ii Tech Focus: OpenAI IPO, Meta, Nvidia, Salesforce

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaking in Washington DC in March. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images.

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Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms Inc Class A is cutting 8,000 jobs or 10% of the workforce and cancelling plans to hire 6,000 staff, according to the Financial Times as it looks to increasingly rely on artificial intelligence (AI). However, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said there will be no more “company-wide layoffs” this year. Facebook’s parent company is also reportedly moving 7,000 employees into AI roles.

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Facebook has been spending billions of dollars in the AI arms race, building out expensive data centres and reportedly hiring top AI talent on multi-million dollar pay packages to catch up with Google and OpenAI. Meta forecasts capital expenditure of between $125 billion (£93 billion) and $145 billion this year having raised guidance in April from a previous range of $115-135 billion.

Meta shares are down 10% over the last month and 8% lower so far this year. However, according to Refinitiv, analysts remain optimistic with a consensus buy recommendation and target price of $822.6, representing 36% upside from the current share price.

OpenAI IPO

OpenAI’s US IPO is imminent, according to Reuters, which says the company behind ChatGPT is working on a draft prospectus with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, laying the groundwork for a stock market flotation as early as September that could value the company at up to $1 trillion.

At the end of March, OpenAI raised $122 billion at a post money valuation of $852 billion. It reached $1 billion revenue within a year of launching ChatGPT and was the fastest tech company to reach 100 million users. It now has more than 900 million weekly active users and over 50 million subscribers.

Nvidia

NVIDIA Corp reported first-quarter results that beat expectations – adjusted earnings per share (EPS) hit $1.87 versus forecasts for $1.76 and revenue hit $81.62 billion versus consensus at $78.86 billion.

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Guidance was also strong, with Q2 revenue expected to come in around $91 billion, ahead of estimates. Data centre revenue surged 92% to $75.2 billion in Q1. The chip giant is returning cash to shareholders by raising its dividend from 1 cent to 25 cents and announcing an $80 billion share buyback programme.

This was another undeniably strong quarter for Nvidia. However, shares fell after hours as the bar is very high for the AI bellwether, which has made a habit of delivering incredibly impressive results. Plus, investors “bought the rumour, sold the fact” as shares had already rallied ahead of earnings.

20 most-bought tech stocks on the ii platform

Source: interactive investor, 18-20 May 2026.

ServiceNow Inc is one of the most bought tech stocks on the ii platform so far this week, as shares rallied on Monday and Tuesday thanks to an analyst upgrade. Bank of America reinstated its coverage on the stock with a buy rating and price target of $130, sharply above the current share price.

Analyst Tal Liani said the company had a “mission-critical” role in AI-driven systems, arguing that it is better positioned than some of its rivals to deal with the rise of AI tools in enterprise workflows. The bank argues ServiceNow could deliver revenue growth of 18% to 22% until 2028 and free cash flow margins between 35% and 37%.

Shares are up more than 11% over the last week. This positive price action comes as a welcome reprieve from recent declines. ServiceNow shares are down 34% so far this year and 50% over a one-year period.

Week Ahead

Salesforce

Salesforce Inc prepares to deliver its latest quarterly earnings on Wednesday.

The enterprise software sector has been under pressure this year, with shares in companies like Adobe Inc, Workday Inc Class A and ServiceNow also hit hard by the latest punishing software sell-off. This has been driven by concerns about how AI could eat into the SaaS (software as a service) business model as AI agents replace CRM, support and marketing automation.

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However, so far the fundamentals at Salesforce remain robust – in February it delivered strong fiscal fourth-quarter results. It reported 12% revenue growth year-on-year to $11.20 billion and adjusted earnings per share hit $3.81, comfortably beating expectations. The company guided for Q1 adjusted EPS of $3.11 to $3.13 on revenue of between $11.03 billion and $11.08 billion.

Salesforce has carried out a wave of AI related acquisitions including Momentum, Cimulate, and Qualified. It expanded its partnership with Anthropic in October last year to integrate Claude models into its platforms.

Shares are down by more than 30% so far this year and have shed 37% over the last 12 months. According to Refinitiv, Salesforce maintains its consensus buy recommendation among analysts.