Market Beats | Alibaba Invests $53 Billion in AI Infrastructure; Palantir Founder Sells $1.4 Billion in Shares; Tesla Rejects Partnership with Uber; AMD Considers Selling $4 Billion Factory

1. Palantir Founder Sells $1.4 Billion in Shares；

2. Tesla Rejects Partnership with Uber；

3. Chinese Local Governments Issue Trillions in Bonds；

4. Chinese State-Owned Developers Bid Up Land Prices；

5. AMD Considers Selling $4 Billion Factory；

6. Alibaba Invests $53 Billion in AI Infrastructure；

7. Microsoft Cancels Multiple Data Center Leases

1.  Palantir Founder Sells $1.4 Billion in Shares

In 2024, three Palantir founders, along with the company’s chief legal, financial, and technical officers, sold a total of $4 billion worth of shares, capitalizing on the rise in the company’s stock price. Billionaire founder Peter Thiel sold one-third of his holdings. Several executives also sold stock options that wouldn’t have expired until 2030 and 2032. Just in the past week, Palantir’s two co-founders sold $1.4 billion worth of shares.

Co-founder and CEO Alex Karp sold stock worth $2 billion last year, and just last Tuesday, he announced his share sale plans for this year.

After selling their shares, the three co-founders of Palantir still hold the majority of the company’s shares.

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2. Tesla Rejects Partnership with Uber

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi revealed that Musk does not plan to launch Tesla’s upcoming autonomous taxis on Uber’s platform. Instead, Tesla plans to operate the service independently and compete with Uber and Waymo in the autonomous ride-hailing market.

However, Khosrowshahi still hopes to form a future partnership with Tesla, as Uber’s platform could bring customers to Tesla.

Since 2023, Uber has entered multiple partnerships for autonomous vehicle development and invested in companies that are advancing autonomous driving technologies.

If Tesla’s Robotaxi comes to fruition, it could significantly impact Uber and Waymo’s business and profit margins.

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3. Chinese Local Governments Issue Trillions in Bonds

According to Bloomberg, Chinese local governments plan to issue a total of 1.69 trillion yuan in bonds within the first two months of 2025. Half of this funding will be used to repay off-balance-sheet debt.

Chinese banks will need to figure out how to absorb these massive bonds, and the central bank has decided not to take action for now, leading to continued liquidity strain in the market. As a result, interest rates in the money markets have risen sharply.

By the end of 2024, China is expected to approve the replacement of $6 trillion in hidden debt for local governments, which will also help reduce interest payments.

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4. Chinese State-Owned Developers Bid Up Land Prices

Data from Bloomberg analysts reveal that 37% of land transactions this year have involved a premium of over 20%, up from 14% in 2024 and 4.6% in 2023. This indicates that many state-owned developers believe the market may have reached the bottom and are willing to pay more to acquire land.

It is estimated that 70% of completed transactions this year involved state-owned enterprise buyers, including China Resources Land, China Overseas Land & Investment, Poly Real Estate, and Greenland Holdings.

To stimulate the housing market, several cities have lifted the cap on developers’ profits from housing sales and relaxed other policies.

Analysts from China Real Estate Information Corporation note that land auctions have intensified in many cities.

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5.  AMD Considers Selling $4 Billion Factory

Sources reveal that AMD is considering selling a data center manufacturing plant it acquired last year. Potential buyers include Taiwan’s Compal Electronics, Inventec, Pegatron, and Wistron. The plant’s valuation could reach between $3 billion and $4 billion.

AMD acquired the plant when it purchased ZT Systems for $4.9 billion last year. Prior to the acquisition, ZT Systems was an AI server manufacturing partner for Inventec.

AMD previously stated that it would sell the factory to avoid potential conflicts of interest with clients such as Dell and HP.

The factory had generated $10 billion in revenue in the year before being acquired by AMD.

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6. Alibaba Invests $53 Billion in AI Infrastructure

Alibaba has announced plans to invest $53 billion in AI infrastructure, marking a significant pivot for the company. This investment will focus on enhancing AI capabilities and supporting its global expansion in the AI sector.

The announcement comes amid growing competition in the AI space, and Alibaba’s investment signals its commitment to becoming a leading player in the AI infrastructure market.

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7. Microsoft Cancels Multiple Data Center Leases

A recent report revealed that Microsoft, the largest shareholder in OpenAI, is canceling several data center leases, representing approximately 200 megawatts of power capacity. This move indicates Microsoft’s concerns about whether the demand for AI computing power will lead to oversupply in the long term.

During its earnings call at the end of January, Microsoft announced plans to invest $80 billion to build AI data centers this year. However, Microsoft has now stated that the investment amount will remain the same, but the frequency of investments will be strategically adjusted to ensure that all regions can develop quickly.

TD Cowen analysts believe that Microsoft’s data centers may be experiencing a situation of oversupply.

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This content is sourced from Financial Times, Bloomberg, and The Real Deal, among other financial news outlets.