ii Tech Focus: OpenAI, Lime IPO, Tesla, Nebius, CoreWeave

A National Gallery hoarding with details from paintings by famous artists appears to look down on a Lime bike in London. Photo: Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images.

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OpenAI

OpenAI is proposing handing over a 5% stake of its business to the Trump administration, the Financial Times reported. CEO Sam Altman has discussed a public ownership deal as a way of allowing the public to profit from AI’s financial gains. The deal could also include other rival AI companies. 

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Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders has been calling for more extensive public ownership in AI, with the creation of a US sovereign wealth fund and a one-time 50% tax on the stock of the largest AI companies, so the American people can share much more of the upside.

Both OpenAI and Anthropic filed for IPOs in recent weeks, but precise details including the dates of these two mega-AI flotations are yet to be confirmed.

Lime IPO

Lime rose by 4% on Wednesday on its first day of trading on the Nasdaq. The electric bike and e-scooter sharing business backed by Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE:UBER) floated in the US, fetching a valuation of around $1.7 billion (£1.3 billion). Lime priced its IPO at $25 a share and closed at $26, selling around seven million shares and generating an estimated $174 million.

Founded in 2017, Lime operates in 230 cities with most success in busy, congested cities like London and Washington DC as people look to cut their journey times and avoid the traffic.

Lime is the latest in a series of notable IPOs in 2026, following Space Exploration Technologies Corp Class A (NASDAQ:SPCX) last month and OpenAI and Anthropic in the pipeline.

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Tesla

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) announced impressive second-quarter vehicle deliveries on Thursday, reaching 480,126, ahead of forecasts for 406,024. This represents growth of 25% year-on-year and 34% quarter-on-quarter and marks a positive shift after two straight annual declines. For shares however, it was a case of “travel and arrive” with the stock dropping on Thursday, having already rallied sharply in the build-up to the announcement.

Tesla’s performance has been improving lately thanks to strong sales in Europe on the back of electric vehicle (EV) incentives, and the Middle East energy shock which made petrol and diesel much more expensive. Consumers are also slowly starting to unwind some of their negative sentiment towards Elon Musk after his distracting involvement with US President Donald Trump in the White House last year.

Shares in Tesla are up 27% over the past 12 months but are down by 10% year-to-date. This is a stock that divides the bulls and the bears. According to Refinitiv, there is a consensus “hold” recommendation on Tesla with an average target price of $391.03, down 1.9% from the current share price.

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Source: interactive investor, 29 June to 1 July 2026.

Nebius and CoreWeave

Nebius Group NV Shs Class-A- (NASDAQ:NBIS) and CoreWeave Inc Ordinary Shares - Class A (NASDAQ:CRWV) are among the most-bought tech stocks on the ii platform so far this week. Investors have been buying the dip amid a 15% slide in the two companies over the past week.

Both neocloud businesses fell sharply on Wednesday after Bloomberg reported that Meta Platforms Inc Class A (NASDAQ:META) is considering selling access to “raw” computing capacity, creating a major potential competitive threat for both Nebius and CoreWeave. The report also said Mark Zuckerberg’s company is developing plans for a cloud business to sell AI computing power and models, lifting shares in Meta by over 9%.

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Despite the near-term pullback, Nebius has been an impressive stock market performer in recent months, rallying 100% over the past three months and around 335% over the past year. Coreweave is up a more modest 17% so far this year.

According to Refinitiv, there is a consensus “buy” recommendation on Nebius and CoreWeave among analysts.

Semiconductors surge

This week marked the end of Q2, providing a moment for investors to take stock of performance as we pass this year’s halfway point. Semiconductors outperformed in Q2 - the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index displayed parabolic gains, securing its best quarterly performance ever with an almost 90% surge.

During the three months, chipmaker investors enjoyed some spectacular returns. Micron Technology, which is the most-bought technology stock on the ii platform so far this week, soared over 240%, while Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC), Marvell Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MRVL) and SanDisk Corp Ordinary Shares (NASDAQ:SNDK) (which were also very popular tech stocks among ii customers this week) skyrocketed by more than 200% each.

The semiconductor rally in Q2 has been driven by improving macro dynamics, growing risk appetite, surging demand for AI chips fuelled by the hyperscalers’ massive AI infrastructure investments, and ongoing supply constraints in parts of the AI supply chain.