Oracle shares surged between 9 and 15 percent on March 10-11 after the company reported exceptional fiscal third-quarter 2026 earnings driven by explosive demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure. Cloud infrastructure revenue jumped 84 percent to 4.9 billion dollars, while AI infrastructure revenue grew an astonishing 243 percent year-over-year. Total cloud revenue climbed 44 percent to reach 8.9 billion dollars, significantly exceeding Wall Street expectations and underscoring Oracle's rapid transformation into a major cloud computing powerhouse.
The company's leadership projected reaching 90 billion dollars in total revenue for the next fiscal year beginning in June, a forecast that surpassed analyst projections and sent investor confidence soaring. Oracle also announced plans to raise between 45 and 50 billion dollars in capital to expand its cloud infrastructure capacity, with more than 10 gigawatts of computing power expected to come online over the next three years. Remaining performance obligations, a key indicator of future revenue, more than quadrupled to a staggering 553 billion dollars, signaling sustained long-term demand for the company's AI-powered cloud services.
In a separate but equally significant development, Meta confirmed its acquisition of Moltbook, the viral AI social network where AI bots post, comment, and interact like human users. The platform had racked up millions of registered bots within just days of its launch, drawing widespread attention across the technology industry. Moltbook founders Matt Schlicht and Ben Parr are set to join Meta's Superintelligence Labs starting March 16, bringing their expertise in agentic AI interactions to the social media giant's ambitious research division.
The acquisition reflects Meta's aggressive push into what industry analysts are calling the agentic web, a paradigm where AI agents interact autonomously with one another in social contexts. By integrating Moltbook's technology and talent, Meta aims to position itself at the forefront of this emerging frontier, potentially reshaping how digital interactions unfold across its platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The deal further consolidates Meta's strategy of acquiring innovative AI startups to strengthen its competitive position against rivals such as Google and Microsoft.
Beyond Oracle and Meta, the broader AI business landscape continued to attract massive investment. Nexthop AI raised 500 million dollars at a 4.2 billion dollar valuation for AI data center networking solutions, while Rhoda AI reached a 1.7 billion dollar valuation with a 450 million dollar Series B round focused on video-trained robotics. These funding rounds highlight sustained investor appetite for AI infrastructure and applications despite broader market volatility.
In other major business news, Papa John's stock surged 19 percent after receiving a 47-dollar-per-share going-private bid from Qatari-backed Irth Capital, representing a significant premium over recent trading levels. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is widely expected to hold interest rates steady at its March 18 meeting, maintaining the current range of 3.5 to 3.75 percent as policymakers assess the impact of existing monetary policy on inflation and economic growth.
Market analysts noted that Oracle's results, combined with the ongoing wave of AI-related deals, reinforce the view that enterprise demand for AI computing power is accelerating far faster than many had anticipated. The convergence of record cloud earnings, major acquisitions, and massive venture funding suggests that the AI infrastructure buildout remains one of the most powerful investment themes shaping global markets in 2026.
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