Highlights for the morning: two more billionaires on the market after IPO of the year, PRC to buy oil from the US

Nvidia's capitalization hit a record, topping $5.7 trillion, after reports of a possible expansion of chip shipments to China. Cisco shares soared 13% on a strong outlook and a bet on AI infrastructure. Cerebras co-founders became billionaires after the company's IPO. These and other topics - in our review of key events for the morning of Ma 15.

Nvidia's rival chipmaker Cerebras went public and became the biggest IPO of the year so far: the AI chip maker's shares soared 68% on the first day of trading on Nasdaq, and the company's capitalization almost reached $67 billion, Bloomberg reports. Co-founder and CEO Andrew Feldman received a fortune of $3.2 billion, and co-founder Sean Lee - $1.6 billion. The company is betting on giant AI chips the size of a sheet of paper, focused on rapid inferencing (generation of responses by AI models to end users), competing with Nvidia.

Cerebras' board also approved special bonus equity stakes for the founders: if Cerebras' capitalization grows to $250 billion, Feldman's stake could be worth more than $6 billion.

US President Donald Trump said China has agreed to buy US oil and send tankers to Texas, Louisiana and Alaska, CNBC reported. A final agreement on this, he indicated in an interview with Fox News, he estimates will be reached by the end of his trip to China. Preliminary agreements were reached at a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on the sidelines of the U.S.-China summit.

Trump also said Beijing had promised to help negotiate on Iran and not to supply Tehran with military equipment. China, which remains the largest buyer of Iranian oil, called for the opening of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and a long-term ceasefire in the Middle East. Against this background, Brent crude oil quotes jumped more than 1% to $107 per barrel; U.S. WTI also adds 1.4% - traded at $102.6.

Nvidia's capitalization reached a record $5.7 trillion after the company's shares rose by more than 4% - investors are actively buying up securities in anticipation of the AI chip maker's reports next week, Yahoo Finance reports. Along with Nvidia, the entire U.S. technology sector rose.

An additional driver was Reuters' information that the US Department of Commerce has authorized about ten Chinese companies to purchase H200 chips, Nvidia's second most powerful AI product. Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance and JD.com are among the potential buyers, although shipments have not yet begun and US authorities have not officially confirmed further easing of restrictions for China.

Cisco shares rose more than 13% after the company gave revenue guidance for the quarter above market expectations - $16.7-16.9 billion versus the expected $15.8 billion, Yahoo Finance writes. At the same time, the networking equipment maker announced it was laying off less than 4,000 employees as part of its business realignment for AI development.

Cisco is aggressively expanding its product lineup for data center and AI workloads, including network chips, fiber, cybersecurity and back-end AI tools. The company also raised its forecast for orders from the largest data center operators to $9 billion in fiscal 2026 versus the previous $5 billion.

LVMH has agreed to sell the Marc Jacobs brand to WHP Global, the owner of Vera Wang and Rag & Bone, Bloomberg reports. The amount of the deal is not disclosed, and the founder of the brand Mark Jacobs will retain the position of creative director.

The sale will help LVMH focus on more expensive brands like Louis Vuitton, Dior and Loewe. The French holding company's shares have fallen nearly 30% since the start of the year amid weakening demand for luxury, particularly due to the conflict in the Middle East. Selling brands remains a rare move for LVMH, but the company has previously allowed the abandonment of assets that no longer fit into the group's strategy.

- Japan's broad Topix index was down 0.5 percent on May 15, while the Nikkei 225 was down 1.6 percent.

- Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 1.2 percent, while mainland China's CSI 300 Index was down 0.5 percent.

- In South Korea, the Kospi index was down 4.4 percent and the Kosdaq was down 4.6 percent.

- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.2 percent.

- Futures on the S&P 500 were falling by 0.4%. Futures on Nasdaq Composite - by 0.7%. Exchange contracts on Dow Jones Industrial Average - by 0.3%.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor