Hot Chips

Good morning! We hope you enjoyed the last day of astronomical summer [yesterday]( — just over 270 days until the next one starts… Today we’re exploring: - Going nuclear: Mapping America’s power plants. - Hot chips: Intel is attracting interest from Qualcomm and Apollo. - Content control: It’s WordPress’ internet, we’re just living in it. Have feedback for us? Just hit reply - we'd love to hear from you! TOGETHER WITH [Sponsor Logo](   On Friday, Constellation Energy said that it [has plans]( to reopen the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, the site of a nuclear meltdown that destroyed the second reactor at the power station in 1979. The plant, which continued to operate safely for years after the accident, was eventually closed down in 2019 for economic reasons. But the conditions that led to its shutdown no longer hold, as demand for clean electricity soars thanks to growing demand for data centers. That has made boring old utilities stocks the best performers in the S&P 500 Index this year ([chart](), with Constellation Energy shares contributing significantly to that trend, having gained more than 120% in 2024. But where are America’s nuclear power plants? We’ve mapped out the location of all 54, according to data from the [Energy Information Administration](. Once operational, Three Mile Island would be the fifth nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. Only Illinois, which has 6 nuclear plants, would have more. The rest are predominantly in eastern states, although the country’s largest is Palo Verde Station in Arizona, which has a total capacity of 3,937 megawatts — enough to power some 4 million homes. [Read this on the web instead](   It’s been a good few years to be in the chip-making business — but Intel missed the memo. Once the most valuable US semiconductor company, Intel has missed most of the AI wave that has propelled the share prices of its competitors. And now private equity firms and competitors are circling. Late Friday, The Wall Street Journal [reported]( that fellow chipmaker Qualcomm has approached Intel about a potential acquisition, while Apollo is reportedly considering a $5 billion [investment]( as the company embarks on an ambitious turnaround plan. Intel’s stock has shed more than 56% of its value since 2021, while the broader semiconductor sector has experienced explosive growth. In response, the company announced a series of [drastic measures]( last month, including cutting 15,000 jobs, slashing capital expenditures, and eliminating its annual dividend. Wires crossed Per [The Economist](, while many competitors adopted a "fabless" model, outsourcing chip production to foundries like TSMC, Intel doubled down on both designing and manufacturing its own chips. This eventually left the company trailing behind in the race to produce the fastest chips with the smallest transistors — an ironic fate for the birthplace of Moore’s Law. The AI revolution further laid bare Intel’s lack of innovation. As demand shifted towards graphics processing units (GPUs), Intel’s focus on central processors (CPUs) was unhelpful. Nvidia famously “bet the farm” on the AI trend, and has since surged to a multi-trillion-dollar valuation. Meanwhile, Intel reported a $1.6 billion operating loss last month, resulting in the worst single-day drop in its stock [price](. Despite securing funding through the [CHIPS Act]( and announcing a partnership with Amazon to [produce]( chips for AWS last week, Intel shares continue to hover around a decade low. Clearly, investors within both Apollo & Qualcomm see some potential for a turnaround. [Read this on the web instead](   [Sponsored by RYSE]( Learn more about this emerging tech startup For Ring and Nest, securing retail distribution in Best Buy was a stepping stone to becoming industry leaders in the smart home industry.1 The big-box retailer added [RYSE SmartShades to its smart-home line up](, the patented window shade automation device. RYSE's availability in [100+ Best Buys]( expands its customer reach and could see the company become the next (smart)home run. Their Smart Shade tech is well-positioned in a thriving industry: a potential opportunity for anyone interested in capitalizing on the growth of the smart home market. [Discover RYSE’s offering.2]( [Discover RYSE’s offering.2](   Bad host Co-founder of WordPress Matt Mullenweg has come down hard on WP Engine, a company that essentially offers WordPress-as-a-service, describing the business as a [“cancer”]( to the content management system he helped to create over [2 decades ago](. Mullenweg — also the CEO of Automattic, which owns Tumblr and also provides similar services to WP Engine — made the remark in a recent [blog post](, expanding on comments he’d made at a WordPress conference. In short, the entrepreneur feels that WP Engine profits excessively from the open-source WordPress software, without contributing enough to the CMS’s ecosystem, offering a watered-down version of WordPress to customers to maximize profits. Although Mullenweg might not be a household name, the software at the center of this dispute is a critical cog in the internet’s infrastructure. Developed back in 2003 by Mullenweg and fellow blogger Mike Little, the software’s open source nature allows others to easily build on top of it, with tens of thousands of “plug-ins” available. Today, WordPress counts Meta, Samsung, and USA Today as customers, and powers over 43% of all sites on the internet. The next most significant single player in the space is e-commerce giant Shopify, which powers just 4% of all sites tracked by W3Techs. [Read this on the web instead](   More Data - The company behind Cards Against Humanity is suing SpaceX for $15 million, accusing Elon Musk’s company of damaging and trespassing on their land [in Texas](. - Major movie theater chains have a blockbuster $2.2 billion budget to revamp cinemas across the US over the next [3 years](. - Happy Oktoberfest to all who celebrate! Beer prices at the German festival, which officially got underway on Saturday, are up nearly 4% on average from [last year](. - People in glass houses might soon be able to throw all the stones they want, as engineers unveil new 3D-printed glass bricks which can withstand similar pressures to [concrete equivalents](. The Smart Home sector has produced household names like Ring and Nest… and now, [RYSE’s SmartShade tech]( could be the next disruptor in this billion-dollar industry.1[Learn more about the opportunity to invest in their smart home tech](.2 Ad   Hi-Viz - Charting Trump and Harris’ social [ad spending]( on Facebook and Instagram. Off the charts: Which stock is the worst performing in the S&P 500 Index so far this year? [Answer below]. [Answer here.](   Thanks for stopping by! Have some [feedback](mailto:daily@chartr.co?subject=Feedback&body=Hi, I like the newsletters, but I had a thought for you...) or want to [sponsor this newsletter](mailto:advertising@sherwoodmedia.com?subject=I’m interested in advertising with Sherwood Media)?   Not a subscriber? Sign up for free below. [Subscribe](   Advertiser’s disclosures: 1 The performance of other companies is not necessarily indicative of the prospective returns of RYSE, Inc. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. 2INVESTMENTS IN PRIVATE PLACEMENTS ARE SPECULATIVE, POSSESS A HIGH LEVEL OF RISK, ARE HIGHLY ILLIQUID, AND THOSE INVESTORS WHO CANNOT HOLD AN INVESTMENT FOR AN INDEFINITE TERM SHOULD NOT INVEST. NO ASSURANCE CAN BE GIVEN THAT INVESTORS WILL RECEIVE A RETURN OF THEIR CAPITAL. PLEASE CAREFULLY REVIEW THE [TERMS OF THIS OFFERING](, INCLUDING FEES, RISKS, AND INVESTMENT DETAILS BEFORE INVESTING. DealMaker Securities LLC, a registered broker-dealer, and member of FINRA | SIPC, located at 105 Maxess Road, Suite 124, Melville, NY 11747, is the Intermediary for this offering and is not an affiliate of or connected with the Issuer. 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