ii Tech Focus: crypto, Intel, Anthropic, Snowflake, Strategy, Oracle

The Oracle logo on a smartphone reflecting a bright pink background. Photo: Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto via Getty Images.

Cryptoassets are very high risk and you should be prepared to lose all your money before you invest

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Bitcoin

It has been a wild ride for cryptos this week. Bitcoin plunged on the first day of December, shedding as much as $18,000 (£13,500), its biggest dollar loss since May 2021, dragging other cryptos such as Ether and Solana down with it.

According to Bloomberg, the sell-off erased nearly $1 trillion in fresh leveraged bets on bitcoin. Monday’s bond market declines weighed on riskier non-yielding assets such as bitcoin, plus it had already been largely trading in a downward trajectory since the peak in October, landing the crypto in negative territory year-to-date.

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However, on Tuesday, bitcoin rebounded 6% breaking back above $90,000 and rallied further on Wednesday to a two-week high, partly thanks to Vanguard’s decision to allow crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to be traded on its platform. Plus, opportunistic investors have been jumping on the opportunity to snap up crypto at a discount, supporting its price. Nonetheless, bitcoin is still down around 25% off the October highs amid concerns about overvaluations in risky assets like artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptos.

Cryptocurrencies are notoriously volatile and while they can deliver impressive gains, they can also leave investors nursing painful losses.

Intel

Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) shares skyrocketed over 8% on Tuesday on the back of comments from Ming-Chi Kuo, a respected supply chain analyst from TF International, who said the company could start building Apple’s M processors for its MacBook Air and iPad Pro in early 2027. Kuo said the chances of Intel becoming an Apple chip supplier “has recently improved significantly”.

Shares are up almost 20% over the past week and are up by more than 80% over the last three months. The Trump administration invested $8.9 billion into Intel’s stock in August as part of the White House’s plans to back the US chip manufacturing industry.

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However, analysts are unsure about the outlook for Intel with an average ‘hold’ recommendation on the stock and a target price of $35.91, down 17% from the current share price. 

Anthropic

It looks like Anthropic could be preparing for an IPO. According to the Financial Times, the AI safety and research company and major rival to OpenAI, held talks with major investment banks and has tapped law firm Wilson Sonsini to start working on its potential stock market flotation, which could take place as early as next year. The FT report said the company behind the Claude chatbot is in talks for a private funding round that could lift its valuation above $300 billion. Anthropic hired Krishna Rao who worked at Airbnb for six years and focused on its IPO.

Although OpenAI has not provided official confirmation, there have been several recent media reports to suggest the company behind ChatGPT could also be laying the groundwork for an IPO. OpenAI reportedly reached a valuation of $500 billion in October after completing a $6.6 billion share sale in October.

Both companies could be looking to go public in an attempt to raise huge amounts of capital to fund their costly expansion plans and gain global credibility.

Bank of England warning

The Bank of England has said: “risks to financial stability have increased during 2025”. The central bank warned that “many risky asset valuations remain materially stretched”, particularly for AI tech companies, which “heightens the risk of a sharp correction”. It said financial stability consequences could arise if AI progress “does not deliver the returns expected by investors”. 

This adds to a series of warnings from top voices and institutions across the global economy that have raised concerns about fears of an AI bubble.

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Source interactive investor, 1-3 December 2025.

Snowflake

Snowflake Inc Ordinary Shares (NYSE:SNOW) reported fiscal third-quarter revenue of $1.21 billion, beating analysts’ expectations for $1.18 billion. The cloud data analytics firm forecast Q4 product revenue of $1.19 billion to $1.20 billion, slightly ahead of forecasts for $1.18 billion. However, shares fell sharply as investors were hoping for an even bigger beat in terms of its current quarter top line guidance.

Meanwhile, Snowflake and Anthropic announced a $200 million partnership to bring agentic AI to global enterprises. The multi-year agreement will make Anthropic’s Claude models available in the Snowflake platform.

Shares in Snowflake have sharply outperformed the S&P 500 so far this year, surging more than 70%. On the back of Wednesday’s update, Deutsche Bank, TD Cowen, Stifel and Bernstein raised their target price on the stock.

Strategy Inc

Strategy Inc Class A (NASDAQ:MSTR) has been caught up in the bitcoin volatility. Shares are down almost 25% over the past month.

However, it is the most-bought tech stock on the ii platform so far this week, outpacing even tech giants NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in second and third place respectively.

Strategy Inc said it created a $1.4 billion reserve fund so that it does not have to sell some of its $56 billion crypto holdings to cover dividend payments. However, the announcement spooked investors, with Strategy’s shares falling sharply on Monday. Strategy has become a popular proxy play on bitcoin via the public markets. However, investors have suffered lately, with shares sliding around 60% from the recent peak this summer.

Week Ahead

Oracle

Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL) will announce its second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings after the market close on Wednesday 10 December. According to Refinitiv, earnings per share (EPS) is expected to hit $1.64 and revenue is forecast to rise to $16.2 billion. In September, Oracle announced a $300 billion deal with OpenAI, and Deutsche Bank notes the company “getting little, if any, credit” for this tie-up. However, shares have fallen sharply since September’s peak, caught up in the market’s concerns about an AI bubble.

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In its previous quarterly earnings release three months ago, new cloud contracts resulted in impressive growth forecasts, sending its share price soaring. Investors were able to shrug off a miss on the top and bottom lines, with adjusted EPS hitting $1.47 on revenues of $14.93 billion. Cloud computing division revenue jumped 28% year-on-year, while software revenue fell 1%.

Shares are up 27% year-to-date and analysts are positive, with a consensus buy on the stock and an average target price of $336.82, up 62% from the current share price. This week, Wells Fargo initiated coverage on the stock with an overweight rating and a target price of $280.