Yearly Archives: 2025

Investors cool on glamour US tech stocks

Uncertainty is the order of the day in the global stock market, with the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariff crusade and disruption of Big Tech stocks rippling out from the United States.A driving factor behind market volatility is a decline of the ‘Magnificent Seven’, comprising Apple, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, Amazon.com, Nvidia, Meta Platforms and Tesla.The stocks currently make up 33 percent of the Standard and Poor’s 500, or the S&P 500 – a stock market index tracking the performance of the US’ 500 leading listed companies. Roger Garrett, senior research analyst at Craigs Investment Partners, who specialises in international equities says the Magnificent Seven have a disproportionate impact on the S&P 500 largely due to their weighting. In the past couple of years they jointly drove more than 70 percent of the index’s returns .The stocks’ recent fall comes amid higher levels of uncertainty around America’s growth outlook: in March Federal Reserve officials cut forecasts for economic growth and raised projections for price growth as they kept interest rates on hold. Investors have also raised questions over the companies comprising the Mag Seven’s significant CapEx commitment in building out AI infrastructure. “The general level of uncertainty means investors are reducing risk. Investors are taking money out of equities, they are selling what they own, and they own a lot of the Mag Seven stocks,” Garrett says.Trump’s trade tariffs – and uncertainty over the impact of these – are another factor that have helped drive a broader market correction. Analysts and investors rely heavily on companies to supply information on the real exposure to the introduction and increase of tariffs, but this isn’t guaranteed. “In the latest earnings call, Apple wasn’t that forthcoming on the impacts of tariffs, but you have to remember, the large part of the assembly of Apple products occurs in China with parts coming from all over the world. Clearly there will be some impact from tariffs. “Tesla is impacted with production plants in Europe and China and soon to be Mexico – as well as in the US. Automotives are an industry that could see significant impacts from Trump’s tariff crusade, which he’s been quite vocal about.“I think as corporates in general gain more clarity on the impacts of tariff increases on their businesses, they will communicate their insights back to the investment community. An important part of what companies do is manage analyst or investor expectations.”Market disruptors and political controversy have also contributed to recent volatility. In January the launch of DeepSeek, a Chinese AI chatbot, spooked investors into a sell-off and contributed to US AI chip giant Nvidia losing more than a sixth of its value. The value of Nvidia, along with other tech firms connected to AI including Microsoft and Google, fell in the wake of DeepSeek’s sudden rise as it quickly became the most downloaded free app in the US.Tesla shares reached an all-time high of $479.86 in mid December, following Trump’s election and the subsequent instalment of Tesla founder Elon Musk as the President’s top adviser, before plummeting more than 50 percent by March. Garrett says high market concentrations pose risks in the form of accelerated market corrections or increased volatility. Investors looking to reduce risk in their portfolios will sell stocks and when this sell-off is broad-based it causes “relatively fast corrections” in stocks with significant weightings.Longer-term investors will likely see a price drop less as a pitfall and more as an opportunity. Market movements and volatility aside, Garrett notes that the fundamentals of these companies such as revenue growth, earnings growth and cash flow growth haven’t changed appreciably. “That’s for the Mag Six, maybe Tesla was a slightly different case,” Garrett adds. “The $15 trillion market cap for the Mag Seven is about 30 times the GDP of New Zealand. So it’s pretty significant in terms of returns.”New Zealand investors can access the Magnificent Seven stocks in different ways: buying shares directly, or through exchange-traded funds or index funds. The latter two give a broader exposure to the AI, or tech, theme. Garrett gives the example of Invesco QQQ, a technology-focused exchange-traded fund based on the Nasdaq-100 Index which backs large stocks such as the Magnificent Seven as well as early-stage tech companies.Local investors can also zoom out from AI-specific companies to focus on other areas of the ‘AI value chain’. “At one end you have the AI enablers, these are the chip companies like Nvidia, ASML, TSMC. Then next along the value chain, you’ve got the hyperscalers or the cloud service providers like Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Meta … building out the AI infrastructure and the data centres. Then you have the software companies like Salesforce and Adobe, which leverage the cloud service providers to provide AI solutions to their clients,” Garrett says. “Finally you have what are called adjacent industries. These provide services that essentially enable the whole AI chain to work, either providing electrification, because some of these data centres are very energy-hungry, or data centre cooling, or even some of the raw materials.”Garrett says that to date, most profits from the AI boom have come via the chip companies. This is expected to change over time, he says, as the build-out of infrastructure reaches a peak and profit pools move down the value chain. Uncertainty remains over timeframes and the outcomes for specific companies, he adds, and the pace of innovation is such that we don’t know how things will develop. “The risk with the enablers, the chip companies, remains relatively high – we’ve seen that with the volatility of stocks like Nvidia. That’s probably a more pure play on the general AI story. The cloud service providers such as Amazon and Microsoft have other revenue streams that help provide a little bit of balance in more volatile times.”Disclaimer: This information is general in nature and should not be regarded as specific investment advice. Craigs Investment Partners do not accept liability for the results of any actions taken or not taken upon the basis of this information, or for any negligent mis-statements, errors or omissions. Those acting upon this information and any recommendations do so entirely at their own risk. Craigs Investment Partners did not take into account the investment objectives, financial situation or particular needs of any particular person in the preparation of this information. This information does not constitute a representation that any investment strategy or recommendation is suitable to your individual circumstances or otherwise constitutes a personal recommendation. Craigs Investment Partners recommend seeking advice from a licenced financial adviser about your financial situation and goals before acquiring any financial products or making any investment decision. To talk to one of Craigs Investment Partners’ financial advisers, please call 0800 272 442. The Craigs Investment Partners Limited Financial Advice Provider Disclosure Statement can be viewed at craigsip.com/tcs. Visit craigsip.com.

Fusion R&D hub aims to break ground in Eastern Washington this summer

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and U.S. Sen Ron Wyden, D-Ore., view a replica of an Avalanche Energy fusion device at the Pacific Northwest Energy Summit in July 2024. (Avalanche Photo)

Seattle startup Avalanche Energy plans to open a first-of-its-kind facility for commercial-scale testing of radioactive fusion technologies in Eastern Washington.

The envisioned center, called FusionWERX, is a public-private partnership offering shared resources to universities, companies, and government labs in an effort to support fusion power producers and the sector’s supply chain. It aims to be one of the most advanced private-sector operations for handling tritium, a radioactive hydrogen isotope.

Robin Langtry, co-founder and CEO of Avalanche, compares the idea to the shared Lockheed Martin high-speed wind tunnel that he had access to when testing aerodynamic designs as a Blue Origin employee.

“There’s a really interesting model here,” Langtry said, that can spread costs among participants.

And the Pacific Northwest could be a good spot for such a resource. The region has established itself as a fusion hub with companies that include Avalanche, Zap Energy, Helion Energy, Kyoto Fusioneering, Altrusion and ExoFusion in Washington state, and General Fusion in British Columbia.

Fusion energy is created by smashing atoms together that fuse and release power — it’s the same reaction that fuels the Sun. Engineers can create fusion, but the challenge is capturing more energy from the system than it takes to generate the conditions needed for fusion to happen.

Avalanche is developing compact fusion devices that use tritium as a fuel, with a focus on space applications, driven in part by a Pentagon contract to develop nuclear-powered prototypes.

The interior of the planned FusionWERX facility in Richland, Wash. (Avalanche Photo)

“We always thought of ourselves as a space and defense fusion approach first, and then, as we perfect the technology, we’re going to move into clean energy,” Langtry said. “You’re seeing a huge amount of interest and funding go into defense and space companies.”

FusionWERX will take over an existing facility in the Tri-Cities town of Richland, Wash., which is home to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. The building was previously licensed for tritium operations and the new effort’s plans include blanket and shielding test beds, hot cells for handling radioactive materials, and systems for extracting, purifying and recycling tritium.

The site could also be used to produce radioisotopes for medical and space applications.

Langtry said they’re putting together private and public funding to build out the site, and expect to start construction this summer. He did not share cost estimates. About 15 Avalanche employees will be involved in the effort.

The region’s leaders have welcomed the initiative.

“Just as the United States chose the Tri-Cities to build the first fission reactor in 1943, we are overjoyed that Avalanche Energy will build the first-of-a-kind FusionWERX commercial-scale testbed in our region,” said Karl Dye, president and CEO of the Tri-Cities Development Council, in a statement.

The startup is looking for customers and partners whose work will compliment Avalanche’s research. The cost for using the facility could be an hourly fee.

Avalanche has raised $50 million from investors that include Chris Sacca’s Lowercarbon Capital, Founders Fund, Toyota Ventures, Azolla Ventures and others. It has received $8 million in government grants and contracts, and has 50 employees.

Big Tech’s tax bill is on the table in tariff talks

The UK is prepared to cut a tax that targets Silicon Valley, and other countries may follow suit.The UK is prepared to cut a tax that targets Silicon Valley, and other countries may follow suit.Dominic Preston is a news editor with over a decade’s experience in journalism. He previously worked at Android Police and Tech Advisor.The United Kingdom is preparing to respond to the series of tariffs President Donald Trump has introduced since taking office. New taxes on everything from pure-bred horses to bourbon are on the table, but the Labour government seems more interested in a conciliatory approach, and it’s considering sacrificing a popular tax on American tech companies in order to sweeten the deal.Prime Minister Keir Starmer has confirmed that trade talks have included “questions about the appropriate way to tax digital services,” as The Guardian reports that UK negotiators have offered to water down the Digital Services Tax (DST) in exchange for lower tariffs, following earlier reports that UK negotiators were willing to scrap the tax entirely. It’s a move that could save Silicon Valley tech giants hundreds of billions, while mounting pressure on other governments worldwide to follow suit. In the UK, it would signal capitulation to American big tech — but pragmatically, some think it might not be a huge loss.Instead of taxing profits — which are easy to obfuscate or assign to tax havens — the DST taxes tech companies at a rate of 2 percent based on the revenue generated from UK users, which is a little more cut-and-dried. It’s designed to target large search engines, social media networks, and online marketplaces, and the revenue thresholds are set intentionally high: in 2022, only 18 businesses paid the tax. Google, Amazon, Apple, and eBay have all confirmed that they pay it, and it’s likely that the majority of the others are American, too.Between them, the 18 companies paid £358 million (around $464 million) in the 2020–2021 tax year — a few million more than they collectively paid in Corporation Tax — and this year, the DST is expected to bring in more than double that. Still, that’s small fry on the scale of the UK’s annual tax take. “It’s really very modest and it’s kind of almost designed that way,” Claire Aston, director of think tank TaxWatch, told me, explaining that it’s been constructed to hit “a handful of major players.” The government itself admits the DST is meant to ensure that large businesses “make a fair contribution to supporting vital public services.” It’s as much about optics as it is about tax revenue, showing the British electorate that big tech is being made to pay its share.Up for negotiationPerhaps you can see why Trump isn’t a fan. “The Americans view it as discrimination,” explains Dan Neidle, head of the nonprofit Tax Policy Associates, and “they’re kind of correct.” A White House memorandum in February 2025 labeled the DST — and equivalent taxes in other countries — “extortive” and said it was “designed to plunder American companies,” threatening to impose tariffs in response. It seems that’s now happened, with “discriminatory practices affecting trade in digital products” cited in the executive order imposing Trump’s latest tariffs.The UK has avoided the worst of Trump’s tariffs so far. It’s subject to the 10 percent baseline tariff Trump has implemented worldwide, which is still in effect despite the pause on higher rates, but was never hit by one of the elevated tariffs initially assigned to the likes of China, Vietnam, and the European Union. But it was also hit by the earlier 25 percent tariffs on steel, aluminum, and cars — a particular problem when the auto industry is the UK’s single biggest exporter to the US, with 1 in 8 British cars going to American buyers. While the UK government insists that it doesn’t operate a trade deficit with the US — the main justification Trump’s AI-adjacent tariff math uses for imposing tariffs elsewhere — the DST gives American negotiators another excuse to impose its charges.The UK’s priority in negotiations has been escaping that 25 percent tariff on cars. Negotiators led by business secretary Jonathan Reynolds are trying to walk the line between stick — preparing retaliatory tariffs of their own — and carrot — offering concessions like cuts to the DST, reduced rates on imports of US beef and chicken, and a review of the controversial Online Safety Act. The DST might be a tempting sacrifice because the government is legally required to review the tax by the end of 2025, so a decision has to be made about its future either way. The Guardian reports that the latest offer is to reduce the headline tax rate while making up for it by lowering eligibility thresholds so that more companies have to pay up.Weakening the DST would be made easier by the fact that it’s often not the tech giants that foot the bill anyway. Google, Apple, and Amazon simply raised fees for advertisers and sellers, passing the costs on to British businesses — though, to its credit, eBay announced it would not. Then there’s X. There’s already been speculation that Elon Musk’s influence might be playing its part in negotiations since “it’s fairly clear X should pay the DST,” according to Neidle, though we don’t know for certain that it does — or if it raised its advertising rates to compensate. X might well be paying the 2 percent tax, but it’s just as likely that its British advertisers are.That makes it sound like the DST wouldn’t be missed, but there might be wider consequences from any concessions. If the UK folds, it could undercut other countries that have joined a global movement to tax big tech. More than a dozen countries, including Canada, France, and Italy, operate similar levies, and most have faced pressure from the US over them. India has already scrapped a similar 6 percent tax on digital advertisers, which lifted on April 1st — perhaps not coincidentally, just one day before Trump announced the latest tariffs. It wasn’t meant to be this wayThe thing is, none of these taxes were meant to still be around. The UK’s DST was introduced as a stopgap, a quick-and-dirty way to tax big tech while the country waited for the long-term fix: the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) international “two-pillar” solution to global corporate taxation. Officially announced in 2021, but in development for years before that, this solution is a two-step plan to fix international corporate tax: first, give countries the right to tax large multinational companies based on where they generate their revenue, rather than where they have their offices; second, introduce a global minimum corporate tax rate set at 15 percent. Put the two together, and you reduce the power of tax havens while helping smaller nations tax companies that profit from their citizens, regardless of where they’re based — but it only works if everyone is on board.Fortunately for the OECD, it had former President Joe Biden in its corner. While his administration threatened to impose tariffs on the UK and five other countries over digital services taxes, it lifted that threat when it was agreed the taxes were temporary measures that would only apply until the OECD’s first pillar came into effect. But things changed when Trump took power. Among his flurry of day-one executive orders, Trump put out a memorandum declaring that the OECD’s global deal “has no force or effect in the United States.” Experts I spoke to disagreed on what that meant for some details of the two-pillar plan but were unanimous on one thing: the plan to redistribute tax jurisdiction is dead.That leaves digital services taxes like the UK’s in the lurch. What were once quick fixes now need to last in the long term. The US would rather they disappear entirely but has pulled away the only prospect for a global replacement.“A cynical tax”If the UK succeeds in avoiding the worst of Trump’s tariffs by weakening its tax, without scrapping it entirely, expect to see that approach repeated elsewhere. Lowering rates allows Trump to claim that he’s saving Silicon Valley its money, while broadening the tax base allows him to spin the line that it no longer discriminates against the US, even though nationality was never among the eligibility criteria. And if the UK gets its numbers just right, it might avoid losing any tax revenue in the process.This may be exactly the kind of result that Trump’s tariffs were supposed to produce — strong-arming trading partners into concessions they would otherwise never have made — but the question for the UK, and other countries with similar taxes in place, is how much of a concession it really is.Aston, at least, is clear on that. When I ask her how she would improve the DST if she could, she’s bullish on its virtues. She supports an expansion to the thresholds, including widening the scope to pick up AI companies, which aren’t currently covered. She’s also in favor of raising the headline rate, not lowering it, on the basis that the UK still isn’t doing enough to tax the world’s biggest tech companies. Not everyone feels that way, though. Neidle calls the idea of raising the rate a “diplomatic minefield” and thinks it’s a “rubbish tax” anyway. Instead of saving the Digital Services Tax, he argues we should “identify specific new ways that tax is being avoided” and close them down. And if this tax gets traded to Trump in the meantime, so be it.“It’s a cynical tax,” Neidle tells me. “And if we get rid of it for a cynical reason, that seems entirely fitting.”Dominic Preston19 minutes agoJess Weatherbed11:15 AM UTCSean Hollister1:19 AM UTCMost Popular

Worcester Tech students head to nat’l contest after scoring big in SkillsUSA competition

Members of the SkillsUSA team from Worcester Technical High School are pictured at last month’s state competition in Westminster.
By Tara Fischer
Staff Writer
After a successful run at their state competition, Worcester Technical High School’s SkillsUSA participants are gearing up for the national contest, where the students will display their real-world abilities as they compete against peers from across the country.
This June, over 20 Worcester Tech students will travel to Atlanta, Georgia, for the week-long SkillsUSA national competition in various categories, including TeamWorks and Opening and Closing.
SkillsUSA is a workforce development organization with chapters scattered in schools across the United States. The program allows students to master hands-on occupational skills and focus on career readiness. SkillsUSA prioritizes teamwork, communication, professionalism, and leadership to ensure success beyond high school.
“They are doing adult work and doing it a lot better than a lot of adults that I know,” WTHS Principal Tony Bevilacqua said of his school’s SkillsUSA students.
According to Worcester Tech SkillsUSA advisor Rick Stephens, 89% of the school’s 79 participants placed in the Maryland competition’s top 10, 73% placed in the top five, and 57% placed in the top three.
Additionally, the local skills group boasted over 20 first-place winners across categories like Medical Math, Robotics and Automation Technology, TeamWorks, Opening and Closing, Technical Computer Application, Related Technical Math, Robotics Urban Search and Rescue, Pin Design, and Extemporaneous Speaking.
The first-place winners and WTHS’s two SkillsUSA Maryland State Officers will attend the country-wide competition from June 22 to 28. As such, the tech school is looking to raise approximately $100,000 to cover hotel stays, flights, registration fees, and food, in addition to other necessary costs.
Stephens added that an additional mobile robotics silver medalist team would represent Maryland at nationals, as the gold medalists from another district cannot attend.
The national championship will allow local students to showcase their skills on the big stage.
The WTHS young learners heading to the summer contest will compete in several categories, including the collaborative program known as TeamWorks. TeamWorks consists of groups of four, each specializing as either a carpenter, a plumber, a mason, or an electrician, as they work together to produce a construction project.
Aidan Parks, Kathie Maldonado, Tyler Kulyk, and Destin Duncan took gold in the Team Works competition. Students had to demonstrate precise carpentry, plumbing, electrical, and masonry skills in this highly competitive match up.
Worcester Tech students Aidan Parks, Kathie Maldonado, Tyler Kilyk, and Destin Duncan placed first in last month’s Maryland championship. Now, the group is preparing to advance to the next level.
“[TeamWorks] is supposed to imitate building a house and all the parts of building a house,” said Duncan, the team’s plumber. “It’s called TeamWorks because you do work as a team … I can’t do my plumbing unless [the carpenter] has the wood up, and I have to help him with the wood, so I had to cross-train to assist him…It gives you real-world obstacles and teaches you how to overcome them.”
The student added that, as a member of Worcester Tech’s state-awarded TeamWorks group, the skills he gained will last a lifetime.
“The more you put in, the more you get out of it,” Duncan continued. “I will never forget how to plumb.”
The students emphasize that SkillsUSA is a beneficial program that prepares them for their careers beyond high school graduation.
Heydein Flores, among the students representing the Opening and Closing category at the June championship, said that the skills learned will aid in occupational environments. The Opening and Closing Ceremonies evaluate a seven-member team on their ability to open and close a proceeding, ceremony or formal gathering professionally.
“The thing about [SkillsUSA] is that there are so many different competitions that for whatever pathway you do, whatever your skill is, there is a competition to match it,” Flores said. “As for our team, we are practicing professionalism … even in general competitions where you’re speaking, you’re learning how to prepare yourself for the workplace.”
Bevilacqua added that the Opening and Closing program will help the juveniles advance their careers and take on roles requiring them to conduct meetings, like a town’s planning and zoning commission.
“[SkillsUSA] is a student organization that when students join, they do stuff because they have to train, they have to compete,” the principal said. “Everybody here has learned something they can carry to the next level at college and beyond. This is the most real-world club that a student can join.”
Stephens sits on the SkillsUSA Maryland Board of Directors. The educator maintained that he sees programs throughout the state as part of this role. Yet, he said that nothing compares to Worcester Tech.
“No other kids can match our kids,” he noted. “Our kids are just awesome. We are very lucky.”
A hybrid team of students from Nursing, Cosmology, Computer Science and Pre-Engineering are pictured with their gold medal.
The advisor added that the school’s support plays a part in the program’s success.
“Our staff here is amazing,” he said. “All the teachers and advisors help get [the SkillsUSA students] ready. They miss a lot of class time once in a while to get ready, especially during states. [The teachers] help them keep their grades up and are very supportive of them.”
In an effort to ensure the championship run continues in Georgia, the team is seeking donations to cover the nearly $100,000 cost of attending the national championship. To donate, call the tech school at 410-632-5050 or email wths@worcesterk12.org for a donation link page.