What earnings say about Big Tech’s AI gamble - DTNS 5136

Universal Music just struck a big deal with Udio that legitimizes its music generation platform, and Samsung is bringing its browser to Windows for the first time.

Starring Jason Howell and Sarah Lane.

JASON: This is the Daily Tech News for Thursday, October 30th, 2025. We tell you what you need to know, give you the important context, and help each other understand.

SARAH: Today it’s earnings palooza, but investors have concerns about the sustainability of AI investment.

I’m Jason Howell,

I’m Sarah Lane.

JASON: Let’s start with what you need to know with the big story.

BIG STORY

Big Tech tests investors’ patience with $80bn AI investment spree

JASON: Happy earnings day! Don’t worry, we won’t bog you down with tons of numbers. But given that Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta all shared their quarterly earnings reports, why don’t we look closer at what they seem to point to in aggregate.

Financial Times has an article today looking at each company’s investments in AI infrastructure, totaling nearly $80 billion collectively. While Alphabet’s record $100 billion in revenue made investors happy, Microsoft met some negative reaction even in light of its own 39% revenue growth. Meta also saw negative investor response to its own revenue growth of 26%.

The positive gains seem to be overshadowed by the sustainability of profit growth, when considering the uncertainty around each company’s investments in future cloud and artificial intelligence payoffs. Meta is spending heavily on its Superintelligence pursuit with the belief that the long-term promise of advanced AI will be worth the upfront outlay. Alphabet and Microsoft are a bit more focused as they work toward more incremental advancements of AI into existing services. But in all cases, investors seem to be concerned about a rush to grab the lead in AI—and that might lead to a market correction.

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JASON: There’s more we need to know today, let’s get to the briefs.

BRIEFS

Trump and Xi, Hoping to Ease Trade War, Agree to 1-Year Truce
Trump Says Nvidia Chip Talks With Xi Didn’t Cover Blackwell
SARAH: After months of repeated and escalating tariffs and regulatory bans, the US President met with Chinese President Xi Jinping to strike an agreement that puts in place a one-year truce that will help ease US-China trade tensions. China will pause its limits on rare-earth metal exports while the US is postponing new shipping fees to reduce cost pressures for tech companies that rely on Chinese manufacturing. The leaders discussed Nvidia's AI-chip business, but the US President says they did not discuss giving China access to Nvidia's high-powered Blackwell AI chips.

Samsung Launches Windows Version of its Web Browser With Galaxy AI Features
JASON: Samsung released a beta version of its Internet browser for Windows with integrated Galaxy AI features that were previously only found on its Android devices. It can sync browsing data between Galaxy phones and Windows PCs and seamlessly resume browsing between them. The Windows version adds anti-tracking and “Browsing Assist,” an AI tool for summarizing and translating web pages. Users must register for the beta via the Samsung Developer Portal using a Samsung account in South Korea or the US to start, with plans to expand to more markets soon.

Google finally opens up the Play Store's gates in the US
SARAH: Google has implemented big changes to its Play Store policies in the US following a court injunction in the Epic Games lawsuit. Developers can now link to external stores, offering direct payment options like credit cards and PayPal, and offer cheaper deals to users outside of Google Play. Before these changes, Google's policies blocked developers from promoting or linking to alternative payment methods.

Universal Music Settles With AI Firm Udio
JASON: Universal Music Group has settled with Udio in a deal that will result in a new subscription platform to allow music fans to create songs using licensed content. Universal had accused Udio of copyright infringement for training its AI on copyrighted tracks. Under the deal, Universal artists must approve their inclusion, and all user-generated content must stay within the Udio platform. Artists and labels will get paid when their music is used for AI training and remixes. Udio's new service is expected to launch next year, though financial terms weren’t released.

JASON: And finally, some quick headlines that are just good to know if you want to understand the news in the future.

OpenAI adds reusable ‘characters’ and video stitching to Sora
SARAH: As mentioned briefly yesterday, Sora has started rolling out a bunch of new features including character cameos, clip stitching for connecting multiple videos together, and easing up on its invitation-code requirement for a limited time.

WhatsApp adds passkey protection to end-to-end encrypted backups
JASON: WhatsApp is adding passkey support to its cloud chat backups, which can be found inside Settings under a new option in Chat Backup that enables end-to-end encrypted backups.

First UK phones to get satellite connectivity in signal blackspots announced
SARAH: Virgin Media O2 will launch the UK's first smartphones with automatic Starlink-powered satellite connectivity in remote areas, starting with messaging and data services, with phone calls coming later.

Figma acquires AI-powered media generation company Weavy
JASON: Figma acquired Weavy, a service that allows users to combine various image and video-generation models for advanced AI-driven editing, with plans to integrate it into its platform under the new Figma Weave brand.

Exclusive: OpenAI lays groundwork for juggernaut IPO at up to $1 trillion valuation
SARAH: Finally, we alluded to the possibility on yesterday’s show and now one day later, multiple sources are telling Reuters that OpenAI is actively laying the groundwork for an IPO that could target around $1 trillion — the largest IPO ever, if it happens.

PROMO

SARAH: If you have feedback about anything that gets brought up on the show… Get in touch with us on the socials: @DTNSshow on X, Instagram, Threads!, Blue Sky, and Mastodon. For TikTok and YouTube, you can find us at Daily Tech News Show.

FEEDBACK

JASON: We end every episode of DTNS with some shared wisdom. Today Bradd has a shocking revelation about using LLMs to create fake receipts!

SARAH: Gang!,

You are telling me people are using LLM's to create fake receipts! Say it isn't so... Just kidding.

All that aside there are very valid reasons to create receipts from LLM's. Well, sort of valid reasons. As someone that travels about 29 weeks a year for work my business expense system demands receipts for anything over a certain dollar amount, and when I cannot get a receipt from the vendor I typically create one in Google Docs. However, I have begun to use OpenAI or Gemini to do this now and it works great. It is much faster than me having to type the required information for a receipt, especially if the vendor in question has a website that the LLM can crawl. Just thought I would share this non-criminal use of receipt generation by an LLM use case. Love the show and all that makes it possible!

Thank You, and have a terrific day!

Sincerely,
Bradd

SARAH: What are you thinking about? Got some insight into a story? Share it with us feedback@dailytechnewsshow.com.

JASON: Thanks to Bradd for contributing to today’s show. And thank YOU for being along for Daily Tech News Show. You can keep us in business by becoming a patron atPatreon.com/dtns.