CNBC Daily Open: The $1 trillion club just got bigger

Hello, this is Leonie Kidd writing to you from London. Welcome to today's edition of the Daily Open newsletter.

The $1 trillion club just got bigger, as the AI-fueled rally propelled more companies into the mega-market-cap space.

The race to scale continues at breakneck speed, and is keeping tech-heavy indices across the world at record levels.

It's one of the first days when developments in Iran have not dominated international markets, but it is not far from investors' minds as the fragile truce continues to be tested.

Shares in SK Hynix jumped on Wednesday, taking the South Korean chipmaker's market capitalization above $1 trillion for the first time. The move follows a blistering rally for the stock, which has skyrocketed around 250% since the start of the year. The gains have been fueled by surging demand for AI chips, which has driven South Korea's KOPSI to record highs.

And it's not the only one to join the $1 trillion club over the last 24 hours. U.S. tech group Micron is also riding the AI wave. On Tuesday, UBS tripled its price target for the stock, sending shares 19% higher on the day. You can get Jim Cramer's take on the top nine U.S.-based trillion-dollar companies here.

Staying with technology, industrial profits in China have surged by 24.7% in April, marking the fastest growth since November 2023. Computing and electronics equipment manufacturing saw earnings almost double from a year ago.

European companies are committed to their supply chains in China, according to a survey released by the European Union Chamber of Commerce, which said one-third of respondents are onshoring further in the country.

Meanwhile, top ECB policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau has told CNBC that the central bank "will do what is necessary" to keep inflation on target.

"If I speak on behalf of the ECB, this means do what is necessary to bring inflation back to 2% in the medium term. Markets can be assured of that," he told CNBC.

In corporate news, shares in Italian luxury car giant Ferrari closed deep in the red after investors took a cynical view of the group's highly anticipated electric vehicle launch. The Luce was met with widespread disappointment over its appearance and skepticism over the $640,000 price tag.

BP also ended Tuesday in the red after the board removed chairman Albert Manifold over "serious" conduct concerns. He told the Financial Times he "will not allow a false narrative to go unchallenged."

Across broader equity markets, Japan and South Korea have hit fresh record highs as markets weigh the progress of U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks against fresh tensions in the region. U.S. stock futures are little changed after the S&P 500 closed at another record on Tuesday. In Europe, stocks are heading for a mixed open.

Trump officials split over Pope Leo’s AI warning as Vatican feud enters new front

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum opened a new front Tuesday in the Trump administration's public feud with the Vatican, dismissing Pope Leo XIV's warning about artificial intelligence as the White House resists new guardrails on the rapidly evolving technology.

"I didn't know that tech editorializing was part of the role of being pope," Burgum said in an interview on Fox Business, referring to Leo's first encyclical, a 42,300-word document that called for stronger AI oversight and warned the technology could displace workers, deepen inequality and put lethal weapons decisions beyond human control.

But Vice President JD Vance, the highest-ranking Catholic in the Trump administration and one of its most prominent links to Silicon Valley, in an interview with NBC praised the same message as "profound" and the kind of "moral leadership" the church should offer at the start of the AI age.