Shares in social media giant Meta (META) closed Monday's session up 3.6% following a report that the company is planning to fully automate advertising with artificial intelligence (AI) by the end of 2026.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Meta is aiming to enable brands to fully create and target advertisements using its AI tools.
According to the report, using a brand's product image and budget, Meta's AI would then be able to create the ad and identify user targeting on its social media platforms, along with budget suggestions.
In addition, the report said that Meta also plans to enable advertisers to personalise ads using AI, based on factors such as location.
A spokesperson for Meta had not responded to Yahoo Finance UK's request for comment at the time of writing.
CC Wei, CEO of TSMC (2330.TW, TSM), reportedly said at the chipmaker's annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday that US tariffs were having some impact on the company but that AI demand remained robust.
According to a Reuters report, Wei said: "Tariffs do have some impact on TSMC, but not directly. That's because tariffs are imposed on importers, not exporters. TSMC is an exporter. However, tariffs can lead to slightly higher prices, and when prices go up, demand may go down."
"If demand drops, TSMC's business could be affected," he added. "But I can assure you that AI demand has always been very strong and it's consistently outpacing supply."
Wei reportedly said that TSMC, which is the world's biggest contract chipmaker, had expressed concerns about tariffs to the US Department of Commerce that levies could increase production costs in the US.
"The US commerce department said this is open for discussion, but how long that will take remains unclear," he said. "The real point is that we are in active communication, because only through understanding can they realise the consequences."
According to Reuters, Wei said that he had told president Donald Trump that the additional $100bn (£73.96bn) of investment in the US, which was announced in March, would be difficult to complete in the next five years.
"[Trump] said, 'Mr Wei, do your best, that's good enough'," Wei said.
Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said that Wei calling out continued strong AI demand was "more good news for Nvidia (NVDA) investors, who are riding a wave of momentum after last week’s solid earnings report. Tariffs are likely pose a short-term risk, but underlying trends are pointing in one direction, and the AI train has well and truly left the station."
Shares in BioNTech (BNTX) surged 18% on Monday after it was announced that the company had signed a $11bn deal with Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) for the licensing of a next-generation cancer drug.
The companies announced on Monday that they had entered into an agreement for the global co-development and co-commercialisation of BioNTech's medicine, known as BNT327.
The deal will see BMS pay BioNTech $1.5bn in an upfront payment and $2bn total in "non-contingent anniversary payments" through 2028. BioNTech would also be eligible to receive up to $7.6bn in additional development, regulatory and commercial milestones.
The companies will share development and manufacturing costs for the drug on a fifty-fifty basis.
Ugur Sahin, CEO of BioNTech, said: "We believe BNT327 has the potential to become a foundational immuno-oncology backbone, moving beyond single-mechanism checkpoint inhibitors and expanding into multiple solid-tumor indications."
Shares in Applied Digital (APLD) soared nearly 50% higher on Monday after the company announced a $7bn deal with CoreWeave (CRWV), which is the cloud services provider backed by Nvidia (NVDA).
Applied Digital, which designs and operates digital infrastructure, announced on Monday that it had entered into two approximately 15-year lease agreements with CoreWeave.
Under the agreement, Applied Digital will deliver 250 megawatts of critical IT load to host CoreWeave's AI and high-performing computing (HPC) infrastructure at its Ellendale, North Dakota data center campus.
Applied Digital said it anticipating generating approximately $7bn in total revenue from the leases.
"We believe these leases solidify Applied Digital’s position as an emerging provider of infrastructure critical to the next generation of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing,” said Wes Cummins, CEO of Applied Digital.
"As demand for AI accelerates exponentially, we believe that we are uniquely positioned to deliver substantial returns while supporting the evolving and dynamic needs of these rapidly evolving sectors."
On the London market, British American Tobacco (BATS.L) were little changed on Tuesday morning, despite the firm raising its revenue guidance for the year.
In a pre-close trading update, Tadeu Marroco, CEO of BAT, said revenue performance for the first half of year was "slightly ahead" of previous guidance. As a result, he said the company now expected to deliver revenue growth of 1% to 2% for the full-year, compared to previous guidance of around 1%.
He added that the company's business in the US was expected to return to both revenue and profit growth in the first half and for the full year.
Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "At any given time, progress in the tobacco sector is hard-won and the increasing list of headwinds shows no sign of abating."
"Despite the tides of turbulence, investors [in BAT] have been handsomely rewarded of late for their patience," he said.
BAT shares are up more than 37% over the past year, compared to a 6% gain for the wider FTSE 100 (^FTSE). Hunter pointed out that BAT "remains committed to a higher level of shareholder returns including further buyback programmes, despite the investment needed in transitioning the company."
"BATS has also gained the support of investors in passing Imperial Brands (IMB.L) to become the preferred play in the sector, with the market consensus of the shares as a comfortable buy reflecting its continually resilient performance in response to the myriad of challenges."
