Nvidia (NVDA)

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia (NVDA), said that US export controls on artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China were a "failure", in comments criticising curbs that were issued under the Biden administration.

"All in all, the export control was a failure," Huang said on Wednesday at the Computex tech expo in Taiwan, according to a Reuters report. "The fundamental assumptions that led to the AI diffusion rule in the beginning, in the first place, have been proven to be fundamentally flawed."

The AI diffusion rule was issued in January at the end of Joe Biden's presidency, with compliance requirements set to come into effect on 15 May. However, the Trump administration announced last week that it was rescinding the rules and that the Bureau of Industry and Security would, instead, issue a replacement rule in the future.

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Huang reportedly said at Computex that the AI market in China would be worth around $50bn (£37.3bn) next year.

“The US should maximise the speed of AI diffusion," he reportedly said. "Because if we don’t, the competition will come.

“China has 50% of the world’s AI developers, and it’s important that when they develop on an architecture, they develop on Nvidia, or at least American technology."

At the start of the Computex event this week, Huang revealed details around a number of announcements on new technologies, including its developments in humanoid robotics and custom AI infrastructure.

Shares in Nvidia were little changed in pre-market trading on Wednesday morning.

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Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL)

Another key tech event in focus this week is Google's annual I/O developer conference, which kicked off with a flurry of announcements on Tuesday.

One highlight was developments around Google's AI agent products, for use with online purchases. AI agents have emerged as a key trend in the tech world, with Microsoft (MSFT) outlining its vision for the space at its annual Build conference on Tuesday.

Google's agentic checkout will be used as part of the shopping capabilities under its AI Mode, a search feature that was unveiled on Tuesday and is now available to users in the US.

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AI Mode is a dedicated chatbot-style search option, which will now be available from the standard Google Search page alongside tabs like images, videos and news.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and its parent company Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), said that the update represented a "total reimagining of search".

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"It’s been a pretty exciting moment for search," he said. "People are excited. It’s made the web itself more exciting. I think people are engaging a lot more across the board and so it feels like a very positive moment for us."

Despite the announcements, Alphabet shares were little changed in pre-market trading on Wednesday morning.

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Palo Alto Networks (PANW)

Shares in Palo Alto Networks were down nearly 4% in pre-market trading on Wednesday, after its third quarter earnings failed to impress investors.

The cybersecurity company generated revenue of $2.3bn in the third quarter, which was just ahead of estimates, while adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.80.

On the back of the results, Palo Alto lifted the lower end of its full year revenue guidance. The company said it now expected full year revenue to be in the range of $9.17bn to $9.19bn, up from previous guidance of $9.14bn to $9.19bn.

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“Palo Alto Networks delivered a solid set of results, even if they didn’t quite clear the high bar investors had set," said Ben Barringer, global technology analyst at Quilter Cheviot.

"The business continues to benefit from its scale and breadth across the cybersecurity landscape, which is becoming ever more essential as AI reshapes the threat environment.

“AI is now central to both defence and offence in cybersecurity. Tools like AI-driven attack simulation are powerful for protecting systems but AI can also be used by bad actors to create more sophisticated threats.

"As a result, demand for trusted cybersecurity is only set to rise, and Palo Alto is in a strong position to capitalise. This is shown clearly by the recent attack on M&S (MKS.L)."

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Marks & Spencer (MKS.L)

On the London market, shares in high street stalwart Marks & Spencer (MKS.L) were down just 1%, despite the retailer warning of a £300m ($402m) hit from a recent cyber-attack.

M&S disclosed the incident on 22 April, which left some shelves in its stores empty and online orders suspended.

In its final full-year results on Wednesday, M&S said that it expected the cyber incident to have a £300m impact on operating profits in the 2025/26 fiscal year, before cost mitigation, insurance and trading action.

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The retailer said its fashion, home and beauty sales had been "heavily impacted" by the decision to pause online shopping. The company said it expected online disruption to continue throughout June and into July as it plans to restart, then ramp back up, this area of the business.

In terms of its performance for the full-year that ended on 29 March, a week after it declared the cyber attack, M&S posted a 6.1% increase in sales to £13.9bn. Profit before tax and adjusting items grew by 22.2% to £875.5m.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "Marks & Spencer’s recently pristine record has been dented by the well-reported and most unwelcome cyber incident, but the group is nonetheless still making significant progress.

"The incident may well prove to be a 'bump in the road' as the company describes it in the fullness of time, and for the moment the incident has not derailed the group’s progress."

JD Sports (JD.L)

Another London-listed retailer in focus on Wednesday is JD Sports (JD.L), with shares in the company sliding more than 7% in early European trading.

While full-year revenue was up 10.2% at £11.5bn, profit before tax was down 4% on the previous year to £923m.

Régis Schultz, CEO of JD Sports, said trading in the first quarter of its new financial year had been in line with expectations "in a volatile market. Despite this volatility, and uncertainty surrounding the impact of US tariff changes, we look forward into the medium term with confidence that we can continue to outperform the market, improve our profit margin and create significant value for our shareholders."

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Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell (AJB.L), said: "JD Sports has been given a right kicking by the market after a weak start to its new financial year and warning that tariffs could hit demand."

"Approximately 40% of JD’s sales come from the US and many products it sells are sourced from Asia, so it is in the firing line for tariffs. That means prices will inevitably go up and not all consumers will have the appetite or means by which to stomach these extra costs. They’ll simply make existing footwear last longer or opt for cheaper items."

Other companies in the news on Wednesday 21 May:

Currys (CURY.L)

Wolfspeed (WOLF)

Severn Trent (SVT.L)

Target Corporation (TGT)

Best Buy (BBY)

Urban Outfitters (URBN)

Baidu (9888.HK)

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