Daily Tech & GNSS News Digest - May 4, 2026

Big Tech earnings week drew a sharp line between companies that can convert AI spending into revenue growth and those still writing checks on faith — while in the GNSS world, the race to navigate without satellites secured fresh capital and a next-generation GPS satellite edged closer to launch.

Tech News

Big Tech Earnings Split the Market: Alphabet Soars, Meta Sinks

The four largest US tech companies — Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft — all reported earnings last week, and investors delivered a decisive verdict: show the returns or pay the price. Alphabet surged after posting $109.9 billion in Q1 revenue, up 22% year-over-year, with Google Cloud revenue growing 63% and clearing $20 billion for the first time. Revenue from products built on Google’s generative AI models grew nearly 800% year-over-year, and CEO Sundar Pichai noted that enterprise AI solutions became Cloud’s primary growth driver for the first time.

Meta told the opposite story. Despite strong Q1 revenue of $56.3 billion — up 33% and the fastest growth since 2021 — shares fell sharply after the company raised its 2026 capital expenditure forecast to between $125 billion and $145 billion, up from the prior range of $115–$135 billion. Investors are increasingly asking when Meta’s AI spending spree will produce returns beyond ad targeting improvements. Microsoft landed in the middle: Azure grew 40% and its AI business hit a $37 billion annual run rate (up 123%), but capacity constraints and a capex plan approaching $190 billion for calendar year 2026 tempered enthusiasm.

Apple Forecasts Blockbuster Quarter Despite Memory Crunch

Apple beat Q2 fiscal estimates with $111.2 billion in revenue and earnings of $2.01 per share, then stunned analysts with guidance projecting 14% to 17% sales growth for the June quarter — well above the 9.1% Wall Street had expected. iPhone revenue surged 21.7% year-over-year, and services revenue hit a new all-time record.

But the memory chip shortage looms large. CEO Tim Cook warned of “significantly higher memory costs” in the current quarter, driven by the global AI data center buildout consuming available supply. Mac revenue of $8.4 billion was constrained not by memory but by limited availability of advanced nodes at TSMC, with Cook saying supply issues would persist for “several months.” Bloomberg reports the earnings reinforce Apple’s position as a cash machine that can absorb component shocks better than most.

Onsemi’s AI Data Center Revenue Doubles Year-Over-Year

ON Semiconductor reported Q1 revenue of $1.51 billion, beating estimates, with AI data center revenue more than doubling year-over-year and growing over 30% sequentially. The chipmaker’s power management solutions are seeing broader adoption across the power tree with multiple chip vendors and leading hyperscalers.

Management expects AI data center revenue to double again for the full year 2026, building on approximately $250 million in AI revenue last year. The company guided Q2 revenue to $1.535–$1.635 billion, representing roughly 5% sequential growth, as the AI infrastructure boom continues to pull power semiconductor demand higher.

Additional Headlines

Alphabet raises 2026 capex guidance to $180–$190 billion: Up from the prior $175–$185 billion range, reflecting accelerating demand for AI compute infrastructure across Google Cloud.
Singapore chip firms push into the US: The global AI boom is driving Singaporean semiconductor companies to establish R&D and production capacity in the US, with one firm doubling production capacity by year-end from its San Diego hub.
Microsoft 365 Copilot reaches 20 million seats: Adoption of Microsoft’s AI add-on for commercial Office users jumped from 15 million in January, signaling growing enterprise appetite for embedded AI tools.
Global semiconductor industry on track for $975 billion in 2026 sales: A historic peak fueled by the AI infrastructure boom, though HBM and advanced packaging bottlenecks remain the binding constraints on how many AI accelerators can actually ship.

GNSS News

ANELLO Photonics closed a $25 million Series B-2 round on May 4, led by MESH with participation from Lockheed Martin Ventures, Washington Harbour Partners, and several existing investors. The oversubscribed round will accelerate production of the company’s silicon-photonics-based inertial navigation systems for autonomous platforms operating in GPS-denied and contested environments.

ANELLO’s SiPhOG platform delivers fiber-optic-class performance in a compact form factor, backed by over 80 issued or pending patents and an AI-based sensor fusion engine. The funding follows a $20 million Army APFIT award in January 2026 to fast-track procurement of ANELLO’s technology for military applications. With GNSS jamming and spoofing incidents escalating worldwide — from the Strait of Hormuz to the Baltic Sea — demand for reliable inertial navigation that works without satellite signals is growing across defense, maritime, and commercial drone markets.

Lockheed Martin Advances GPS IIIF SV11 Toward First Launch

Lockheed Martin completed the “core mate” production milestone on GPS IIIF Space Vehicle 11, integrating major satellite components into a single system at its Denver facility. SV11 is the third GPS IIIF satellite to reach this stage — following SV13 and SV14 last year — but will be the first of the block to launch, though no date has been announced.

The next-generation satellite features Regional Military Protection that improves anti-jamming capability by more than 60 times compared to earlier GPS systems, along with M-Code encrypted military signals and a search-and-rescue payload. Production is leveraging digital engineering tools including augmented reality and digital twins to accelerate manufacturing. The milestone comes shortly after the final GPS III satellite launched successfully in April, clearing the path for the IIIF generation.

China Begins Major BeiDou System Upgrade with BDS-2 Retirement and PRN Reassignment

The China Satellite Navigation System Management Office is executing a sweeping upgrade of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System announced in March 2026. The plan includes retiring seven BDS-2 satellites still in orbit, discontinuing the legacy B2I signal service, and reassigning BDS-3 satellite PRNs to the 1–14 range previously occupied by the older constellation — a housekeeping step that consolidates the system under its modern BDS-3 architecture.

Simultaneously, all 24 BDS-3 MEO satellites are receiving software-based in-orbit upgrades via secure telecommand from the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre, with enhancements targeting PPP-B2b precise corrections (targeting 0.3-meter horizontal accuracy), inter-satellite link ranging for autonomous orbit determination, and improved anti-spoofing signal authentication. Multiple satellites — including MEO-21 through MEO-28 and GEO-1, GEO-3, and GEO-4 — underwent maintenance operations beginning in April 2026, with full capability expected by year-end. GNSS receiver manufacturers including CHC Navigation have already released firmware updates to ensure compatibility, noting that users in open-sky conditions should see no disruption, though fix availability may dip slightly in obstructed environments during the transition.

Key Takeaways

AI spending is now a sorting mechanism: Alphabet’s 800% AI revenue growth earned a stock surge while Meta’s $145 billion capex hike triggered a selloff — investors are done funding AI promises and now demand AI profits.
The memory shortage is the new supply chain crisis: Apple, Microsoft, and Meta all flagged rising component costs driven by AI data center demand consuming global memory supply, creating ripple effects across consumer electronics.
GPS-denied navigation is attracting serious capital: ANELLO’s $25M raise — backed by Lockheed Martin Ventures and following a $20M Army award — reflects growing urgency to build positioning systems that work when satellites cannot be trusted.