Plus: Amazon reports higher revenue in the second quarter from its cloud-computing business. And a data-center developer working with Anthropic plans to borrow $15 billion for a new Texas campus, with backing from Google. Julie Chang hosts.
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[00:00:25] [SPEAKER_00] Work is less work with Gemini Enterprise from Google Cloud.
[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_01] Here's your afternoon TNB Tech Minute for Thursday, July 30th. I'm Julie Chang for The Wall Street Journal. In earnings, Apple reported record June quarter sales powered by strong consumer demand for last year's iPhone lineup and surprising strength for Mac computers. iPhone sales grew 21% in the period, ahead of Wall Street expectations. Apple has taken steps to redesign its software and add a lower-cost option to its smartphone offerings.
[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_01] Total revenue came in at $109.4 billion for the quarter, about 15% higher than the year-earlier period, and slightly above forecasts. Looking ahead, Apple plans to launch an upgraded Siri assistant in the fall, but faces ongoing pressure from elevated component costs. Amazon reported higher revenue in the second quarter from Amazon Web Services, its cloud computing business, driven by AI demand.
[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_01] Sales by AWS grew 37% year-over-year, its fastest growth rate since 2022. Revenue grew 20% to over $200 billion, and net income reached $62.2 billion, both beating estimates. Amazon has been among the most aggressive hyperscalers on capital spending, and it also has the largest cloud business.
[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_01] The company has been an Anthropik investor since 2023, and in April said it would invest as much as $25 billion in new capital into the fast-growing AI developer. As part of the agreement, Anthropic said it would purchase more than $100 billion of Amazon's cloud services. And we exclusively report that Nexus Data Centers is in talks to borrow $15 billion to build a new campus and power plant in Texas for Anthropic.
[00:02:15] [SPEAKER_01] People familiar with the matter say the project will be backed by financial guarantees from Google. Under the deal being discussed, a consortium of banks led by Morgan Stanley would lend the funds. The campus would have its own natural gas power plant capable of generating 1.6 gigawatts of electricity. Anthropic plans to fill the site with Tensor processing units. The chip Google co-designs with Broadcom. Sources say Google is expected to receive an equity stake of roughly 20% in the project.
[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_01] News Corp, owner of the Wall Street Journal, has a commercial agreement to supply content on Google platforms. For a deeper dive into what's happening in tech, check out Friday's Tech News Briefing podcast.
[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_00] What happens when work becomes too much work? The disconnected systems, the updates, the scramble to make every customer feel like your only customer. But right now, Virgin Voyages is using Gemini Enterprise to turn millions of data points into a virtual concierge that fields endless guest questions. So crew members can focus on world-class hospitality at sea. No more digging, scrolling or scrambling.
[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_00] Work is less work with Gemini Enterprise from Google Cloud.