Consumer Tech News (Feb 2-6): Big Tech Earnings Take Center Stage In U.S. Markets, Anthropic Launches New AI Tool & More

A federal judge has ruled that Elon Musk must sit for a deposition to answer questions about his role in dismantling USAID, rejecting his legal team’s attempt to avoid questioning under the apex doctrine.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has hailed a new funding bill signed by President Donald Trump that pulls over half a billion dollars in funds from EV-related schemes.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed an appeal on Tuesday in response to a ruling that did not mandate Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) subsidiary Google to sell off its Chrome browser or terminate its profitable agreement with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) as the default search engine on new devices.

Earnings Release

Peloton Interactive, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTON) reported a disappointing second-quarter earnings report, with both earnings and revenue missing the consensus, and the announcement of a key leadership departure.

Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP)  reported fourth-quarter earnings of 3 cents per share, topping expectations for a 3-cent loss. Revenue rose 10.2% year over year to $1.72 billion, beating consensus estimates of $1.70 billion.

Symbotic Inc. (NASDAQ:SYM) reported quarterly earnings of two cents per share, which missed the consensus estimate of three cents, and revenue of $629.99 million beat the Street estimate of $623.11 million.

Qualcomm Inc (NASDAQ:QCOM) reported record quarterly revenue with first-quarter total revenue of $12.25 billion, up 5% year-over-year. The revenue beat a Street consensus estimate of $12.18 billion.

Arm Holdings Plc (NASDAQ:ARM) reported fiscal third-quarter revenue of $1.24 billion, beating analyst estimates of $1.22 billion and adjusted earnings of 43 cents per share for the quarter, beating estimates of 41 per share.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) reported fourth-quarter revenue of $10.27 billion, beating analyst estimates of $9.67 billion and adjusted earnings of $1.53 per share for the fourth quarter, beating estimates of $1.32 per share.

Alphabet reported fourth-quarter revenue of $113.83 billion, beating a Street consensus estimate of $111.31 billion and earnings per share of $2.82, beating a Street consensus estimate of $2.63.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) reported fourth-quarter net sales of $213.39 billion, up 14% year over year and ahead of Wall Street expectations of $211.30 billion.

Strategy Inc (NASDAQ:MSTR) posted fourth-quarter revenue of $122.99 million, beating analyst estimates of $118.48 million and adjusted earnings of $16.37 per share, beating analyst estimates of $10.96 per share.

Roblox Corp. (NYSE:RBLX) reported quarterly losses of 45 cents per share, in line with analyst estimates, and revenue of $2.22 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $2.05 billion.

Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI) reported quarterly earnings of 69 cents per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 49 cents and revenue of $12.68 billion, which beat the Street estimate of $10.22 billion.

Telecommunication & Retail

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) filed a federal lawsuit accusing T-Mobile U.S. (NASDAQ:TMUS) of misleading consumers with exaggerated claims that customers can save more than $1,000 a year by switching wireless carriers.

Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 40 cents, beating the analyst consensus estimate of 36 cents and sales of $2.823 billion outpaced the Street view of $2.721 billion.

KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR), along with Singapore's largest mobile operator, Singtel, penned an agreement for one of the largest digital infrastructure deals in Southeast Asia.

Amazon announced that it delivered over 13 billion items globally at record speeds in 2025, with more than 8 billion items reaching U.S. Prime members the same or next day.

Smartphones & Electronics

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) reported impressive sales growth in the fourth quarter of 2025, even as overall U.S. smartphone sales increased by only 1% year-over-year (Y/Y).

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (OTC:SSNLF) is accelerating investment in advanced semiconductor manufacturing to capture rising global demand for high-performance chips, particularly from artificial intelligence workloads.

Aerospace & Defense, Automobiles

The Elon Musk-led SpaceX is reportedly pushing for an expedited entry into major stock indexes, potentially altering the traditional IPO timeline.

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) started turning Elon Musk’s 100-gigawatt solar goal into an active U.S. manufacturing push by scouting multiple sites to make solar cells.

Elon Musk-backed SpaceX‘s satellite internet service, Starlink‘s direct-to-cell technology, is set for a debut in the European Union after signing a deal with Spanish telco MasOrange.

Tesla filed new trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for its awaited Roadster.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has warned that Alphabet‘s self-driving service Waymo is employing remote workers in the Philippines to guide AVs in some situations.

Tesla unveiled a new All-Wheel Drive variant of the Model Y in the U.S. and Puerto Rico following CEO Elon Musk‘s Model S and X discontinuation announcement.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) is reportedly in discussions with China's Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. (OTC:GELYF) for a potential partnership that could see Geely utilizing Ford's factory space in Europe to manufacture vehicles for the region.

Software & Semiconductors

Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) has deepened its defense ties with Ukraine, joining a broader push by tech firms to support the country’s war effort against Russia.

QuantumScape Corporation (NASDAQ:QS) announced the inauguration of its newly installed Eagle Line, a pivotal step for solid-state battery pilot production.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (NYSE:TSM) plans to mass-produce advanced 3-nanometer chips at its facilities in Kumamoto, southern Japan, with total investment expected to reach about $17 billion.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) CEO Lisa Su said the chipmaker is limiting its China revenue outlook to $100 million in the first quarter as U.S. export licensing for advanced AI chips remains uncertain.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Anthropic has released an upgraded version of its artificial intelligence model, launching Claude Opus 4.6.

Elon Musk reportedly structured SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI using a strategic merger design that could minimize debt exposure, limit legal liability and keep the company’s long-awaited IPO on track.

International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) announced a global request for proposals (RFP) to leverage artificial intelligence for transformative education and workforce development.

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok reportedly continues to create sexualized images of people without consent, even after X announced restrictions.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman mocked Elon Musk after a federal judge ruled that the billionaire’s fraud claims over ChatGPT-maker’s nonprofit origins can proceed to trial.

Jensen Huang-led Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) is reportedly planning to invest $20 billion in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.