Walmart’s AI Push Links Gemini App Experience With U.S. Manufacturing Shift

• Walmart (NasdaqGS:WMT) is expanding its partnership with Google to integrate Gemini AI into the Walmart mobile app, aiming to support instant checkout and more personalized shopping.
• The company is also backing Unspun’s AI driven textile production initiative in the U.S., targeting more domestic, tech enabled apparel manufacturing.
• These moves come alongside Walmart’s broader shift toward platform style profit streams and more advanced, sustainable supply chains.

For investors watching Walmart (NasdaqGS:WMT), these AI and manufacturing moves sit on top of a share price of $126.787 and a 1 year return of 37.8%. Returns over 3 and 5 years are very large, with shares up 165.2% and 188.9% respectively. This underlines how closely the market is tracking Walmart’s repositioning beyond traditional retail margins.

The Gemini AI rollout and Unspun partnership point to Walmart tying digital engagement more tightly to how products are sourced and produced. For you as a shareholder or potential investor, the key question is how these projects influence customer loyalty, cost structure and the mix of higher margin, platform like revenue over time.

Stay updated on the most important news stories for Walmart by adding it to your watchlist or portfolio. Alternatively, explore our Community to discover new perspectives on Walmart.

NasdaqGS:WMT Earnings & Revenue Growth as at Apr 2026

📰 Beyond the headline: 1 risk and 2 things going right for Walmart that every investor should see.

Quick Assessment

• ⚖️ Price vs Analyst Target: At US$126.79, Walmart trades about 7% below the US$136.02 analyst target, which sits inside a wide US$62 to US$150 range.
• ⚖️ Simply Wall St Valuation: The shares are described as trading close to estimated fair value, so this AI and manufacturing news comes against a roughly balanced valuation backdrop.
• ✅ Recent Momentum: A 30 day return of 2.67% suggests the trend has been slightly positive into this announcement.

There is only one way to know the right time to buy, sell or hold Walmart: head to Simply Wall St’s
company report for the latest analysis of Walmart’s Fair Value.

Key Considerations

• 📊 Gemini AI in the app and AI led U.S. textile production both speak to Walmart tying digital retail, data and supply chain control more tightly together.
• 📊 Watch how engagement metrics, unit economics in fulfillment and any disclosure around AI driven productivity show up alongside the current 46.2x P/E.
• ⚠️ One flagged risk is significant insider selling over the past 3 months, which some investors may weigh against these long term tech and manufacturing projects.

Dig Deeper

For the full picture including more risks and rewards, check out the
complete Walmart analysis. Alternatively, you can check out the
community page for Walmart to see how other investors believe this latest news will impact the company’s narrative.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data
and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your
financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data.
Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.
Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Valuation is complex, but we’re here to simplify it.

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Tesla (TSLA) reportedly in talks to buy $2.9B in Chinese solar equipment for 100 GW US push

Image: Tesla

Elon Musk’s plan to build 100 GW of solar manufacturing capacity in the United States just got its first major price tag: $2.9 billion in equipment from Chinese suppliers, according to a Reuters exclusive.

If the deal closes, it marks the biggest concrete investment yet in Musk’s solar ambitions, and a stunning reversal for a company that effectively abandoned its solar business just two years ago.

The deal

Reuters reports that the equipment is valued at roughly 20 billion yuan ($2.9 billion) and that Tesla is in discussions with multiple Chinese suppliers. The frontrunner is Suzhou Maxwell Technologies, a Shenzhen-listed company that dominates the global market for solar cell screen-printing production lines.

Other potential suppliers include Shenzhen S.C New Energy Technology and Laplace Renewable Energy Technology.

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The Chinese companies have been told to deliver the equipment before this autumn, with at least two sources indicating it would be shipped to Texas. That aligns with Tesla’s expanding Texas manufacturing footprint, which already includes its Austin Gigafactory and a new Houston Megafactory under construction for Megapack production.

One significant hurdle remains: Suzhou Maxwell needs export approval from China’s commerce ministry, and it’s unclear how quickly that clearance will come. Beijing has been tightening its grip on solar technology exports over the past two years, and China’s commerce ministry recently made export controls a top priority for 2026.

On the US side, the equipment faces a more favorable regulatory path. Solar manufacturing equipment was excluded from Section 301 tariffs in 2024 at the urging of American solar panel makers, and that exemption has been extended by the Trump administration through November 2026.

The 100 GW ambition

The $2.9 billion equipment purchase is tied directly to a goal Musk laid out at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2026. There, he announced that both Tesla and SpaceX are independently working to build 100 GW per year of solar manufacturing capacity in the US — covering the entire supply chain from raw materials to finished panels.

The company’s own job listings reinforce the scale of the ambition, explicitly referencing a target of 100 GW of “solar manufacturing from raw materials on American soil before the end of 2028.”

For context, total US solar installations in 2023 reached about 32 GW. Tesla wants to manufacture more than three times that, every single year, on its own.

The driving force behind the urgency isn’t climate policy, it’s AI. Data center construction and the broader electrification of transportation pushed US power consumption to a second consecutive record in 2025, and the projections keep rising. Musk has argued that no other energy source can scale fast enough or cheaply enough to meet those demands.

Tesla’s troubled solar history

The irony is thick. Tesla acquired SolarCity for $2.6 billion in 2016 and promised to revolutionize the residential solar market with its Solar Roof tiles. Musk set a target of 1,000 new solar roofs per week by the end of 2019. Tesla never came close. By Q2 2022, the company was deploying approximately 23 roofs per week — roughly 2% of the target.

Today, Tesla never talks about its solar roof; it’s essentially a dead product.

Tesla’s solar deployment declined steadily after the SolarCity acquisition. Panasonic, which had partnered with Tesla at the Buffalo Gigafactory to manufacture solar cells, exited the facility in 2020. By late 2024, Tesla stopped reporting solar deployment altogether, and the word “solar” didn’t appear once during the company’s Q3 2024 earnings call.

There were signs of a revival in early 2026 when Tesla launched a new US-made solar panel (the TSP-420) assembled at the Buffalo factory, featuring a proprietary 18-zone power optimization system. But the scale was modest — initial capacity at the Buffalo facility was just over 300 MW per year, a rounding error compared to the 100 GW target.

Energy storage is a different story

While Tesla’s solar business withered, its energy storage division exploded. Tesla deployed a record 46.7 GWh of energy storage in 2025, a 48% increase year-over-year, generating $12.8 billion in revenue with a 29.8% gross margin — nearly double what Tesla earns selling cars.

Energy storage now accounts for 13% of Tesla’s total revenue and 23% of its gross profit. The Lathrop Megafactory in California produces Megapacks at its full planned capacity of 40 GWh per year, and the new Houston facility targets 50 GWh of annual output by end of 2026.

The solar manufacturing push would complement this storage infrastructure — Tesla could theoretically pair its own solar panels with Megapacks and Powerwalls for integrated energy solutions, and potentially use the output to power its own operations and even SpaceX satellites.

Electrek’s Take

We’ve been tracking Tesla’s solar journey since the SolarCity acquisition, and the trajectory has been one of consistent underdelivery. The Solar Roof never materialized at scale. Solar deployments cratered. The entire solar business segment became an afterthought as energy storage consumed all of Tesla’s energy division attention.

So when Musk announced a 100 GW solar manufacturing target at Davos, our first instinct was skepticism — and it still is. Going from roughly 300 MW of annual solar panel capacity at the Buffalo factory to 100 GW is a staggering 300x increase, on a timeline of less than three years.

That said, the $2.9 billion equipment purchase suggests this isn’t just talk. That’s real capital being deployed (or at least negotiated), and the autumn delivery deadline for equipment in Texas suggests Tesla intends to move fast. The company also has genuine tailwinds: the tariff exemption on solar manufacturing equipment, surging electricity demand from AI data centers, and a proven energy division that can integrate solar with its storage products.

The biggest risks are execution, Tesla’s solar track record is dismal, and the Chinese export approval, which Beijing could use as leverage in the ongoing trade tensions. We’ll believe the 100 GW target when we see equipment on the ground and production lines running.

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Is CSL’s US$3 Billion US Manufacturing Push Altering The Investment Case For CSL (ASX:CSL)?

• Earlier this month, CSL broke ground on a major expansion of its Kankakee, Illinois manufacturing facility, aiming to boost plasma-derived therapy and albumin output using its patented Horizon 2 process while adding at least 300 new pharmaceutical roles and about 800 construction jobs.
• This multiyear U.S. build-out, part of more than US$3.00 billion invested in American operations since 2018, signals CSL’s intention to deepen its U.S. manufacturing base and improve plasma efficiency to support longer-term therapy supply.
• We’ll now examine how this large-scale U.S. manufacturing expansion, built around CSL’s Horizon 2 technology, could influence the company’s investment narrative.

The future of work is here. Discover the 32 top robotics and automation stocks leading the charge in AI-driven automation and industrial transformation.

CSL Investment Narrative Recap

To own CSL, you need to believe its plasma and specialty therapies portfolio can translate operational improvements into healthier margins after a tough stretch of lower profitability and share price underperformance. The Kankakee Horizon 2 expansion supports the longer term efficiency story, but it does not materially change the near term focus on cost control, execution on new product launches, and the risk that rising collection and manufacturing costs keep pressuring margins.

The recent Kankakee expansion update ties most closely to CSL’s broader manufacturing and cost transformation efforts, including the multiyear US$0.5 billion savings program targeting better plasma collection and processing efficiency. Together with initiatives like Horizon 2, these moves sit at the heart of the main positive catalyst for the stock: whether CSL can convert process improvements into sustainably higher gross margins while managing risks from price competition, regulatory shifts and the planned Seqirus demerger.

Yet investors should be aware that rising plasma costs and lower recent profit margins could still weigh on CSL if…

Read the full narrative on CSL (it’s free!)

CSL’s narrative projects $18.1 billion revenue and $4.2 billion earnings by 2028.

Uncover how CSL’s forecasts yield a A$205.16 fair value, a 52% upside to its current price.

Exploring Other Perspectives

ASX:CSL 1-Year Stock Price Chart

Some of the lowest ranked analysts were assuming only about 2.9 percent annual revenue growth to roughly US$16.9 billion and earnings around US$3.7 billion, which is far more cautious than the consensus and could be challenged or reinforced by how effectively CSL’s Kankakee build and wider efficiency plans actually improve margins over time.

Explore 18 other fair value estimates on CSL – why the stock might be worth over 2x more than the current price!

The Verdict Is Yours

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data
and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your
financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data.
Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.
Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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US Factory Jobs Keep Falling Despite Trump’s Manufacturing Revival Push

US manufacturing employment has continued to decline despite former President Donald Trump’s repeated claims of an industrial revival driven by tariffs and reshoring policies | Image:
Pexels

US manufacturing employment fell again in December, extending a steady decline that has now lasted most of 2025, underscoring the gap between political promises of an industrial resurgence and labour market realities.

According to government data, factory payrolls have dropped by more than 70,000 jobs since April, pushing total manufacturing employment to around 12.7 million, the lowest level in over three years. The sector has now recorded job losses in eight of the past nine months.

Tariffs Fail to Deliver Hiring Boost

President Donald Trump has repeatedly argued that tariffs and protectionist trade policies would revive domestic manufacturing and bring factory jobs back to the US. Tariff collections have surged, generating tens of billions of dollars in revenue annually, but manufacturers say higher input costs and supply-chain uncertainty have offset any benefit from reduced import competition.

Many firms have opted to invest in automation or overseas capacity rather than expand domestic headcount, limiting the employment impact of reshoring initiatives.

Also read: ₹1.7 Lakh Crore Raised Through IPOs in FY26: SEBI

Broader Jobs Growth Masks Factory Weakness

While overall US employment growth has remained positive, driven largely by healthcare and services, manufacturing has emerged as a weak link. Economists note that factory hiring tends to slow earlier in economic cycles as companies respond quickly to changes in demand and costs.

The unemployment rate edged lower in December, but analysts say this largely reflects slowing labour force participation rather than strong job creation in goods-producing sectors.

Structural Challenges Weigh on Outlook

Industry executives cite multiple headwinds facing US manufacturing, including higher borrowing costs, rising wages, energy price volatility, and slowing global demand. Even companies expanding production capacity are increasingly relying on technology rather than labour-intensive processes.

As a result, economists warn that a sustained rebound in factory employment is unlikely without broader investment incentives, stable trade policy, and stronger demand growth.

Despite aggressive rhetoric and rising tariff revenues, the long-promised revival in US factory jobs has yet to materialise. For now, manufacturing remains a drag on the labour market, highlighting the limits of trade policy as a tool for job creation.

-With inputs from Reuters

Also read: SC Rulings Loom as Trump’s Tariff Authority Faces Fresh Legal Scrutiny

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Trump meets Intel CEO, hails US-Made Sub-2 Nanometer Chip, links manufacturing push to tariff policy

ANI |
Updated: Jan 09, 2026 08:39 IST

Washington DC [US], January 9 (ANI): US President Donald Trump has hailed chipmaker Intel for launching an advanced semiconductor product manufactured entirely in the United States, calling it a major achievement for American industry and a validation of his administration’s aggressive trade and manufacturing policies.
In a social media post, President Trump said he had a “great meeting” with Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, praising the company’s technological progress and its commitment to domestic manufacturing.
Trump stated that Intel has launched the first sub-2 nanometer CPU processor that has been designed, built, and packaged in the USA.
“I just finished a great meeting with the very successful Intel CEO, Lip-Bu Tan. Intel just launched the first SUB 2 NANOMETER CPU PROCESSOR designed, built, and packaged right here in the U.S.A.,” Trump wrote in the post.
The US President also highlighted the financial gains made by the US government through its ownership position in Intel. According to Trump, the United States government is a shareholder in the company and has already earned tens of billions of dollars for the American people in just four months through this stake.
“The United States Government is proud to be a Shareholder of Intel, and has already made, through its U.S.A. ownership position, Tens of Billions of Dollars for the American People – IN JUST FOUR MONTHS. We made a GREAT Deal, and so did Intel,” Trump said.
Trump further asserted that his administration is determined to bring leading-edge chip manufacturing back to America, adding that the progress made by Intel demonstrates that this objective is being achieved.
“Our Country is determined to bring leading edge Chip Manufacturing back to America, and that is exactly what is happening!!!” the President added.
Echoing Trump‘s comments, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan also shared a social media post expressing appreciation for the support received from the US leadership.
“Honored and delighted to have the full support and encouragement of @POTUS @realDonaldTrump and @CommerceGovSecretary @howardlutnick as we bring leading edge chip manufacturing back to America,” Tan said in his post.

He added that Intel is now shipping its latest Core Ultra Series 3 CPU processors, which are designed, manufactured, and packaged in the USA using the most advanced semiconductor technology.
“@intel is now shipping the latest Core Ultra Series 3 CPU processors – designed, manufactured and packaged with the most advanced semiconductor technology, right here in the USA,” the Intel CEO stated.
President Trump has repeatedly linked such developments to his administration’s trade policies. Since beginning his second term as President, Trump has pursued aggressive trade measures, including the imposition of tariffs, with the stated objective of boosting domestic manufacturing in the United States.
Trump has imposed tariffs on countries that were major exporters to the US, including India and China.
On India, Trump has already imposed 50 per cent tariffs on goods entering the United States since August 2025.
In another social media post, Trump cited recent economic data to argue that tariffs have strengthened the US economy and improved national security.
He claimed that the United States has recorded its lowest trade deficit since 2009 and that the figure is continuing to decline.
“Numbers released today show that the United States of America has the lowest Trade Deficit since 2009, and going even lower,” Trump said.
He further stated that the nation’s gross domestic product is predicted to come in at over 5 per cent, even after what he described as a 1.5 per cent loss due to a Democrat “Shutdown.”
Trump attributed these outcomes directly to his tariff policies, saying they have “rescued” the US economy and national security. He also urged the Supreme Court to take note of what he described as historic achievements before issuing what he called its most important decision ever.
“These incredible numbers, and the unprecedented SUCCESS of our Country, are a direct result of TARIFFS, which have rescued our Economy and National Security. I hope the Supreme Court is aware of these Historic, Country saving achievements prior to the issuance of their most important (ever!) Decision. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP.” (ANI)

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