Highlights for this morning: Amazon prepares AI marketplace, SoftBank shares soar 10%

Donald Trump's administration plans to exempt major IT companies, including Alphabet and Microsoft, from future duties on chip imports. Amazon is preparing to launch a marketplace with content for AI developers. About these and other topics - in our review of key events by the morning of February 10.

Donald Trump's administration plans to exempt major IT companies including Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft from future duties on chip imports, the Financial Times has learned. The exemptions are to be tied to Taiwanese TSMC's investments in US manufacturing to support the development of data centers and AI without hitting Big Tech supply chains.

At the same time, Washington is not giving up the idea of imposing duties on semiconductors in general to encourage the relocation of production to the US. The plan suggests that TSMC will be able to distribute the benefits received among its U.S. customers in proportion to how much capacity the company builds in the U.S., but the details of the scheme are still inconclusive.

Amazon plans to launch a marketplace where publishers can sell their content to companies developing products based on artificial intelligence, The Information reported. The project was discussed with publishing market participants on the eve of the Amazon Web Services conference, according to the company's internal materials.

The platform could be built into the AWS AI tools ecosystem and become part of negotiations between publishers and AI companies on content usage rules and payment. Amazon said it continues to work with publishers and develop new products, but did not disclose specific details about the project.

SoftBank Group shares jumped more than 10% after SoftBank Corp's telecom division raised its profit outlook for the fiscal year, CNBC reports. The company reported revenue and operating profit growth in the first nine months of the year and improved its full-year guidance despite a decline in mobile subscribers - the focus has shifted from customer acquisition to long-term profitability, the channel explains.

Arm Holdings, one of SoftBank's key assets, gave additional impetus to the shares. Investors positively perceived the accelerated growth of Arm's business in the segment of data centers and artificial intelligence, which, according to the company's expectations, will become its largest source of income in the coming years.

Taiwanese authorities have told the US that the idea of moving 40% of the semiconductor supply chain to the American territory is unrealistic, CNBC writes. Taiwanese Vice Premier Cheng Li-jun explained that the chip industry has been built up on the island for decades and it cannot be simply picked up and moved to another country.

This is Taiwan's response to Washington's demands for more active relocation of production to the US. Although local companies are investing billions of dollars in U.S. factories, experts believe that a complete transfer of chains is impossible due to the complexity of the industry, lack of specialists and high costs, as well as because of Taiwan's strategic role in the global chip industry, CNBC points out.

Investors are actively investing in European startups in the field of artificial intelligence and defense technologies, considering them key to Europe's competitiveness and security, the Financial Times reports. The volume of venture capital investments in the region in 2025 increased by 5% and reached €66 billion - the maximum after the pandemic, with the main growth provided by large deals in AI and defense tech.

A number of companies are already discussing new rounds of financing at significantly higher valuations. Interest is growing against the backdrop of the conflict in Ukraine and the desire of the European authorities to reduce technological dependence on other countries. Experts note that the market is overheated, but at the same time they recognize that the demand for "sovereign" technologies and their own technological base in Europe will only grow.

- Japan's broad Topix index was up 1.9 percent, while the Nikkei 225 was up 2.3 percent.

- Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 0.4 percent, while mainland China's CSI 300 Index was up 0.1 percent.

- In South Korea, the Kospi index added 0.6 percent, while the Kosdaq fell nearly 1 percent.

- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was little changed.

- Futures on the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%, while Nasdaq Composite exchange-traded contracts lost 0.2%.

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