Capital & Industrial Strategy

JPMorgan Chase and a syndicate of banks halted a $5.3 billion debt offering for Qualtrics International, the experience management software firm, after failing to win over investors amid deepening concerns about artificial intelligence displacing traditional software businesses, Bloomberg reported. The deal's collapse follows a broader pattern: investors are offloading exposure to software companies, with debt traders viewing AI as a structural threat to incumbents' pricing power and renewal rates. This marks the latest high-profile 'hung deal' risk for Wall Street banks underwriting software buyouts, following similar pressures on other legacy enterprise software firms. Separately, banks are preparing to market an $18 billion debt package tied to the Electronic Arts take-private deal, which will test whether investor appetite extends to gaming software or whether AI anxieties have spread across the sector, Financial Times noted.

Nvidia is restarting manufacturing of H200 AI accelerators for Chinese customers after receiving American export licences and Beijing's approval over the past two weeks, CEO Jensen Huang said at the company's GTC conference, Financial Times reported. The company had received a flood of orders from China following months of regulatory uncertainty from both the US and Chinese governments. Nvidia is also preparing China-specific variants of its Groq chips that comply with export controls, according to sources cited by Reuters. The move suggests both Washington and Beijing are pragmatically managing tech restrictions to preserve critical supply chains despite broader strategic competition.

Microsoft consolidated its Copilot AI assistant teams, merging consumer and enterprise engineering groups under a single organisation, Bloomberg reported. The restructuring frees up Mustafa Suleyman, previously overseeing consumer AI, to focus exclusively on building new models through Microsoft's superintelligence research group. The change addresses internal fragmentation—Microsoft has been fielding consumer, enterprise, and developer-facing Copilot products without clear strategic coherence. Financial Times noted the reshuffle signals Microsoft's attempt to catch up with competitors in both model quality and product simplicity.

OpenAI has signed a partnership with Amazon Web Services to sell its AI systems to US government agencies for classified and unclassified work, TechCrunch reported, citing sources familiar with the arrangement. The deal marks an expansion beyond OpenAI's direct Pentagon contract signed in February and positions the company to compete for broader federal AI procurement. Separately, OpenAI has hired former DocuSign CFO Cynthia Gaylor to run investor relations as it prepares for a potential IPO by year-end, CNBC reported. The company is reportedly telling employees that ChatGPT must evolve from a consumer chatbot into a productivity tool to justify public market valuations. Meanwhile, a dispute between OpenAI and Microsoft is deepening over a proposed $50 billion cloud deal with Amazon, with Microsoft weighing legal action over exclusive hosting rights, Financial Times noted.

Mastercard agreed to acquire stablecoin infrastructure startup BVNK for up to $1.8 billion, Bloomberg reported, marking the payments giant's largest crypto bet since the Trump administration ushered in pro-digital currency regulation. BVNK provides backend infrastructure for businesses to transact in stablecoins—dollar-pegged digital currencies that have become a hot commodity among institutional investors betting on regulatory tailwinds. The deal follows Mastercard's strategic shift toward embedding stablecoin rails into its payment network, positioning it to compete with Visa and newer entrants like Circle and Paxos in corporate treasury and cross-border settlement applications.