MORNING NEWS

Micron Technology’s second-quarter revenue nearly tripled as AI-related demand for memory is outpacing supply. The memory-chip maker said it is ramping up spending on memory capacity and that it sees no signs of the supply-demand imbalance subsiding.

BHP Group named Brandon Craig as its next chief executive officer, opting for his experience in advancing the company’s growth projects in the U.S., Canada and South America as the world’s biggest miner expands in copper and the fertilizer ingredient potash.

Nebius agreed to a five-year deal worth about $27 billion to supply AI infrastructure capacity to Meta as it continues to see surging demand for its data center computing. Nebius said it will provide $12 billion of dedicated capacity across multiple locations. Meta also agreed to purchase up to $15 billion in additional available capacity over the five-year period, Nebius said. Nebius added that it will use large-scale deployments of Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin AI infrastructure platform, which is expected to be available starting in the second half of the year. Nebius will deliver the capacity beginning early next year, it said.

TotalEnergies is shutting down production in several countries as fighting continues in the Middle East. The French energy company said Friday production has stopped or is in the process of shutting down in Qatar, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates offshore, representing about 15% of the company’s total output. TotalEnergies said the conflict hasn’t affected its onshore production in the UAE.

Adobe said Chief Executive Shantanu Narayen, credited with leading the software company’s transformation over the past 18 years, will step down after it finds a new leader for the artificial intelligence era. Narayen’s departure comes as the software company struggles to convince investors that it can outpace AI’s industrywide disruptions.

Life insurer Swiss Life managed to improve its insurance premium income last year, however net profit remained flat. Shareholders will nevertheless benefit from a dividend increase of CHF 1.5 to CHF 36.50 per share, the Zurich-based group announced on Thursday. In 2025, the company recorded gross premiums growth of 3% to CHF 20.87 billion.

Oracle raised its sales outlook as demand for artificial intelligence continues to outpace supply. Oracle now expects fiscal 2027 revenue to be $90 billion, ahead of the $86.61 billion analysts are projecting. It reaffirmed its 2026 guidance. The company expects revenue to grow between 18% to 20% in the current fourth quarter, with adjusted earnings per share of $1.92 to $1.96. Wall Street is estimating $1.93 a share in adjusted earnings. Shares climbed 8.7% in after-hours trading Tuesday. Revenue rose 18% to $17.19 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast revenue of $16.92 billion.

Chocolate manufacturer Lindt & Sprüngli increased its net profit in fiscal year 2025. The Zurich-based group hiked its prices to offset higher food raw material costs and declining volumes. From January to the end of December, the net profit of the manufacturer of chocolate bunnies and Lindor balls stood at CHF 727 million, compared with CHF 672 million a year earlier, according to a statement released on Tuesday. Operating profit (EBIT) reached CHF 971 million, up from CHF 884 million. The corresponding margin was 16.4%, up 20 basis points.

UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti will pocket a stable salary in 2025. As in 2024, he will be paid CHF 14.9 million for the past financial year. According to the annual report published on Monday, CHF 2.8 million of this is fixed salary and CHF 12.1 million is variable remuneration. The entire Group Executive Board of Switzerland's largest bank will receive a total of CHF 145.3 million for 2025, up from CHF 143.6 million. Ermotti is currently challenged on all fronts: operationally, strategically, and in public relations. The Ticino native took over as CEO again in April 2023 to lead the integration of the acquired Credit Suisse. In terms of integration, the bank is on track without any major incidents: in 2025, the important migration of former CS customer accounts in Switzerland to the UBS platform was largely completed and is expected to be finalized by the end of the current first quarter of 2026.

Broadcom posted higher sales in the latest quarter as the type and number of AI customers kept expanding. AI revenue in the quarter more than doubled to $8.4 billion, driven by demand for custom AI accelerators and networking, Chief Executive Hock Tan said. Demand is now coming from both hyperscalers and regular companies looking to build out their own AI agents, he told investors on a call Wednesday. “Some of them are hyperscalers, some of them are not hyperscalers, but they all have one thing in common, which is to create LLMs, productize it and generate platforms,” Tan said. The semiconductor and software maker’s customer base is expanding beyond its core focus of hyperscalers like Google and Anthropic, Tan said.