2025 October 31 · 24-Hour AI Briefing: Apple’s Steady Growth, Amazon’s Cloud Revival, and OpenAI’s 1-Gigawatt Data Center Push
In another intense day for the tech world, Apple, Amazon, and OpenAI each revealed major moves that define different stages of the AI race — one strengthening its ecosystem, one reigniting its cloud engine, and another scaling AI infrastructure to a new energy frontier.
1. Apple: Hardware and Services Drive Growth, But AI Still Lags
Apple released its fiscal Q4 2025 results, reporting 102.5 billion USD in revenue, up 7.9% year-over-year.
iPhone revenue reached 49 billion USD, a 6.1% increase, while Mac revenue grew 12.7%, mainly driven by the success of the MacBook Air.
All regions posted growth except Greater China, which saw a slight year-over-year decline. Services revenue hit 28.8 billion USD, exceeding market expectations of 28.2 billion USD.
Commentary:
Apple continues its steady trajectory, powered by a dual engine of hardware and services. Both iPhone and Mac rebounded, demonstrating the resilience of high-end consumer demand. The MacBook Air’s strong rebound — alongside a global PC shipment increase of 10.3% — highlights a recovering PC market.
However, Apple’s AI strategy remains underwhelming. Apple Intelligence and Siri lag behind competitors, signaling a more cautious stance as the generative AI wave reshapes the industry.
2. Amazon: Cloud and Ads Lead Growth, But AI Strategy Faces Pressure
Amazon reported fiscal Q3 2025 net sales of 180.17 billion USD, up 13% from last year.
Advertising brought in 17.6 billion USD, a 22% increase, while AWS surged 20.2%, reaching a 200 billion USD backlog by the end of the quarter.
Commentary:
Amazon’s “cloud + ads + e-commerce” model continues to deliver. AWS returning to 20%+ growth signals enduring enterprise demand amid the generative AI boom. Its advertising business also showcases the strength of AI-driven targeting and monetization.
Yet, Amazon still trails in the AI product race. Microsoft has Copilot and a deep partnership with OpenAI; Google has Gemini. Amazon lacks an equivalent flagship AI platform.
While AWS remains a solid foundation, its AI ecosystem feels trapped in the infrastructure layer, without a breakout product to match its rivals’ innovation pace.
3. OpenAI × Oracle: Building a 1-Gigawatt Data Center and Expanding the Stargate Project
OpenAI, Oracle, and developer Related Digital announced plans to construct a 1-gigawatt AI data center complex in Saline, Michigan.
The project, part of the ongoing Stargate compute initiative, will add 4.5 gigawatts of new compute capacity and is scheduled to break ground in early 2026.
Commentary:
This marks OpenAI’s shift from model innovation to infrastructure self-reliance. A 1-gigawatt facility — comparable to a mid-sized nuclear plant — underscores the immense energy appetite of next-generation AI models.
As the fourth phase of Stargate, the project reinforces the inevitability of global AI infrastructure expansion. With Meta, Google, and xAI racing to build similar supercomputing hubs, OpenAI’s scale and speed have made it a central force in the global AI arms race.
Conclusion
From Apple’s steady product ecosystem, to Amazon’s cloud revival, to OpenAI’s massive infrastructure push, the AI race has entered a deeper phase — one defined not just by algorithms and software, but by energy, hardware, and capital.
In the second half of the AI era, the real question is no longer “who builds the smartest model,” but “who can afford to sustain intelligence itself.”
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