Nvidia earnings, Big Tech’s White House visit, protein prices and more in Morning Squawk

Happy Thursday. With focus remaining on artificial intelligence’s potential to shake up various industries, I’ve decided to start a mental count of how many times I say or write variations of the term “AI disruption.”

S&P 500 futures are little changed this morning. The three major indexes are coming off another winning day.

Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

Nvidia beat Wall Street’s fourth-quarter expectations yesterday, reporting 75% revenue growth in its core data center business that helped drive the company’s overall sales up 73%. The chipmaker also issued better-than-expected guidance for the first quarter, but shares of Nvidia are still only modestly higher in extended trading.

Here’s what to know:

• The company said its data center business is now responsible for more than 91% of its total sales. Quarterly revenue from the unit beat analysts’ expectations.
• Following the report, CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC’s Becky Quick that markets miscalculated AI’s threat to software companies: “I think the markets got it wrong,” he said.
• Huang also said that the ongoing stand-off between the U.S. Defense Department and AI startup Anthropic is “not the end of the world.” 
• Shares of Nvidia — which have outperformed those of its megacap tech peers this year — are more than 1% higher in premarket trading. Despite shares’ rather muted move, Nvidia’s report still helped spark a rally in Asian markets that sent Japan’s Nikkei 225 above 59,000 for the first time.
• Meanwhile, shares of Salesforce dropped close to 4% after the software company’s full-year revenue guidance failed to impress Wall Street.
• Follow live markets updates here.

Executives from major technology firms will meet with President Donald Trump next week at the White House, where they are set to sign a pledge to provide their own power for their AI data centers. As CNBC’s Spencer Kimball reports, Amazon, Meta, and OpenAI are among the companies planning to sign the agreement.

Meanwhile, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos will reportedly be at the White House today for meetings on the streaming giant’s deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. Sarandos’ reported trip comes days after Trump demanded Netflix fire board member Susan Rice, a former Obama administration official.

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said yesterday that he would resign from teaching at Harvard University by the end of the current school year. The resignation comes as Harvard conducts a review of emails and documents showing Summers’ connection to Jeffrey Epstein.

His wasn’t the only resignation recently announced in connection with the late sex offender. Dr. Richard Axel, a Nobel Prize winner, said in a statement that he was leaving his role as co-director of a Columbia University institute. “My past association with Jeffrey Epstein was a serious error in judgment, which I deeply regret,” Axel said.

Bill Gates also spoke about his relationship with Epstein during a Gates Foundation town hall this week, according to a spokesperson for the nonprofit. The Microsoft co-founder reportedly told staff that he “did nothing illicit” during his interactions with Epstein and admitted to having affairs with two Russian women.

None of the three men have been accused of wrongdoing in connection to Epstein.

Samsung unveiled a new set of its flagship smartphones yesterday, and some are notably pricier than before.

While the highest-end model’s price was unchanged, Samsung’s S26 and S26+ models cost $100 more than their predecessors. As CNBC’s Kai Nicol-Schwarz reports, the increases come as the industry contends with a global memory chip shortage.

The S26 is the first phone where Google’s Gemini can autonomously operate third-party apps — such as ordering you a ride on Uber — offering a glimpse into what could lie ahead for Apple following its partnership with Alphabet on Siri.

In his State of the Union address, Trump said prices for several proteins are declining. But as CNBC’s Greg Iacurci reports, the data tells a more complex story.

Prices for boneless chicken breast and ground beef have risen since Trump’s return to office in January of last year, government data shows. Egg prices, on the other hand, have declined sharply from early 2025.

Economists say that price moves are more about industry dynamics than federal policy. For example, the slide in egg prices is largely a result of easing impacts from a bird flu outbreak.

CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin reported yesterday Appaloosa Management founder David Tepper sent a harsh letter to Whirlpool in which he argued that the appliance maker’s management has “destroyed” shareholder value.

— CNBC’s Becky Quick, Ari Levy, Katie Tarasov, Anniek Bao, Dylan Butts, Lee Ying Shan, Jordan Novet, Spencer Kimball, Kevin Breuninger, Dan Mangan, Jim Forkin, Kai Nicol-Schwarz, MacKenzie Sigalos, Greg Iacurci, Andrew Ross Sorkin and Yun Li contributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.

Correction: Dr. Richard Axel announced his resignation in a statement on Tuesday. A previous version of this story misstated the day.