Morning brief: Asia stocks rise, OpenAI nears $100B funding

On Thursday, gains in Asian equities tracked Wall Street’s technology rally, while safe-haven demand lingered amid uncertainty over US–Iran relations.

Meanwhile, OpenAI’s massive fundraising plans, courtroom testimony from Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, and a new US executive order affecting agricultural chemicals highlighted broader economic and policy developments.

Asian equities advance on tech rally and Fed outlook

Asian stocks rose, supported by technology gains in the United States.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 0.42%, while Japan’s Nikkei added 0.72% and South Korea’s Kospi jumped about 3% to a record high.

India's Nifty 50 fell 0.56%.

The rally followed news that Nvidia had signed a multiyear agreement to supply Meta Platforms with “millions” of its current and future artificial intelligence chips.

Market sentiment also stabilized after a technology selloff earlier in the month.

Oil prices held recent gains as investors weighed the risk of conflict between the United States and Iran.

Brent crude zoomed past $71 a barrel after a sharp rise in the prior session, while US crude traded above $65.

Gold remained supported by safe-haven flows.

Currency markets reflected a cautious outlook.

The dollar strengthened after Federal Reserve minutes showed policymakers were not in a hurry to cut rates and some were open to hikes if inflation persists.

Sterling approached a one-month low, the yen remained near 155 per dollar, and the euro weakened amid reports that European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde may leave early.

OpenAI pursues record-scale AI financing

OpenAI is nearing the first phase of a funding round expected to raise more than $100 billion, according to Bloomberg.

The financing could value the company above $850 billion, while its pre-money valuation would remain $730 billion.

Strategic investors, including Amazon, SoftBank, Nvidia, and Microsoft, are expected to anchor the round, with commitments potentially approaching $100 billion.

The funds will support the expansion of data centers, chips, and computing capacity.

The company’s cash burn was estimated at $9 billion in 2025.

Proceeds will also help support agreements with infrastructure partners such as Broadcom, Oracle and CoreWeave.

OpenAI has outlined plans to invest up to $500 billion through a project called Stargate, later expanding ambitions to roughly $1.4 trillion globally.

In India, the company has partnered with Tata Group and Tata Consultancy Services to deploy artificial intelligence across business operations and build a 100-megawatt data center that could scale to 1 gigawatt.

Zuckerberg testifies over youth access and engagement metrics

Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg testified in a Los Angeles courtroom during a trial examining whether social media platforms knowingly created addictive products for minors.

A plaintiff identified as KGM alleges she became addicted to Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube after beginning to use Instagram at age nine.

During questioning, Zuckerberg acknowledged enforcement challenges regarding age restrictions.

Users under 13 are not allowed on Instagram, but he said there are “a meaningful number of people who lie about their age to use our services.”

Zuckerberg was also asked about engagement goals.

He said Meta tracks usage to compare performance with competitors such as TikTok.

“It's different than us trying to just increase time,” he said. “Just us trying to see how we're stacking up in the industry.”

He added that Meta chose to allow beauty filters to support free expression but noted the company should not design or recommend them itself.

The trial could influence thousands of similar cases, while Meta and Google both deny the allegations.

Trump invokes Defense Production Act for glyphosate output

Separately, President Donald Trump issued an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act to expand domestic production of phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides.

“I find that ensuring robust domestic elemental phosphorus mining and United States-based production of glyphosate-based herbicides is central to American economic and national security,” Trump said in the order. “Without immediate Federal action, the United States remains inadequately equipped and vulnerable.”

The administration said losing access to either chemical could “leave our defense industrial base and food supply vulnerable to hostile foreign actors,” noting there is only one domestic producer.

Glyphosate, widely used in agriculture, has long been controversial due to alleged links to cancer.

Monsanto, owned by Bayer, said it will comply with the order and called it a reinforcement of the need for US farmers to maintain access to domestically produced crop protection tools.