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Congress insists on the Sriperumbudur seat, the memorial site of Rajiv Gandhi. K Selvaperunthagai, the incumbent MLA, is seeking reelection. However, his campaign faces challenges as constituents express dissatisfaction with his limited visits. He acknowledges the difficulty in frequent constituency visits due to his role as TNCC chief. View More
Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz in the war with the U.S. and Israel, creating an oil supply crunch and sending global energy prices soaring. View More
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks at the start of a Cabinet meeting to mark the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, at Downing Street in London, Feb. 24, 2026.Wpa Pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he is "fed up" seeing energy bills in the U.K. swing up and down because of actions taken by U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.The comments, in an interview with ITV News' Talking Politics podcast dated Thursday, aired as oil prices â which have soared during the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran â fluctuated amid a fragile two-week ceasefire."I'm fed up with the fact that families across the country see their bills go up and down on energy, businesses' bills go up and down on energy, because of the actions of Putin or Trump across the world," Starmer said.Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, setting off a yearslong war that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and roiled the global economy. Read more CNBC politics coverageTrump praises Hungary PM Viktor Orbán after Vance calls him at Budapest rallyBill Gates interview about Jeffrey Epstein by House Oversight set for June 10House Democrats call on federal regulator to crack down on offshore prediction market war bets White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly defended Trump's actions."Many world leaders have spent decades talking about the threat posed by Iran, but doing nothing about it," she said by email. "President Trump took courageous action to ensure Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon, and as he said, we are far along with a definitive agreement to deliver lasting peace."Starmer also said Israel was "wrong" to order deadly strikes on Lebanon during the ceasefire. Iran has accused the U.S. of violating the terms of the ceasefire, pointing in part to the Lebanon strikes. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
The married filing separately status could affect eligibility for President Donald Trump's tax breaks this season. Here's what filers need to know. View More
Simpleimages | Moment | Getty Images Every year, married couples decide whether to file taxes jointly or separately. That choice could affect their 2025 taxes in new ways amid changes enacted in President Donald Trump's "big beautiful bill." Generally, the tax code favors the "married filing jointly" status, which combines a couple's income, credits and deductions onto a single return. "Married filing separately" creates two returns with each spouse's allocation for earnings and tax breaks. "We've seen a handful of cases where married filing separately makes sense," said financial planner Gregory Guenther, owner of Grantvest Financial Group in Matawan, N.J. "But it's usually a very specific, numbers-driven decision rather than a broad strategy." More from Women and Wealth:How married filing separately could affect Trump's tax breaks this seasonExpecting to fight about money with your partner? You might be wrong: studyBelle Burden's 'Strangers' highlights key financial red flags for womenSingle women see homeownership as 'a wealth-building tool,' economist saysMore women pursue skilled trades â here's what some said about their experienceOlder women may inherit most of $54 trillion in spousal 'great wealth transfer'Couples often miss this 'overlooked tax break' for retirement savers: CFPWomen and the K-shaped economy: Lower pay, affordability issues reduce spending During tax year 2023, more than 55.5 million couples opted for married filing jointly compared with about 4.1 million who filed separately, according to the latest IRS data.Typically, joint filers pay less income tax due to wider tax brackets, which means couples can earn more before reaching the next tier. There's also a higher standard deduction, worth $31,500 for married couples filing jointly, compared with $15,750 for those filing separately for 2025. The downsides of filing separately Filing separately can bring "unintended consequences," according to Lawrence Pon, a certified financial planner with advisory firm Pon & Associates in Redwood City, California. For example, couples lose eligibility for Roth individual retirement account contributions or the deduction for traditional IRA deposits once modified adjusted gross income reaches $10,000.Plus, you may not qualify for certain tax breaks, including Trump's new deductions for tip income, overtime earnings or seniors, which have been popular claims for many filers this season. Filing separately can also block or reduce existing tax breaks, such as the student loan interest deduction, education credits, and the child and dependent care tax credit, among others. When married filing separately makes sense While filing separately has downsides, the choice could pay off for certain taxpayers this season, depending on their situation, experts said. Some high-earning couples in high-tax states could improve the value of their itemized deductions by filing separately, according to Guenther.That could include the federal deduction limit for state and local taxes, known as SALT, which Trump's legislation boosted to $40,000, or $20,000 for separate filers, for 2025. Another example is if one spouse qualifies for the medical expense deduction, another itemized tax break, which is only available when those costs exceed 7.5% of adjusted gross income for the year. However, when filing separately, both spouses either must itemize or use the standard deduction, which may not benefit both partners, experts say. "It's rarely a slam dunk," Guenther said. Itâs rarely a slam dunk.Gregory GuentherOwner of Grantvest Financial Group Of course, advisors need to run tax projections both ways â filing jointly and filing separately â to see which option offers the better result. That could be different from year to year. Generally, "married filing separately is more of a tactical move for a specific year than a long-term strategy," Guenther said. "It only makes sense when the benefit is clear and measurable," he said. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
Meta's additional spending commitments with CoreWeave will be deployed from 2027 to 2032. View More
In this articleCRWVMETAFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Arda Kucukkaya | Anadolu | Getty Images Meta has committed to spending an additional $21 billion on AI cloud infrastructure from CoreWeave, which comes on top of a prior arrangement of $14.2 billion, as the social media company continues to ramp up its investments in artificial intelligence.CoreWeave also said Thursday it would raise $3 billion in fresh debt. The shares rose 3.5%, while Meta shares gained 2.6%.The new agreement, announced on Thursday, runs from 2027 to 2032. The previous deal, disclosed in September, goes through 2031. CoreWeave's data centers are filled with hundreds of thousands of Nvidia graphics processing units that can accommodate AI models, offering a key piece of infrastructure that hyperscalers need for rapidly expanding to meet what they describe as insatiable demand. While Meta and its peers are building out their own facilities, they need capacity from companies like CoreWeave, which also serves Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and others. In March, Meta said it would spend $10 billion on a Texas data center. "Sure, they can buy compute," CoreWeave CEO Mike Intrator told CNBC in an interview. "Yet, for some reason, all these people who can buy compute also feel the need to buy it from us, because of the quality of the product that we deliver."In Meta's last earnings report, the company said it plans to shell out between $115 billion and $135 billion this year in capital expenditures, above Wall Street's estimates and nearly twice the amount it spent on capex in 2025. Read more CNBC tech newsMeta's long-awaited AI model is finally here. But can it make money?Google expands partnership with Intel for AI chipsOpenAI halts UK stargate project amid regulatory and energy price concernsAnthropic loses appeals court bid to temporarily block Pentagon blacklisting While Meta's core advertising business has benefited from the focus on AI, the company has struggled to get traction in the world of AI models currently dominated by OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. Meta has spent lavishly to form a Superintelligence Labs group that develops advanced AI models, and on Wednesday announced its new model called Muse Spark.Meta has had partnered with CoreWeave since 2023, and Intrator said his company's infrastructure allows Meta to make better use of all the AI talent it's acquired. "They hired from across the space, people who have used infrastructure from all different folks, and they came back to us," Intrator said.A Meta spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the CoreWeave deal is "part of our portfolio-based approach to infrastructure, as we invest in capacity for our AI ambitions." watch nowVIDEO3:0603:06Why Metaâs new AI model, Muse Spark, is such a big dealTech The new business will help CoreWeave further diversify away from Microsoft, which represented 62% of its 2024 revenue. Now no customer will represent more than 35% of total sales, Intrator said. CoreWeave, which went public last year, held $21 billion in debt on its balance sheet at the end of 2025, and in March borrowed another $8.5 billion to add infrastructure tied to new contracts. The company's stock has gained 24% so far this year, while the S&P 500 has fallen about 1% in the same period. Meta is down about 7% after rallying on Wednesday following the new model announcement. Intrator expects CoreWeave's Meta relationship to grow further, even as the Facebook parent opens more data centers. "They're going to continue to do it themselves, but they're also going to continue to do it with us," he said. "There's just too much risk not to."WATCH: Meta unveils Muse Spark AI model to rival top chatbots watch nowVIDEO4:0704:07Meta unveils Muse Spark AI model to rival top chatbotsHalftime Report Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
Amazon shares have struggled so far this year as investors question the company's aggressive AI spending plans. View More
In this articleAMZNFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT watch nowVIDEO2:5002:50Amazon's letter to shareholders: Here's what you need to knowSquawk on the Street Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on Thursday released his annual shareholder letter and once again made the case to Wall Street investors that the company's huge investments in artificial intelligence are worthwhile. "We're not going to be conservative in how we play this â we're investing to be the meaningful leader, and our future business, operating income, and [free cash flow] will be much larger because of it," Jassy wrote.The company disclosed in February that it expects to spend roughly $200 billion this year on capital expenditures, with the lion's share going toward AI infrastructure, including data centers, chips and networking equipment. That's more than any of its tech peers, and a nearly 60% increase from last year.Amazon shares have struggled so far this year as investors question the company's aggressive AI spending plans and grow increasingly impatient about when the investments will pay off. Amazon shares closed up 5.6% on Thursday. The stock is up more than 1% year to date.Jassy has said that Amazon needs the capital to go after "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" and to keep pace with "very high demand" for the company's AI compute.He reiterated that argument on Thursday and also disclosed for the first time that AI revenue in its cloud computing segment has hit a $15 billion annual run rate. Read more CNBC tech newsMeta's long-awaited AI model is finally here. But can it make money?Google expands partnership with Intel for AI chipsOpenAI halts UK stargate project amid regulatory and energy price concernsAnthropic loses appeals court bid to temporarily block Pentagon blacklisting "We're not investing approximately $200 billion in capex in 2026 on a hunch," Jassy wrote. He noted specifically the over $100 billion commitment from OpenAI, adding that Amazon has received customer commitments for "a substantial portion" of the capex spend and expects to monetize most of it next year and in 2028. Amazon's custom chip business, which includes Graviton processors, Trainium AI chips and Nitro architecture, has notched an annual revenue run rate of more than $20 billion, and is "growing triple digit percentages" year over year, Jassy said. Amazon announced separately Thursday it plans to spend $12 billion on new data centers in central Mississippi, bringing its total investment in the state to $25 billion. It said it plans to cover "all expenses for new energy infrastructure" and any upgrades to local power grids.Jassy, who became CEO in 2021 when founder Jeff Bezos stepped down, called back to his predecessor's message to Wall Street decades earlier, when Amazon remained unprofitable for many years. Bezos argued that long-term growth was more important than short-term profits, testing investors' patience. In the process, Amazon invested significant sums in cloud computing, warehouses and devices. Amazon eventually churned out sizable profits and grew to dominate new markets.Jassy said Amazon is seizing on opportunities that could become big "pillars," or growth engines, for the company over time. He pointed to the chips business, which is "on fire," and highlighted growth in its grocery unit, rapid delivery service and nascent Leo satellite internet offering. "We are willing to make large capex investments and endure short-term FCF headwinds for the substantial medium to long-term FCF surplus," Jassy said. Stock Chart IconStock chart iconAmazon year-to-date stock chart. watch nowVIDEO3:4603:46AWS CEO Matt Garman on Amazonâs AI investments: There isnât just one winnerMoney Movers Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
Google has committed to using multiple generations of Intel chips to power its AI data centers, in an expansion of an existing partnership. View More
In this articleNVDAINTCTSMGOOGLFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Intel Xeon 6 processors are shown to CNBC at Intel's advanced packaging facility in Chandler, Arizona, on November 17, 2025.Tony Puyol Google has committed to using multiple generations of Intel central processing units in its artificial intelligence data centers, an expansion of an existing partnership.Intel shares gained nearly 5% on Thursday while Alphabet closed marginally higher.The internet giant has long relied on Intel processors, dating back to its earliest server rack ambitions nearly three decades ago. Intel's newest Xeon 6 CPUs will now run AI training and inference workloads, potentially giving the chipmaker a stronger position in an AI market that's so far been dominated by Nvidia. "Their Xeon roadmap gives us confidence that we can continue to meet the growing performance and efficiency demands of our workloads," Amin Vahdat, Google's chief technologist for AI infrastructure, said in a statement Thursday. No financial terms were disclosed, nor did the companies provide a timeline for the agreement. The deal lands as the CPU takes center stage in the next phase of the AI race. Dion Harris, Nvidia's head of AI infrastructure, told CNBC in March that CPUs are "becoming the bottleneck" as agentic workloads move compute needs beyond the graphics processing units that have ruled AI thus far."Scaling AI requires more than accelerators â it requires balanced systems," Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said in a statement about the Google deal on Thursday. Read more CNBC tech newsMeta's long-awaited AI model is finally here. But can it make money?Google expands partnership with Intel for AI chipsOpenAI halts UK stargate project amid regulatory and energy price concernsAnthropic loses appeals court bid to temporarily block Pentagon blacklisting Intel, which has been struggling for years to keep pace with new trends in technology, sold a 10% stake to the U.S. government in August, with the Trump administration touting the chipmaker's ability to make advanced chips on U.S. soil. The following month, Nvidia said it would purchase a $5 billion stake in Intel. Shares of Intel have nearly tripled in the past year, fueled by those investments. Intel makes the latest Xeon processor on its most advanced 18A technology at its Arizona chip fabrication plant that opened last year. Despite pouring billions into the foundry side of its business, Intel's own processors remain the largest customer at the new fab. But Tan posted on LinkedIn earlier this week that Elon Musk has tapped Intel to design, fabricate and package custom chips for SpaceX, xAI and Tesla at his ambitious Terafab project in Texas, though no financial details or timeline were announced.As part of Thursday's announcement, Google and Intel reiterated that they're collaborating on another type of chip, the infrastructure processing unit, or IPU, which the two companies have worked on together since 2022. In a press release, Intel said this programmable accelerator is used to "offload networking, storage and security functions from host CPUs." Google told CNBC in an email that the IPU was a first-of-its-kind chip when the companies first collaborated on it four years ago. Google said it's designed to help customers better utilize the main CPU in a traditional data center by taking over "overhead" tasks, such as routing network traffic, managing storage, encrypting data and running virtualization software.For more than a decade, Google has also developed its own custom AI accelerator called the tensor processor unit, or TPU. In 2024, Google also started making its own custom CPU, Axion, choosing an Arm-based design over Intel's leading x86 architecture.â CNBC's Kristina Partsinevelos contributed to this report.WATCH: How advanced packaging became the next bottleneck for making AI chips watch nowVIDEO15:1815:18Nvidia snaps up capacity as TSMC and Intel ramp chip packaging in the U.S.Tech Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
The land parcel, expected to fetch about ?3,400 crore for AstraZeneca Pharma India, has drawn interest from developers including the Sattva Group, Aurobindo Pharma and RMZ. The company is looking to sell it as part of a broader land monetisation strategy. View More
Bengaluru: The Indian unit of biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is planning to sell its 64-acre manufacturing facility in North Bengaluru as part of a review of its global manufacturing and supply network by its UK-based parent. The land parcel, expected to fetch about ₹3,400 crore for AstraZeneca Pharma India, has drawn interest from developers including the Sattva Group , Aurobindo Pharma and RMZ. The company is looking to sell it as part of a broader land monetisation strategy. "AstraZeneca has already shortlisted the three players and is expected to award the land to the winning bidder very soon," said one of the people. Located in a prime North Bengaluru corridor, the land is valued at more than ₹53 crore per acre as per market experts. While the asset had been tested in the market earlier, deal closures were hindered by elevated pricing expectations. "The company has previously indicated it would position the facility as a running asset, while seeking a buyer who could also operate as a contract manufacturing organisation for products currently manufactured or packaged at the site, subject to regulatory approvals," said a person aware of its plans. "The firm now wants to exit the land with scope to build commercial and residential projects." Live Events AstraZeneca Pharma, Sattva, Aurobindo Pharma and RMZ could not be reached for comment. The Bengaluru facility is one of nine global sites of AstraZeneca focused on clinical trial design, safety and efficacy monitoring, and regulatory compliance across product life cycles. AstraZeneca Pharma India, headquartered in Bengaluru, was established in 1979. The planned divestment comes amid a broader trend of companies and institutions monetising non-core land assets, driven by rising land values in key cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune. Developers are actively acquiring such parcels to replenish land banks, with players like Godrej Properties and Prestige Group leading transactions in recent quarters. .Pbanner{display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;background-color:#ec1c40;margin-top:20px;padding:5px 10px;border-radius:4px;color:#fff;line-height:10px;} .Pbannertext{display:flex;align-items:center;font-size:16px;font-weight:600;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannertext img{height:20px;margin:0 6px} .Pbannerbutton a{display:flex;align-items:center;background-color:#fff;color:#ec1c40;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;padding:4px 8px;border-radius:6px;font-size:15px;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannerbutton img{height:20px;margin-right:6px} .Pbannerbutton a:hover{background-color:#f7f7f7} Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel) (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
More than a dozen other states are considering similar bans as fears around centers and high energy prices grow. View More
watch nowVIDEO2:0302:03Maine halts data center buildoutMoney Movers Maine is poised to implement the first statewide ban on data center construction, a move that could clear the way for other states to adopt similar measures and pump the brakes on a growing industry.Lawmakers in Maine greenlit the text of a bill this week to block data centers from being built in the state until November 2027. The measure, which is expected to get final passage in the next few days, also creates a council to suggest potential guardrails for data centers to ensure they don't lead to higher energy prices or other complications for Maine residents. While the bill has garnered bipartisan support, it's faced fierce opposition from tech groups and businesses worried that even a short delay in construction would set the state back. Glenn Adams, business development director for Sargent Corp., said anywhere that puts a pause on data centers, even a temporary one, will fall behind. The Maine-based building company is constructing data centers in Virginia and North Carolina."Things are going so fast. There's a race against other countries," he said in an interview. "If Maine says 'no,' we're saying no to all these companies, to potential developers and investors, and they can quite quickly go somewhere else." Read more CNBC politics coverageTrump praises Hungary PM Viktor Orbán after Vance calls him at Budapest rallyBill Gates interview about Jeffrey Epstein by House Oversight set for June 10House Democrats call on federal regulator to crack down on offshore prediction market war bets While Maine hasn't attracted a major data center project, several smaller ones are under construction or in early planning stages. Even without major investment, data centers and their potential impacts are becoming a flashpoint in politics across the U.S. as thousands of new projects are underway as part of the artificial intelligence boom. A fear of increasing electricity prices is a particular pain point in Maine, which already has one of the highest rates in the U.S., according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Seth Berry, executive director Our Power, a nonprofit focused on energy in Maine, said a pause would give time to find ways to increase energy supply in the state and prevent costs from rising further. "If data centers are allowed to increase those costs even more, and we aren't prepared for the data center gold rush, it could really be devastating especially for our lower- and working-class populations," he said. Berry said even if companies pledge to build their own power supply along with data centers, it likely wouldn't be enough to offset an increase in electricity costs. Maine businesses challenging potential ban But business has pushed back, saying more companies paying for the cost of electricity in the state will take the burden off of homeowners. Maine has lost much of its pulp and paper industry in the last few decades, leaving a gap data centers could fill said Maine State Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Patrick Woodcock.Woodcock also said Maine already has a "significant" permitting process to ensure new data centers don't blow up electric bills or harm the environment. Erik Isakson | Digitalvision | Getty Images "We have a robust regulatory process, and that process can be applied to these data centers," Woodcock said. "So we certainly think that they should be reviewed, that they should go through a state permitting process. But a moratorium is the wrong approach."Maine might become the first state to hit pause on building data centers, but it's not the only one considering a construction hiatus. Bills to temporarily halting data center construction have been introduced in at least dozen states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. That includes Virginia and Georgia, two data center hotspots where Meta, Google, Microsoft and others are building data centers, although Georgia's legislature gaveled out before a data center ban could be taken up. All eyes on Maine Gov. Janet Mills Maine's bill has a few steps to go through before becoming law, notably whether Gov. Janet Mills will exercise her veto power. Mills asked lawmakers to include an exemption for several areas of the state where data center construction could continue. However, an amendment to do so was stuck down in the House, 29 to 115. Complicating Mills' decision is her campaign to become Maine's next senator. Mills is facing off against Graham Platner, an oyster farmer, in a high-profile Democratic primary. Platner is leading Mills in most recent polls by double digits. Mills' office didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment."Threatening a veto is not going to be a popular position," Berry said. "She really needs the support of Maine people right now for her senate campaign."Correction: Patrick Woodcock is president and CEO of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce. An earlier version misstated the name of the organization. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
