Inflation

Intel sells Altera, Major deals, and Nvidia brings AI home.

🗓 Morning, folks!

Markets roared back to life on Tuesday, erasing all losses from Trump’s April 2 tariff shock. Sensex and Nifty surged over 2% each, with every sector closing in the green, signalling a broad-based rebound.

💡 Spotlight: India’s WPI inflation dropped to a six-month low of 2.05% in March, down from 2.38% in February.

The cooldown was led by softer prices in food, electricity, and textiles.

ICYMI: WPI (Wholesale Price Index) tracks bulk prices before goods reach retail shelves—giving a peek into upstream cost pressures across the economy.

1 Big Thing: Inflation drops, and food prices lead the fall 📉

India’s retail inflation fell to 3.34% in March, a marginal drop from 3.61% in February, marking its lowest level since August 2019.

This keeps it well below the RBI’s comfort zone of 4%, giving the central bank some room to lower interest rates.

CPI measures how much the prices of everyday items like groceries, rent, and fuel have increased over the last year. A drop usually signals slower consumer demand, which cools prices but also suggests people might be cutting back on spending.

This time, the biggest driver was food.

• Vegetable prices plunged, with inflation dropping from 1.07% in February to -7.04% in March.
• Pulses also saw deflation, going from 0.35% to -2.73%.
• On the other hand, core inflation (which excludes food and fuel) remained sticky, inching up to 4.1% from 4%.
• Fuel and light crept back into the positive zone, and housing inflation also rose slightly.

Rural inflation dropped to 3.25%, showing price pressures are easing outside cities. But in a flip, urban inflation inched up to 3.43%.

Zoom out: winter harvest came in strong, especially for vegetables, which pushed prices down significantly in local markets. Meanwhile, as overall consumption slows, retailers and suppliers are cutting prices to push sales, especially for perishables.

With inflation comfortably below the 4% mark, RBI has more space to cut interest rates or keep them low to support growth without worrying about price spikes.

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2. Nvidia brings AI home 🇺🇸

Nvidia has officially started manufacturing its new Blackwell AI chips at TSMC’s facility in Arizona, making a big win for Trump’s make in America.

It’s also building two big supercomputer manufacturing plants in Texas, one with Foxconn in Houston, and another with Wistron in Dallas.

The company’s goal: to produce up to $500 billion worth of AI infrastructure in the U.S. over the next four years.

If the U.S. follows through with higher tariffs on semiconductor imports, building chips locally will help Nvidia dodge those costs. There’s also the CHIPS and Science Act—under which the U.S. is handing out billions in subsidies to boost domestic chipmaking. Nvidia clearly wants in.

Worth noting: beyond the economics, national security concerns are also pushing this shift. By building locally, Nvidia stays on the right side of regulators and avoids potential export restrictions or supply chain disruptions.

The bigger trend:

• OpenAI is building a $500B data center project in the U.S. with SoftBank and Oracle (Stargate)
• Microsoft plans to spend $80B on AI infra next year—half of it in the U.S.

Zoom out: America’s chip ambitions are heating up—but it’s not all smooth sailing. China’s retaliatory tariffs and export controls could choke raw material supply, and the U.S. is still staring at a massive talent gap to scale production.

3. Intel breaks up with Altera 💻

Private equity grabs another fallen soldier

Intel is selling over 50% of its Altera chip unit to private equity firm Silver Lake for $4.46 billion.

The deets: Altera makes programmable chips, which can be customized for specific tasks like defense, telecom, AI, and cloud computing.

The deal values Altera at $8.75 billion, about half of what Intel paid when it bought the company back in 2015.

Why it matters: Intel’s been bleeding cash after making big bets on contract chip manufacturing, trying to play catch-up with TSMC and Samsung. With this partial sell-off, it’s trimming the fat, raising funds, to focus on other areas of its business.

By the numbers: Altera pulled in $1.54 billion in revenue in 2024, just 3% of Intel’s total sales but reported a $615 million operating loss. So, while Altera’s tech is niche and powerful, it’s not moving the needle for Intel’s core game.

Zoom out: Intel's main game is making CPUs for PCs and servers. Altera, while valuable, is outside that core. The company has been trying to clean house, shedding non-core businesses and simplifying operations.

While we are on deals,

Microsoft is buying 3.7 million metric tons of carbon removal credits from CO280, a company turning paper mills into climate fixers.

That’s like taking millions of cars off the road.

The first project—live by 2028—will trap CO2 at a Gulf Coast paper mill and pipe it underground for permanent storage.

Big picture: Big Tech giants, who had made bold commitments towards carbon neutrality are falling behind, and are now looking for unique ways to balance shortfalls.

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4. Stocks that kept us interested 🚀

1. Tata Power signed a ₹4,500 crore Power Purchase Agreement with NTPC to build a 200 MW firm and dispatchable renewable energy project.

The project includes battery storage to ensure round-the-clock green power, customised to NTPC’s demand.

The 100 MW battery system will be spread across 10 key sites in Mumbai, all controlled from Tata Power’s central command centre.

The stock gained more than 4% following the update.

2. RateGain Travel Technologies, a global provider of AI-powered SaaS solutions for travel and hospitality, partnered with Sky Airline, one of South America’s leading low-cost carriers, to strengthen the airline’s pricing intelligence and competitive edge.

Sky Airline will deploy AirGain, RateGain’s pricing intelligence platform, to optimise its pricing strategy and enhance revenue across its network.

With the tool, Sky airline will get real-time fare data from over 300 global airlines and 50+ OTAs, helping it stay responsive to changing market trends.

Rategain stock gained 2% following the update.

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What else are we snackin’ 🍿

🏛️ Funding fallout: Trump administration is halting $2.3 billion in funding to Harvard over its refusal to shut down diversity and inclusion programs.

📱 SIM in a snap: Bharti Airtel has partnered with Blinkit to deliver SIM cards to customers’ doorsteps in just 10 minutes.

✨ Beyond food: Swiggy launched ‘Pyng’, an app connecting users to verified pros—from astrologers and fitness coaches to financial advisors and event planners.

🌍 Go green: JSW Group will invest ₹50,000 crore in green steel production, which will shift from natural gas to green hydrogen—cutting carbon emissions by 80%.

🚫 Crackdown: SEBI put Gensol Engineering’s stock split on hold and barred its promoters from market access, citing fraudulent fund diversion by the founders.

That’s a wrap! Don’t let the weekday blues get to you.

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