The latest Market Talks covering Technology, Media and Telecom. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.

1646 ET - Oracle's capital expenditures more than tripled during the latest quarter, ballooning to $28.49 billion from $8.5 billion a year earlier. The sharply higher CapEx resulted in free cash flow of negative $5.4 billion. For the year, the software and cloud-computing company continues to anticipate CapEx of $90 billion to $95 billion. Investors, who have started to question the sustainability of AI-spending commitments from tech companies, don't seem to mind the elevated spending levels, given that both Oracle's profit and revenue were sharply higher in F1Q. Shares are up 7.2% in after-hours trading. (connor.hart@wsj.com)

1629 ET - Oracle's cloud-infrastructure business is showing no signs of slowing, reporting revenue of $7.4 billion during the latest quarter, up 121% from a year ago. Chief Financial Officer Hilary Maxson attributes the increase to strong execution, as the company brought 850 megawatts of capacity online in F1Q. She adds that Oracle continues to see strong demand for its compute and database services. Gains across the company's cloud business helped offset revenue from the company's software unit, which fell 3% as customers continue to migrate from on-premises software to the cloud. Total revenue grew 30%, beating Wall Street estimates. Shares rise 7% in after-hours trading. (connor.hart@wsj.com)

1437 ET - The days of the capital-light software company are over, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says at a Goldman Sachs conference. Call it capital expenditures or operating expenses, but every so-called "AI-native" company has got to pay for computing power, Huang says, noting that in the last six months, $400 billion of venture capital funding has been channelled toward AI-native firms. "The definition of AI-native is somebody who spends two-thirds of their raised money on compute," Huang says. "We're working with just about every AI startup in the world. We have the whole platform, we have offtake, they bring the regional land, power and shell, and we work with them to stand that up." (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

1335 ET - Investors in cryptocurrencies have been keenly eyeing the status of the Clarity Act, in hopes of long-awaited regulatory certainty allowing bigger players to move forward with investment plans. The legislation is currently scheduled to be the subject of a cloture vote next week, where some Democratic Senators are needed to join up with Republicans if there's any hope of passing the measure, says Zach Pandl of Greyscale Research in a note. But there are other options traders can still utilize, says Pandl who cites the GENIUS Act that established a federal framework for payment stablecoins, and other measures. Bitcoin falls 1.7%, ethereum is down 1.3%, XRP drops 4.1%, and solana slides 3.2%. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)

1110 ET - Bitcoin's recent rally tested levels above the $80,000 mark, but it appears it's now in a consolidation phase. The cryptocurrency briefly dropped under $77k after the August PPI came in as expected, but has pared its losses since and is currently trading down 1.3% at $77,289. With more inflation data to come on Friday, and yields rising ahead of the FOMC meeting next week, investors are reluctant to put too much faith in crypto, says analysts with Glassnode in a note. "The bond market bitcoin is rallying into remains restrictive," says the firm. Bitcoin isn't expected to retest new lows for the year, with signals suggesting that the bottom is in, according to Glassnode. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)

0731 ET - Technoprobe is given a boost by positive August revenue figures from its largest customer, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Equita's Alberto Gegra writes. TSMC posted August revenue of around $16 billion, a 53% acceleration on-year. "This is a very strong figure," Gegra writes. TSMC contributes directly or indirectly to between 50% to 60% of Milan-listed Technoprobe's revenue, the analyst estimates. Strong demand from TSMC will support Technoprobe's investment in advanced semiconductor testing technology. TSMC's strong revenue also reaffirms the case for Technoprobe to further expand its capacity. Technoprobe shares jump 6.7%, leading the Europe-wide Stoxx 600 index. (josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com)

0017 ET - SoftBank Group seems to have the wiggle room to keep making big investments, Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities' Nobuhiko Ambiru says in a note. The Japanese technology investment company said Wednesday that it would repay an outstanding $25.9 billion loan balance taken under a bridge facility agreement for its OpenAI investments, ahead of schedule. While SoftBank didn't discuss how it would fund the repayment, Ambiru suspects it may have used margin loans with Arm Holdings shares as collateral. SoftBank has a majority stake in Arm. Thanks to an increase in net asset value since the previous fiscal year ended March, SoftBank appears capable of maintaining its fiscal management policy with some buffer, the senior credit analyst says. (kosaku.narioka@wsj.com; @kosakunarioka)

2327 ET - Baidu's valuations seem attractive to Citi analyst Alicia Yap. The Chinese technology company's capital-efficient strategy aims to achieve higher growth with relatively lower capital expenditure, reducing need to issue new shares, she says in a note. The company also signaled its commitment to shareholder returns, having recently stepped up its share buybacks, she adds. Its addition to the Stock Connect program, which allows mainland Chinese investors to trade in Hong Kong stocks, could lead to higher southbound investment flow, though this might take time to come through, she says. Citi retains its buy rating and its target price of $166. Baidu ADRs last closed at $92.03. (megan.cheah@wsj.com)

2223 ET - The next phase of AI infrastructure growth could be shaped less by chip design and more by access to key materials used in high-speed networking equipment, according to research firm Digitimes. The rapid adoption of faster optical modules for AI data centers is driving a shift toward semiconductor-style manufacturing, helping expand the market to an estimated $45.4 billion by 2030 from $12.6 billion in 2025. But the transition is exposing a new bottleneck: demand for indium phosphide, a material used in laser components, is expected to outstrip supply from 2026, potentially slowing shipments of next-generation products. Suppliers are increasingly using investments and acquisitions to secure capacity and future growth, Digitimes says. (sherry.qin@wsj.com)

2133 ET - Inari Amertron appears to be entering a transition period, shifting towards higher-growth AI solutions, Public Investment Bank analyst Chong Hoe Leong says in a note. The outlook is supported by recovering RF demand and rapid growth in photonics revenue, which could double to about 200 million ringgit in FY 2027 as AI data-center demand rises, he reckons. A new testing program for optical communication components provides another AI-related growth avenue. Inari has set aside 450 million ringgit in capital expenditure, mainly for optical-photonics processing and plant expansion, he notes. Chong raises Inari's FY2027-2029 EPS forecasts by 10%-15%. Public IB raises Inari's target price to 3.06 ringgit from 2.60 ringgit, while maintaining an outperform rating on the stock. Shares are 0.4% higher at 2.66 ringgit.