Friday, August 28, 2026 · Covering: Mon–Fri this week
TL;DR
All roads ran through Nvidia: Wednesday's blowout print ($96.2B revenue, $89B data center, guiding $108B) plus a landmark deal to sell AWS 2 million GPUs reaffirmed the AI-capex supercycle, with hyperscaler spend now seen hitting $1.3T next year. But the same day's hot July PCE (core +3.3% y/y) muddied the Fed's September call, keeping a cut likely but not certain. On the deal front, Charter closed its ~$34.5B Cox tie-up to build a cable/broadband giant, and Mitsubishi Electric struck its largest-ever acquisition — $1.4B for US grid-software firm PCI.
TOP 3 DEALS
DEAL 01 · TECH / TMT
Tech / TMT · AI Infrastructure
SCALEAWS to buy ~2M Nvidia GPUs + adopt new "Vera" CPU
BACKDROPQ2 rev $96.2B (+106% y/y); data center $89B; guide $108B
TYPEStrategic commercial agreement (announced Aug 26)
READ-THROUGHTop-5 hyperscaler capex → ~$1.3T in 2027 (from ~$800B)
Nvidia not only crushed estimates but locked in Amazon Web Services as a marquee buyer of ~2 million GPUs and its new Vera CPU — a multi-year demand signal for AI compute. Management guided to $108B next quarter and pointed to hyperscaler capex swelling to ~$1.3T in 2027, cementing the "arms dealer of AI" thesis.
Why it matters for recruiting: This is the single most important tape in TMT, and it drives banking fee pools — chips, data centers, power, and the debt/equity to fund them. Be ready to connect the dots: why record hyperscaler capex fuels M&A and financing across semis, real estate (data centers), and utilities, and what "guiding to $108B with 74% gross margins" tells you about pricing power.
DEAL 02 · TELECOM / MEDIA
Telecom · Consolidation
TRANSACTION VALUE~$34.5B total (~$21.9B headline equity)
STRUCTURECompleted Aug 20 after final (California) approval
ACQUIRERCharter Communications (advisors previously disclosed)
TARGETCox Communications + Liberty Broadband
Charter closed its acquisition of privately held Cox — the last of 45 state approvals came from California — creating a cable and broadband heavyweight spanning tens of millions of homes. The deal is classic defensive consolidation: mature cable operators combining to cut costs and defend against wireless and fiber competition.
Why it matters for recruiting: A textbook scale/consolidation deal in a no-growth industry — the opposite of the AI-growth story, and a great contrast to have ready. Talk-track: why mature businesses merge (cost synergies, bargaining power, defending market share) and how a long regulatory gauntlet (FCC + 45 states) shapes deal timelines and conditions.
DEAL 03 · ENERGY / INDUSTRIALS
Energy Software · Cross-Border
TRANSACTION VALUE$1.4B, all cash (Mitsubishi Electric's largest-ever deal)
STRUCTURECross-border strategic acquisition (signed Aug 20)
BUYERMitsubishi Electric (advisors undisclosed)
SELLER ADVISORLegal: Jones Day (for PCI)
PCI makes the software that power producers use to trade and optimize electricity — it touches roughly 60% of US electricity generation. Mitsubishi Electric is paying up to plant a flag in American grid infrastructure as electrification and AI-driven power demand reshape energy markets.
Why it matters for recruiting: Ties the AI-power theme to a real, financeable deal and shows inbound cross-border interest in US energy tech. Talk-track: why a Japanese industrial pays a premium for a "mission-critical" software layer (recurring revenue, entrenched customers, exposure to surging power demand) and how strategic buyers justify a record price on synergies rather than standalone earnings.
SECTOR SIGNAL
DEFENSE / AEROSPACE
Spectrum and electronic-warfare remain hot: the Army's five-year, up-to-$350M award to 3dB Labs for its Spectrum Situational Awareness System underscores demand for RF/signals tech — a magnet for both sponsors and primes. Source ↗
TECH / TMT
Nvidia's guide implies AI compute demand still outruns supply; watch the second-order winners — networking, memory, cooling and power — as the capex wave broadens beyond GPUs. Source ↗
ENERGY
Mitsubishi/PCI is the latest sign that AI-driven power demand is turning grid software and generation assets into prized targets — expect more foreign and infra capital chasing US energy infrastructure. Source ↗
MEDIA / TELECOM
Charter/Cox caps a wave of cable consolidation; with the deal (and Liberty Broadband) closed, focus shifts to whether scale can offset cord-cutting and wireless-broadband share loss. Source ↗
M&A / LEVERAGED FINANCE
Private-market giants like Apollo and Bain are pushing further into financing PE deals directly, deepening the private-credit takeover of LBO funding. With a September rate cut still likely, sponsors are positioning for a busier fall — but hotter-than-expected PCE is a reminder the easing path isn't guaranteed. Source ↗
MARKET TONE
Nvidia sets the tone. Revenue $96.2B (+106% y/y) with $89B in data center beat estimates; Huang forecast ~70% fiscal-2028 revenue growth, well above the Street. Source ↗
PCE ran hot. July core PCE rose 3.3% y/y (headline 3.7%), above forecasts — a complication for a Fed leaning toward easing. Source ↗
September still in play. A cut at the Sept 17 meeting remains the base case, but sticky inflation keeps 50bp off the table and even 25bp not fully locked. Source ↗
Capex supercycle confirmed. Top-five hyperscaler capex is guided toward ~$1.3T in 2027, up from ~$800B in 2026 — a multi-year tailwind for AI-exposed sectors. Source ↗
Yields twitchy. Treasury yields whipsawed on the PCE print, reflecting a market caught between "cut coming" and "inflation still above target." Source ↗
INTERVIEW ANGLE
TOPIC: HOW THE AI-CAPEX BOOM FLOWS INTO BANKING FEE POOLS
When an interviewer asks "what's driving deal activity right now?", the sharpest answer connects Nvidia's numbers to actual banking mandates. Hyperscaler capex heading to ~$1.3T doesn't just buy GPUs — it forces a build-out that bankers get paid to finance and advise on.
Semis & hardware. Supply-chain M&A and strategic stakes (networking, memory, cooling) as buyers lock up scarce components.
Data centers & real estate. Massive project finance, sale-leasebacks, and JV structures to fund physical capacity — often with infra funds and private credit.
Power & utilities. The binding constraint is electricity, so energy assets and grid software (see Mitsubishi/PCI) re-rate — driving M&A and capital raises for generation and transmission.
Financing. All of this needs debt and equity — DCM, lev fin, and private credit desks are the ultimate beneficiaries of a capex wave this size.
How to bring it up: "Nvidia's guide to ~$1.3T of hyperscaler capex is really a banking story — it cascades into semis M&A, data-center project finance, and a power build-out that's already showing up in deals like Mitsubishi's $1.4B grab of grid-software firm PCI. The constraint has shifted from chips to electricity, and that's where I'd expect the next wave of mandates."