations, and raised its full-year revenue target, with nearly all of its order book already secured for 2027. TSMC, meanwhile, posted revenue of 40.2 billion US dollars, up 33% from a year earlier, with its High Performance Computing business accounting for 66% of total revenue, and raised its 2026 capital expenditure budget to 60 to 64 billion US dollars. In memory, Micron said its HBM production capacity for 2026 is fully booked under long-term contracts, while SK Hynix has begun mass shipments of HBM4 and has long-term agreements with several customers. On the conversion of orders into revenue, NVIDIA reported revenue of 96.2 billion US dollars in its latest quarter, up 106% from a year earlier, with Data Center revenue at 89.0 billion US dollars, while Broadcom posted revenue of 29.6 billion US dollars, up 86%, with AI chip revenue up 221% to 16.7 billion US dollars. The key issue to watch next is how well this enormous wave of investment will generate adequate returns, since CapEx is starting to pressure cash flow and financing costs remain high. AI Infrastructure and AI Labs, which rely heavily on external funding, carry more risk than hyperscalers with strong financial positions. Asset Plus Fund Management still sees AI as a key long-term investment trend, but investors should focus on the quality of growth and choose companies that can sustainably turn AI opportunities into earnings.

ASML Holding shares gained approximately 1.0% to $1,696.12 as investors weighed the company's potential to assemble more than 110 EUV systems in 2028. Reuters reported that ASML is nearly sold out for 2027, when manufacturing capacity stands at at least 80 EUV machines, meaning pushing production beyond 110 systems in 2028 would require increasing annual output by at least 37.5% from that stated floor. The advanced-lithography equipment leader's second-quarter results included 9.33 billion of revenue, a 54% gross margin and 2.92 billion of net income, giving it room to invest in that expansion. At $1,696.12, ASML trades 33.98% above its GF Value estimate of roughly $1,270, showing how much future execution is already embedded in the stock. Every additional EUV machine can unlock more semiconductor-fab capacity for customers chasing advanced AI chips, but installation timing, customer acceptance and manufacturing precision all matter if ASML is to lift output without sacrificing margins or delivery quality.

Lakefront Biotherapeutics said it plans to begin registrational studies next year for its lead T-cell engager, gamgertamig, in immune thrombocytopenia and autoimmune hemolytic anemia, with two additional autoimmune basket studies expected early that year. Speaking at Morgan Stanley's Global Healthcare Conference, Chief Executive Officer Henry Gosebruch said the company, previously known as Galapagos, has shifted focus from its legacy ex vivo CAR-T programs to a portfolio of four T-cell engager candidates following its acquisition of assets from Ouro Medicines in March. Gamgertamig is a BCMA-directed therapy that Gilead Sciences is expected to commercialize, with Lakefront receiving a royalty; Gilead contributed half of the Ouro deal consideration and about $5 billion to the company under a strategic alliance established in 2019 that has roughly three years remaining. Chief Financial Officer Aaron Cox said Lakefront expects to end the year with about €2 billion in cash, supported by Gilead funding, legacy royalties of approximately €15 million to €20 million annually related to Jyseleca, and tax-credit receipts of approximately €20 million to €35 million annually over the next several years. The company has largely completed the wind-down of its legacy cell-therapy operations, which had more than 650 employees and approximately $300 million in annual spending, and announced a €50 million share buyback in June that it expects to complete by year-end. The FDA has granted Orphan Drug Designation for gamgertamig in ITP, AIHA and pemphigus.

Universal Music Group has agreed a multi-year collaboration with ElevenLabs to launch an AI-powered music platform offering licensed AI music creation tools for fans, artists and songwriters using UMG content. The two companies plan to build interactive features that let listeners customize vocals, lyrics and soundscapes within approved rights frameworks. The agreement pushes Universal Music Group further into licensed, participatory audio, sitting on top of its existing catalog without requiring heavy physical investment. Universal Music Group is a global music business managing recorded music, publishing and related services, with €26.7b scale in the Entertainment industry. The key marker to watch is how many artists and songwriters opt in to the ElevenLabs-powered platform over the next 12 to 18 months, since participation determines both catalog breadth and fan uptake.

Ferrovial announced on August 19 that it has been selected to deliver the I-24 Southeast Choice Lanes, a 26-mile project running between Nashville and Murfreesboro, at a price tag of $9.2 billion. The project is the largest single capital investment in Tennessee's history and the state's first public-private partnership, and Ferrovial is not carrying it alone, since its DriveTN consortium also counts Transurban and Tikehau Star Infra as partners. Ferrovial's July 28 results showed adjusted EBITDA up 21.6% on a like-for-like basis to €746 million over the first six months of the year, with U.S. highways doing most of the lifting, and the construction order book reached an all-time high of €18 billion. Net profit for the first half of 2026 came in at €258 million, versus €540 million for the same period of 2025, a comparison made harsh by capital gains from asset rotation in the earlier figure. Ferrovial ended the first half with €1.3 billion in net cash, excluding infrastructure projects, and has finished funding the $1.1 billion in equity it pledged for New Terminal One at JFK, where construction is 92% complete.

ASML Holding N.V. is riding strong momentum in its Installed Base Management business, which generated 2.8 billion euros in sales in the second quarter, up 31.8% year over year and about €300 million above management's expectations. The business benefits from the large and expanding fleet of ASML systems already operating at semiconductor manufacturers, and continued expansion of the EUV installed base is increasing the company's overall service opportunity. Demand is being driven not only by fleet expansion but also by software-led upgrades that improve productivity without significant machine time or production disruption. ASML expects to ship about 65 Low-NA EUV systems in 2026, with EUV revenue projected to rise roughly 45%, and management expects the combination of upgrade and service revenue to drive more than 30% growth in Installed Base Management sales in 2026. Sustaining that pace will depend on continued semiconductor investment and customer demand. Elsewhere in the semiconductor space, Monolithic Power Systems is gaining content across AI infrastructure and has extended its capacity goal beyond $6 billion, while Applied Materials delivered a record third quarter on the rapid global build-out of AI infrastructure.

Delivery Hero's management and supervisory boards formally recommended on September 2, 2026, that shareholders accept Uber Technologies' takeover offer, moving the roughly $15 billion deal for the German food-delivery platform a step closer to completion. Under the agreement, Uber will pay €41.50 per share, implying an equity value of $14.8 billion, and Delivery Hero's second-largest shareholder, Prosus, has irrevocably committed to tender its 17% stake. The shareholder acceptance period runs until November 5. Uber already owned roughly 25% of Delivery Hero and expects the deal to increase non-GAAP EPS upon closing, with high-single-digit percentage accretion by the third year. The combined company would operate across 99 markets and generate $236 billion in pro forma gross bookings, though the transaction still requires regulatory approvals that could delay it or force concessions.

Samsung Electronics agreed a new collaboration with Mistral AI to deploy advanced on-premises AI models in chip manufacturing, and expanded its partnership with ASML to include High NA EUV lithography for future memory and logic production lines. The company plans to use these AI and High NA EUV tools to support precision, security and efficiency in its semiconductor operations. Samsung runs a broad hardware and components portfolio across consumer devices, IT and mobile, and chipmaking, so tighter links with specialist AI model developers and lithography equipment suppliers speak directly to how its device solutions arm positions itself within global semiconductor supply chains. The move strengthens the Samsung Electronics Narrative catalyst around tight memory supply and HBM4E demand, while closer cooperation with ASML on High NA EUV and 12 inch photomasks leans into the heavy R&D and capex risk already flagged, since each new generation of tools can lift capital intensity and execution pressure in fabs. Investors should watch how Samsung describes AI enabled yield, defect detection and High NA EUV deployment progress in its next few quarterly disclosures, especially any 2027 to 2028 updates tied to planned High NA introduction in DRAM high volume manufacturing.

ASML and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing both reported Q2 2026 results in mid-July, with ASML raising its full-year outlook on AI-driven lithography demand and TSMC lifting its capex plan while pushing 2nm into commercial production. ASML delivered $10.65 billion in revenue, up 21.3% year over year, with operating margin expanding to 37.1%, and memory-related system sales now expected to grow over 75% this year. TSMC's revenue hit $40.20 billion, up 36.0%, with gross margin at 67.7%, as HPC drove 66% of revenue and advanced nodes at 7nm and below made up 77% of wafer revenue. TSMC raised its 2026 capital budget to $60 billion to $64 billion and announced another $100 billion Arizona investment, capital that ASML will help spend. ASML is close to being fully covered with low-NA EUV orders for 2027 and is studying a further 30% capacity expansion for 2028, with CEO Christophe Fouquet saying, "We're not waiting. We're preempting."

ASML Holding N.V. is examining ways to produce more than 110 EUV lithography systems in 2028, according to JPMorgan analysts following a meeting with CFO Roger Dassen. The company is already nearly sold out for 2027 and expects to produce at least 80 EUV systems that year, so output above 110 in 2028 would represent at least a 37.5% increase from the 2027 level. JPMorgan said the main constraint has shifted toward assembly speed rather than the availability of critical components, suggesting ASML believes additional capacity can be unlocked through manufacturing and assembly improvements. The potential increase is being driven primarily by AI-related demand, with ASML's existing EUV machines, which cost roughly $200 million each, essential for manufacturing leading-edge AI processors, while customers including TSMC, Samsung, SK Hynix and Intel are expanding advanced-chip capacity. Reuters reported separately that virtually all of ASML's EUV production capacity is booked through 2027, while the company has begun construction of a new Eindhoven facility designed to accelerate tool assembly and eventually accommodate up to 20,000 workers.

Agentic commerce still accounts for less than 1% of overall e-commerce activity, even as Meta and Anthropic rolled out new AI shopping tools this week. Meta launched Muse, a personal AI agent that can autonomously handle multistep tasks including email, travel booking, shopping and project management, while Anthropic launched Commerce Agents, an open-source framework for building consumer shopping agents and merchant-side operational agents rather than a standalone shopping assistant. Bernstein analysts said agentic commerce is often framed as a risk for Visa and Mastercard but is "very much the opposite," citing more digitization, transactions and value-added services, and argued cards will remain the payment method of choice given their dispute management, standards and more than 7 billion credentials and 100 million-plus merchants. The firm said none of the recent agent launches currently seek to control merchant payments, and that Visa and Mastercard have developed their own agentic tokens and standards including Trusted Agent Protocol, Verifiable Intent, Agent Pay and Intelligent Commerce, with 100% of agentic transactions expected to be tokenized. Bernstein also flagged a differentiation opportunity for processors such as Adyen, which launched Adyen Agentic this summer, and noted that agent-to-agent micro-payments remain in the "proof-of-concept stage," citing Coinbase and Cloudflare's x402 protocol, which has generated roughly $0.5 million to $1 million in monthly volume a year after launch with average transaction sizes of about $0.20. GenAI referral traffic as a share of total referrals has climbed sharply over the past two years, reaching 39% for Wayfair, 28% for Walmart, 25% for Target, 23% for Etsy and 22% for eBay as of August 2026, though that traffic represents only 1-2% of total traffic for these retailers, and a Visa survey cited in the note found only 23% of consumers trust AI agents to conduct payment transactions on their behalf. Bernstein rates Visa, Mastercard and Adyen "outperform."

The US FDA has approved Pharming Group's Joenja, also known as leniolisib, for children between the ages of four and 11 with a rare genetic immune system disorder. The treatment was previously approved in 2023 for individuals 12 years and older with activated phosphoinositide 3-kinase delta syndrome, or APDS. The approval was based on safety and pharmacokinetic data from a single-arm, open-label study. Individuals with APDS suffer from recurrent infections, especially in the sinuses, ears, and respiratory tract, and also develop enlarged lymph nodes, tonsils, and spleen.

Ant International is rolling out its Agentic Mobile Protocol globally, with 10 Alipay+ digital wallets and 7 acquiring partners joining Phase I in 2026. The Phase I wallets, which together serve 1.5 billion user accounts, are Alipay, AlipayHK, DANA, GCash, KakaoPay, MPay, TNG eWallet, TrueMoney, Toss and Starryblu, while the acquiring partners are Adyen, Allinpay, Checkout.com, Fiserv, Global Payments, Nuvei and Worldline. The protocol sits inside the Alipay+ ecosystem, a mobile payment network with more than 50 mobile payment partners, over 10 national QR schemes and more than 2 billion consumer accounts. Ant International, Mastercard and Visa have begun collaborating on a Know-Your-Agent interoperability framework to streamline agent onboarding and identification across networks, working through BuildFin.ai, an industry platform convened by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. AMP, launched in April 2026, is now open-sourced on GitHub with source code, developer SDKs and technical documentation, and it includes AgentSafePay, a money-back guarantee for merchants against agentic-specific risks, and a nano-scale agent-to-agent settlement mechanism handling transactions as small as $0.000001.

Applied Materials CEO Gary Dickerson told David Faber at Goldman's Copia Conference that the company is approaching 40% growth this year, driven entirely by AI compute demand, and he expects strong growth in 2026, 2027 and beyond, backed by rolling eight-quarter customer forecasts and longer tool-shipment commitments. The August quarter delivered revenue of $9.12 billion, up 24.8% year over year, with non-GAAP EPS of $3.50, and guidance for the October quarter calls for revenue near $10.25 billion; CFO Brice Hill said customer visibility extends in some conversations to 2030 and the company is preparing to double its quarterly system output by 2028. Dickerson said DRAM revenue grew from 22% to 26% of semiconductor systems revenue, with DRAM including HBM packaging up 52% year over year to record levels, while advanced packaging is expected to grow more than 70% in calendar 2026. Peer results corroborate the order book: Lam Research reported June-quarter revenue of $6.72 billion, up 30.0% year over year, and raised its calendar 2026 WFE view to the low $150 billion range from $140 billion; KLA posted record revenue of $3.66 billion with remaining performance obligations around $12.5 billion; and ASML plans to add 30% to its 2026 low NA EUV capacity of around 65 for 2027, with another 30% under investigation for 2028. Applied trades at a trailing P/E of 41x and forward P/E of 26x at a current price of $468.85, up 188.38% over the past year but down 10.11% over the past month and below its 52-week high of $738.88, with the 200-day moving average at $407.06.

Global wafer-fabrication-equipment spending is projected to rise 16.9% to a record $135.2 billion in 2026, up from $115.7 billion in 2025, with memory equipment growing faster than the broader market. Within that total, 300mm DRAM equipment spending is projected to rise 29% to $37 billion and 300mm 3D NAND equipment spending is expected to increase 28% to $14 billion, while logic, foundry and other equipment spending remains the largest category at approximately $84.2 billion but grows just 10.6%. The combined $51 billion of DRAM and NAND equipment spending is being driven by Samsung Electronics, Micron Technology and SK hynix simultaneously expanding investment in advanced DRAM, high-bandwidth memory, NAND, cleanrooms and advanced packaging. Lam Research, the most direct beneficiary, reported record June-quarter revenue of $6.72 billion and fiscal 2026 revenue of approximately $23.23 billion, up from $18.44 billion in fiscal 2025, and recently raised its quarterly dividend 27% from $0.26 to $0.33 per share. KLA reported fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $3.66 billion, up approximately 15% year over year, with fiscal 2026 revenue of $13.58 billion and GAAP net income of $4.83 billion, while ASML reported second-quarter 2026 net sales of €9.3 billion, a 54% gross margin and net income of €2.9 billion, and raised its expected 2026 net sales range to between €43 billion and €45 billion. The principal industry risk remains eventual memory overinvestment, though current investment is concentrated on advanced products, cleanrooms and process migrations.