The U.S. is facing a power capacity crisis as the tech sector races against China to achieve dominance in artificial intelligence, an executive leading the energy strategy of Alphabet’s Google unit said this week.

The emergence of China’s DeepSeek artificial intelligence firm sent the shares of major power companies tumbling in late January on speculation that its AI model is cheaper and more efficient. But Caroline Golin, Google’s global head of energy market development, said more power is needed now to keep up with Beijing.

“We are in a capacity crisis in this country right now, and we are in an AI race against China right now,” Golin told a conference hosted by the Nuclear Energy Institute in New York City on Tuesday.

Alphabet’s Google unit embarked four years ago on an ambitious goal to power its operations around the clock with carbon-free renewable energy, but the company faced a major obstacle that forced a turn toward nuclear power.

Google ran into a “very stark reality that we didn’t have enough capacity on the system to power our data centers in the short term and then potentially in the long term,” Golin said.

Google realized the deployment of renewables was potentially causing grid instability, and utilities were investing in carbon-emitting natural gas to back up the system, the executive said. Wind and particularly solar power have grown rapidly in the U.S., but their output depends on weather conditions.

“We learned the importance of the developing clean firm technologies,” Golin said. “We recognized that nuclear was going to be part of the portfolio.”

Last October, Google announced a deal to purchase 500 megawatts of power from a fleet of small modular nuclear reactors made by Kairos Power. Small modular reactors are advanced designs that promise to one day speed up the deployment of nuclear power because they have smaller footprints and a more streamlined manufacturing process.

Large nuclear projects in the U.S. have long been stymied by delays, cost overruns and cancellations. To date, there is no operational small modular reactor in the U.S. Google and Kairos plan to deploy their first reactor in 2030, with more units coming online through 2035.

Golin said the project with Kairos is currently in an initial test-pilot phase with other partners that she would not disclose. Kairos received permission in November from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build two 35-megawatt test reactors in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

The goal is to get buy-in from partners like electric utilities to create an approach that can broadly deploy the technology, Golin said.

The nuclear industry increasingly views the growing power needs of the tech sector as a potential catalyst to restart old reactors and build new ones. Amazon announced an investment of more than $500 million in small nuclear reactors two days after Google unveiled its agreement with Kairos.

Last September, Constellation Energy said it plans to bring the nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania back online through a power purchase agreement with Microsoft.

Golin said nuclear is a longer-term solution, given the reality that power capacity is needed now to keep up with China in the artificial intelligence race. “Over the next five years, nuclear doesn’t play in that space,” she said.

President Donald Trump declared a national energy emergency through executive order on his first day in office. The order cited electric grid reliability as a central concern.

Trump told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that he would use emergency powers to expedite the construction of power plants for AI data centers.

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright issued an order on Feb. 5 that listed “the commercialization of affordable and abundant nuclear energy” as a priority.

Prebiotic soda brand Olipop said Wednesday that it was valued at $1.85 billion in its latest funding round, which raised $50 million for the company.

Founded in 2018, Olipop has helped fuel the growth of the prebiotic soda category, along with rival Poppi, which highlighted its drinks with a Super Bowl ad on Sunday. Both have attracted consumers with their claims that their drinks help with “gut health,” one of the latest wellness trends taking over food and beverage aisles.

Olipop’s Series C funding round was led by J.P. Morgan Private Capital’s Growth Equity Partners. The company plans to use the money that it raised to add to its product lineup, expand its marketing and distribute its sodas more widely.

Today, Olipop is the top non-alcoholic beverage brand in the U.S., both by dollar sales and unit growth, the company said, citing data from Circana/SPINS. Roughly half of its growth comes from legacy soda drinkers, while the other half comes from consumers entering the carbonated soft drink category. One in four Gen Z consumers drinks Olipop, according to the company.

In early 2024, Olipop reached profitability, the company said. Its annual sales surpassed $400 million last year, doubling the year prior. In 2023, Olipop founder and CEO Ben Goodwin told CNBC that soda giants PepsiCo and Coca-Cola had already come knocking about a potential sale.

For its part, rival Poppi, which was founded 10 years ago, has raised $39.3 million as of 2023 at an undisclosed valuation, according to Pitchbook data. Poppi’s annual sales reportedly crossed $100 million in 2023. Its appearance during the Super Bowl was the second straight year that it paid for an ad during the big game.

Poppi has also faced some backlash for its health claims. The company is currently in talks to settle a lawsuit that argued that Poppi’s drinks aren’t as healthy as the company claims, according to court filings.

The U.S. is facing a power capacity crisis as the tech sector races against China to achieve dominance in artificial intelligence, an executive leading the energy strategy of Alphabet’s Google unit said this week.

The emergence of China’s DeepSeek artificial intelligence firm sent the shares of major power companies tumbling in late January on speculation that its AI model is cheaper and more efficient. But Caroline Golin, Google’s global head of energy market development, said more power is needed now to keep up with Beijing.

“We are in a capacity crisis in this country right now, and we are in an AI race against China right now,” Golin told a conference hosted by the Nuclear Energy Institute in New York City on Tuesday.

Alphabet’s Google unit embarked four years ago on an ambitious goal to power its operations around the clock with carbon-free renewable energy, but the company faced a major obstacle that forced a turn toward nuclear power.

Google ran into a “very stark reality that we didn’t have enough capacity on the system to power our data centers in the short term and then potentially in the long term,” Golin said.

Google realized the deployment of renewables was potentially causing grid instability, and utilities were investing in carbon-emitting natural gas to back up the system, the executive said. Wind and particularly solar power have grown rapidly in the U.S., but their output depends on weather conditions.

“We learned the importance of the developing clean firm technologies,” Golin said. “We recognized that nuclear was going to be part of the portfolio.”

Last October, Google announced a deal to purchase 500 megawatts of power from a fleet of small modular nuclear reactors made by Kairos Power. Small modular reactors are advanced designs that promise to one day speed up the deployment of nuclear power because they have smaller footprints and a more streamlined manufacturing process.

Large nuclear projects in the U.S. have long been stymied by delays, cost overruns and cancellations. To date, there is no operational small modular reactor in the U.S. Google and Kairos plan to deploy their first reactor in 2030, with more units coming online through 2035.

Golin said the project with Kairos is currently in an initial test-pilot phase with other partners that she would not disclose. Kairos received permission in November from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build two 35-megawatt test reactors in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

The goal is to get buy-in from partners like electric utilities to create an approach that can broadly deploy the technology, Golin said.

The nuclear industry increasingly views the growing power needs of the tech sector as a potential catalyst to restart old reactors and build new ones. Amazon announced an investment of more than $500 million in small nuclear reactors two days after Google unveiled its agreement with Kairos.

Last September, Constellation Energy said it plans to bring the nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania back online through a power purchase agreement with Microsoft.

Golin said nuclear is a longer-term solution, given the reality that power capacity is needed now to keep up with China in the artificial intelligence race. “Over the next five years, nuclear doesn’t play in that space,” she said.

President Donald Trump declared a national energy emergency through executive order on his first day in office. The order cited electric grid reliability as a central concern.

Trump told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that he would use emergency powers to expedite the construction of power plants for AI data centers.

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright issued an order on Feb. 5 that listed “the commercialization of affordable and abundant nuclear energy” as a priority.

ScorePlay, an artificial intelligence service for sports clips, has raised $13 million in series A funding, the company announced Tuesday.

The sports storytelling platform’s investors include 20VC venture capital fund founder Harry Stebbings, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six VC firm, NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo, former Formula 1 champion Nico Rosberg, and soccer star and former captain of the U.S. women’s national team Alex Morgan.

ScorePlay’s technology is used by more than 200 sports organizations around the world and helps teams streamline their highlights and clips using AI. The company’s clients include NBA and NHL franchises and leagues such as Major League Soccer and the National Women’s Soccer League.

Ohanian told CNBC that he’s not just an investor, but that he uses the technology through his ownership of NWSL soccer and TGL golf teams, in addition to his new track league, Athlos.

“So many people ask how we’ve been able to have so much success in emerging sports across so many different leagues and ScorePlay is the heart of one of the reasons why,” Ohanian said. “The last two years, they’ve just continued to execute above expectations and ScorePlay has just done such a heck of a job growing here in the States.

“I’ve been very happy to keep putting now millions of dollars at work every single round since,” he added.

Venture capitalist Stebbings said as teams and players move toward producing more of their own media and storytelling content, this tool will allow them to engage fans in new ways.

“Speed is crucial in sports media, with the ability to share highlights within an hour and keep up with [the] fast-paced news cycle,” he said.

ScorePlay’s service, created in 2021 by Victorien Tixier and Xavier Green, automatically tags and organizes content, allowing teams to speed up the delivery to everyone from broadcasters and sponsors to the athletes themselves.

“The idea is to maximize the distribution, both on your own social channel, but also distributing the content to your athletes, who are your best storytellers,” Tixier said.

He added that with so many different channels from social to broadcast and digital, it’s important that users are distributing the best content for each platform.

ScorePlay touts threefold year-over-year growth, and the company said it is profitable, with total funding at $20 million.

Previous investors include Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman’s 35V family office and Eli Manning.

Elon Musk is leading a group of investors in offering to buy control of OpenAI for $97.4 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

The bid is for the nonprofit that oversees the artificial intelligence startup, the Journal reported, adding that Musk’s attorney, Marc Toberoff, said he submitted the offer on Monday.

The WSJ cited a statement from Musk provided by Toberoff, saying, “It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was.”

In a post on X, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote, “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.” Musk then replied to the OpenAI chief on X calling him a “swindler,” and in a reply to a different user, called him “Scam Altman.”

Musk, who is a top adviser to President Donald Trump, is in the midst of a heated legal and public relations battle with Altman. They were two of the co-founders of OpenAI in 2015, establishing the entity as a nonprofit focused on AI research.

OpenAI has since emerged as a giant in generative AI, launching ChatGPT in 2022 and setting off a wave of investment in new tools and infrastructure for next-generation AI products and services. SoftBank is close to finalizing a $40 billion investment in OpenAI at a $260 billion valuation, sources told CNBC’s David Faber last week.

Musk now has a competitor in the AI market, a startup called xAI, and is suing OpenAI, accusing it of antitrust violations and to try and keep it from converting into a for-profit corporation.

Meanwhile, OpenAI partnered with SoftBank and Oracle in a project announced by Trump right after his inauguration called Stargate, which calls on the companies to invest billions of dollars in AI infrastructure in the U.S.

Musk’s offer is backed by xAI, which the Journal reports could merge with OpenAI if a deal were to occur. Other investors in the bid include Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital, 8VC and Ari Emanuel’s investment fund, the paper reported.

Toberoff sent a letter to the attorneys general in California and Delaware on Jan. 7, asking that bidding be opened up for OpenAI.

McDonald’s on Monday reported disappointing quarterly revenue, dragged down by weaker-than-expected sales at its U.S. restaurants following an E. coli outbreak just weeks into the quarter.

But shares of the company rose more than 4% in morning trading as executives predicted sales would improve in 2025.

Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Net sales of $6.39 billion were roughly flat compared with the year-ago period. The company’s overall same-store sales growth of 0.4% outperformed Wall Street’s expectations of same-store sales declines of 1%, according to StreetAccount estimates.

But McDonald’s U.S. business reported a steeper-than-expected drop in its same-store sales. Same-store sales at the company’s domestic restaurants fell 1.4% in the quarter; Wall Street was projecting same-store sales declines of 0.6%.

McDonald’s said traffic was slightly positive, but customers spent less than usual during the quarter. Over the summer, the chain rolled out a $5 combo meal to bring back price-conscious diners and reverse sluggish sales. The strategy worked, helping McDonald’s U.S. same-store sales tick up in the third quarter.

However, analysts have warned that value meals only work if customers also add menu items that aren’t discounted to their orders. McDonald’s executives downplayed those concerns Monday, saying the average check on the $5 meal deal is more than $10.

The biggest hit to McDonald’s U.S. sales came in late October, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linked a fatal E. coli outbreak to its Quarter Pounder burgers. McDonald’s switched suppliers for its slivered onions, the ingredient fingered as the likely culprit for the outbreak. In early December, the CDC declared the outbreak officially over.

However, in the days following the news of the outbreak, traffic at McDonald’s U.S. restaurants fell steeply, particularly in the states affected.

U.S. sales hit their nadir in early November, but began rising again after that. In particular, demand for the Quarter Pounder, a popular core menu item with high margins, fell quickly in the wake of the crisis.

McDonald’s expects its U.S. sales to recover by the beginning of the second quarter, executives said.

“I think right now what we’re seeing is that the E. coli impact is now just localized to the areas that had the biggest impact,” CEO Chris Kempczinski said on the company’s conference call. “So think about that as sort of the Rocky Mountain region that was really the epicenter of the issue.”

The company hopes value deals, along with key menu additions, will help to fuel the recovery this year. In 2025, the burger chain plans to bring back its popular snack wraps, which vanished from menus during pandemic lockdowns, and to introduce a new chicken strip menu item.

Outside the U.S., sales were stronger. Both of McDonald’s international divisions reported same-store sales increases, bolstering the company’s overall performance.

The company’s international developmental licensed markets segment, which includes the Middle East and Japan, reported same-store sales growth of 4.1%.

McDonald’s international operated markets division, which includes some of its biggest markets, reported same-store sales growth of 0.1%. The company said most markets reported same-store sales increases, but the United Kingdom and some other markets saw same-store sales shrink in the quarter. One bright spot was France, which saw its same-store sales turn positive during the quarter after months of weak demand.

McDonald’s reported fourth-quarter net income of $2.02 billion, or $2.80 per share, down from $2.04 billion, or $2.80 per share, a year earlier.

Excluding gains tied to the sale of its South Korean business, transaction costs for buying its Israeli franchise and other items, McDonald’s earned $2.83 per share.

Looking to 2025, the first quarter is expected to be the low point for McDonald’s same-store sales, CFO Ian Borden said, citing a weak start to the year in the U.S., among other factors. Winter storms and wildfires in California weighed on restaurant traffic across the industry in January.

For the full year, McDonald’s plans to open roughly 2,200 restaurants. About a quarter of those locations will be in the U.S. and its international operated markets. The rest will be in the company’s international developmental licensed markets, including about 1,000 new restaurants in China.

Including its investments in restaurant openings, McDonald’s plans to spend between $3 billion and $3.2 billion this year on capital expenditures.

The company is also projecting a headwind of 20 cents to 30 cents per share to its full-year earnings due to foreign currency exchange rates.

Shares of GameStop and MicroStrategy were on the rise Monday after Ryan Cohen, CEO of the video game retailer, posted a photo with Michael Saylor, co-founder and chairman of the largest corporate holder of bitcoin.

GameStop, day traders’ favorite meme stock, climbed more than 7%, while MicroStrategy, which recently rebranded as “Strategy,” saw shares rising as much as 4%. Cohen uploaded the photo over the weekend on X, sparking speculation that GameStop is plotting another strategy around crypto. MicroStrategy shares last traded up 1%.

The video game company had expanded into digital services in recent years by offering crypto wallets that let users manage their crypto and nonfungible tokens. However, the firm shut the service down in 2023, citing “regulatory uncertainty.”

Cohen, co-founder of Chewy, bought shares in GameStop in 2020 and joined the board in 2021 as GameStop became one of the key stocks in the WallStreetBets meme trading mania.

His e-commerce experience fueled hopes that he could help modernize the brick-and-mortar retailer, but the company still struggles to adapt to changing spending habits by gamers. Trading in the stock remains highly volatile and speculative as meme stock personality “Roaring Kitty” continues to spur buying from retail investors.

Saylor’s Strategy also has a fan base of retail investors as the firm touted its aggressive bitcoin-buying strategy. In the past year, the firm has raised billions of dollars through the sale of stock or convertible bonds for the sole purpose of purchasing more bitcoin.

Last week, Strategy said it’s almost halfway to its ambitious capital-raising goal as it went on a buying spree throughout the postelection rally. As of Monday, Strategy holds roughly $47 billion worth of bitcoins on its balance sheet, about 2.5% of the total supply.

McDonald’s on Monday reported disappointing quarterly revenue, dragged down by weaker-than-expected sales at its U.S. restaurants following an E. coli outbreak just weeks into the quarter.

But shares of the company rose more than 4% in morning trading as executives predicted sales would improve in 2025.

Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Net sales of $6.39 billion were roughly flat compared with the year-ago period. The company’s overall same-store sales growth of 0.4% outperformed Wall Street’s expectations of same-store sales declines of 1%, according to StreetAccount estimates.

But McDonald’s U.S. business reported a steeper-than-expected drop in its same-store sales. Same-store sales at the company’s domestic restaurants fell 1.4% in the quarter; Wall Street was projecting same-store sales declines of 0.6%.

McDonald’s said traffic was slightly positive, but customers spent less than usual during the quarter. Over the summer, the chain rolled out a $5 combo meal to bring back price-conscious diners and reverse sluggish sales. The strategy worked, helping McDonald’s U.S. same-store sales tick up in the third quarter.

However, analysts have warned that value meals only work if customers also add menu items that aren’t discounted to their orders. McDonald’s executives downplayed those concerns Monday, saying the average check on the $5 meal deal is more than $10.

The biggest hit to McDonald’s U.S. sales came in late October, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linked a fatal E. coli outbreak to its Quarter Pounder burgers. McDonald’s switched suppliers for its slivered onions, the ingredient fingered as the likely culprit for the outbreak. In early December, the CDC declared the outbreak officially over.

However, in the days following the news of the outbreak, traffic at McDonald’s U.S. restaurants fell steeply, particularly in the states affected.

U.S. sales hit their nadir in early November, but began rising again after that. In particular, demand for the Quarter Pounder, a popular core menu item with high margins, fell quickly in the wake of the crisis.

McDonald’s expects its U.S. sales to recover by the beginning of the second quarter, executives said.

“I think right now what we’re seeing is that the E. coli impact is now just localized to the areas that had the biggest impact,” CEO Chris Kempczinski said on the company’s conference call. “So think about that as sort of the Rocky Mountain region that was really the epicenter of the issue.”

The company hopes value deals, along with key menu additions, will help to fuel the recovery this year. In 2025, the burger chain plans to bring back its popular snack wraps, which vanished from menus during pandemic lockdowns, and to introduce a new chicken strip menu item.

Outside the U.S., sales were stronger. Both of McDonald’s international divisions reported same-store sales increases, bolstering the company’s overall performance.

The company’s international developmental licensed markets segment, which includes the Middle East and Japan, reported same-store sales growth of 4.1%.

McDonald’s international operated markets division, which includes some of its biggest markets, reported same-store sales growth of 0.1%. The company said most markets reported same-store sales increases, but the United Kingdom and some other markets saw same-store sales shrink in the quarter. One bright spot was France, which saw its same-store sales turn positive during the quarter after months of weak demand.

McDonald’s reported fourth-quarter net income of $2.02 billion, or $2.80 per share, down from $2.04 billion, or $2.80 per share, a year earlier.

Excluding gains tied to the sale of its South Korean business, transaction costs for buying its Israeli franchise and other items, McDonald’s earned $2.83 per share.

Looking to 2025, the first quarter is expected to be the low point for McDonald’s same-store sales, CFO Ian Borden said, citing a weak start to the year in the U.S., among other factors. Winter storms and wildfires in California weighed on restaurant traffic across the industry in January.

For the full year, McDonald’s plans to open roughly 2,200 restaurants. About a quarter of those locations will be in the U.S. and its international operated markets. The rest will be in the company’s international developmental licensed markets, including about 1,000 new restaurants in China.

Including its investments in restaurant openings, McDonald’s plans to spend between $3 billion and $3.2 billion this year on capital expenditures.

The company is also projecting a headwind of 20 cents to 30 cents per share to its full-year earnings due to foreign currency exchange rates.