Meta surges 12% as Muse hits No. 1 on App Store; Truist sees $28.5B by 2030

Chip rally extends across Asia and Europe on AI trade

Meta shares climbed 12% intraday on Monday after the app to access the company’s new AI assistant, Muse, reached No. 1 on Apple’s App Store. Sensor Tower separately identified Muse as the most-downloaded free iPhone app in the United States.

In a research note, Truist projected Muse would add $28.5 billion in incremental revenue by 2030 under a base-case scenario, describing the product as “the clearest attempt yet to build a non-ad revenue stream to complement its ad juggernaut and show ROI against its large CapEx.” A separate Truist note said emphasizing trust is the right strategic bet but noted the company’s reputation could make the pitch challenging. “Muse asks consumers to trust Meta with more personal data than social media ever did, and it arrived twelve days after Meta agreed to an $18 billion settlement with 29 states over social media harms to children,” the analysts wrote. “For a product whose entire pitch is trust, this is not the most favorable launch context.”

The Muse rally extended a broader AI-driven advance across global chip and semiconductor stocks. In Asia, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics closed up 5% and SK Hynix gained 0.6%. In Europe, Dutch semiconductor-equipment maker ASML Holding rose 2.8%, smaller rival ASM International added 1.9%, and BE Semiconductor Industries gained 0.1%, while Germany’s Infineon Technologies rose 2.4% and STMicroelectronics climbed 2.3%. The E-mini Nasdaq 100 futures contract edged 0.8% higher ahead of the U.S. open, pointing to a positive session for tech shares.

The chip gains came as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent publicly rejected calls from the CEOs of OpenAI and Anthropic for the U.S. government to take a more active role in regulating artificial intelligence. Bessent, speaking on CNBC, dismissed those calls. “What did they try to do last week? It was, ‘Well there’s a 10% chance that we could destroy the world, but we want the government to give us a liability shield.’ That’s good business for them, bad business for the American people,” Bessent said.

Private-equity activity in software has cooled as firms grow cautious about AI-driven disruption. The technology sector represented roughly 13% of the value of U.S. buyouts in the first half of 2026, down from an average of about 30% in the prior five-year period, according to a report from the law firm Sidley Austin. The pullback reflects “potential vulnerability in software valuations,” Sidley said, noting that acquisition negotiations increasingly hinge on “how vulnerable a software business is to AI-driven disruption” rather than on price alone.

In South Korea, S&P Global Ratings analysts warned that the country’s aggressive AI infrastructure push could strain participating companies’ credit profiles. President Lee Jae Myung’s “Three Mega Projects” initiative — focused on data centers, semiconductors and physical AI — could require 1,800 trillion won to 2,000 trillion won ($1.3 trillion to $1.4 trillion) in investments over the next decade for chips and data centers alone, with about $900 billion of that in data centers, according to analysts led by James Kim.

In Southeast Asia, Singapore-based ride-hailing company Grab’s takeover of buy-now-pay-later platform Atome comes at a high price, with Deutsche Bank’s Peter Milliken writing that Grab is “paying top dollar” to expand its buy-now-pay-later business six-fold. The deal’s two-tranche structure implies roughly $200 million in adjusted Ebitda for Atome by 2028, Milliken said. “Grab likes the idea of using its combined data to improve both companies’ credit models, and scaling the foundational infrastructure across a much larger loan book,” he added. Deutsche Bank retained a buy rating on Grab but trimmed its target price to $5.60 from $6.40. Shares closed at $2.80 on Friday.

Also in Singapore, Macquarie Capital analyst Zhiwei Foo wrote that Singtel’s shares could benefit from rerating catalysts tied to its GPU-as-a-service business. Every S$300 million of contracts won by RE:AI is estimated to add S$0.12 to the stock’s fair value, assuming all else is equal, Foo said. He estimated a 12% Ebit increase for the year ending March, above the company’s guidance, with results likely driven by Optus in Australia along with digital-infrastructure and AI businesses, and said Singtel may revisit its conservative Ebit outlook in November. Macquarie retained an outperform rating on Singtel but lowered its target price to S$4.98 from S$5.29, citing lower fair values for regional associates and significantly weaker foreign-exchange rates. Shares closed at S$4.33.

Separately, Capital Economics’ Thomas Mathews argued that “the AI bubble hasn’t burst yet,” writing that the recent decline in tech stocks’ relative valuations does not signal an end to the rally and that “the rally may have a bit further to go.” A tech-led relief rally remains possible if oil prices keep falling and bring yields down with them, he added, even though the index has not fallen sharply. “There’s potential for market-moving news at the U.S.-China meetings, but our best bet is that progress, and any resultant market reaction, will be minor,” Mathews said.

In Malaysia, Kenanga economists expect the country’s 2027 budget to be a pre-election budget on a compressed timeline, with greater focus on cost-of-living relief and household support while spending on AI, semiconductors, digitalization and infrastructure is prioritized. The economists forecast the fiscal deficit narrowing to 3.5% of GDP in 2027 from an estimated 3.8% in 2026, supported by economic growth and lower subsidies, and 2027 GDP growth of 4.5% to 5.5% driven by domestic demand, structural reforms and projects under the five-year development plan. Broad-based tax reforms are unlikely, the economists added, with efforts instead focused on improving tax compliance and collection.

Some Chinese humanoid-robot component suppliers are positioned to benefit from a planned production ramp at the leading U.S. humanoid-robot maker, Citi analysts wrote. The bank’s supply-chain checks in China suggested the U.S. firm could scale weekly output nearly tenfold to about 1,500 units in October, climbing further to 2,000 to 2,500 units by the end of the fourth quarter or early first quarter. Beneficiaries named in the note include Jiangsu Hengli Hydraulic, Zhejiang Shuanghuan Driveline and Leader Harmonious Drive Systems.