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Welcome back to This Week in Stratechery!
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On that note, here were a few of our favorites this week.
- Meta, YouTube, and Tech Press Attention. Everyone knows about Meta’s announcement this week: new AR glasses with a display and a Neural Band are not just cool, they’re compelling in the way tech product announcements are always compelling. That’s why I covered it. However, that wasn’t the only tech announcement this week: YouTube had an event of their own, which might have flown under your radar. That, however, is emblematic of YouTube itself: as we discussed on Sharp Tech, in the wake of my interview with YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, it’s as if the biggest and most important media property in the world exists in an alternate reality. — Ben Thompson
- Why Oracle is Winning in AI. Ben and I touched Oracle during last week’s Sharp Tech and I was delighted when Monday’s Daily Update dove deeper into story of Oracle’s AI progress and the astounding pop that Oracle’s stock received last week. Oracle’s was late to the cloud, left with little business other than making the most performant cloud database for its existing customers; it turns out that was great preparation for building the ideal AI cloud. More than that, though, Oracle only want to build infrastructure: this makes them the ideal partner for both model companies like Open and Nvidia. — Andrew Sharp
- The Bubble Inflection Point. Sticking with Oracle — I never thought I would find enterprise database provider so interesting! — Tuesday’s Daily Update focused on the longterm financial implications of Oracle’s bet, which may mark an inflection point. Consider: as incomprehensible as AI investment numbers have looked over the past few years, all of that money has come out of free cash flow, at least for Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta. Oracle is something new: a company that will have to raise debt to finance its datacenter buildout is now taking meaningful share from leaders like Microsoft. Will the big clouds respond with debt-fueled build-outs of their own? That…sounds a lot like a bubble. — AS
Stratechery Articles and Updates
- Oracle Pops, From Databases to AI, Oracle and OpenAI — Oracle’s stock sky-rocketed after reporting massive future performance obligations, mostly from OpenAI. It’s a big risk, but Oracle is uniquely prepared to capitalize.Excerpt 1
- The Oracle Inflection Point, Apple’s Price Increase — Oracle’s AI commitment requires debt, which marks an inflection point in a potential AI bubble; then, Apple finally increases iPhone prices
- An Interview with YouTube CEO Neal Mohan About Building a Stage for Creators — An interview with YouTube CEO Neal Mohan about empowering creators while leaning into AI.
- Meta Ray-Ban Display, Why Less is More, Price and the Neural Band — Meta announced Ray-Ban Displays, their first glasses product with a display. I think it’s very compelling in part because it is limited.
Dithering with Ben Thompson and Daring Fireball’s John Gruber
Asianometry with Jon Yu
Sharp China with Andrew Sharp and Sinocism’s Bill Bishop
Greatest of All Talk with Andrew Sharp and WaPo’s Ben Golliver
Sharp Tech with Andrew Sharp and Ben Thompson
This week’s Stratechery video is on iPhones 17 and the Sugar Water Trap.
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