Agentic AI funding reached new heights this week as Mira Murati's Thinking Machines secured $2 billion in funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. The $10 billion valuation underscores investor confidence in autonomous decision-making systems for enterprise applications, positioning it as a major player in post-foundation model innovation. This represents one of 2025's largest funding rounds and signals continued capital flow into specialized AI agents.

Government policy significantly impacted AI markets with President Trump's $92 billion U.S. investment package targeting AI infrastructure, energy grids, and domestic tech manufacturing. The initiative includes tax credits and defense contracts designed to counter China's aggressive AI development, which continues advancing despite U.S. chip sanctions through open-source models and semiconductor workarounds. This geopolitical dimension adds complexity to AI investment strategies.

AI stocks demonstrated extreme volatility with Palantir (PLTR) maintaining its blistering 418% annual growth despite trading at a 670 price-to-earnings ratio. Traders continue betting on its military and commercial AI software leadership, drawing parallels to Facebook's historical high-valuation growth. Quantum Computing (QUBT) led all AI stocks with a staggering 2,846% yearly return, while Applovin (APP) and Cerence (CRNC) both exceeded 240% gains.

Meta Platforms (META) neared a historic milestone, rallying 32% in three months to a $1.8 trillion valuation. Analysts project it could hit $2 trillion by July 31 following its earnings report, driven by a 10% year-over-year increase in ad prices and 6-7% growth in user engagement from AI-recommended content. The company's $68 billion 2025 infrastructure investment—nearly double 2024's spending—aims to support these AI capabilities despite concerns about ROI.

Market sustainability concerns intensified as experts debated AI bubble risks. Meta's massive spending coincides with plateauing generative AI demand, while Palantir's valuation multiples prompted warnings about disconnected prices from fundamentals. NerdWallet analysts noted hundreds of millions flowing into private 'AI' companies without product-market fit, though some argue tech indexes remain below all-time highs.

Energy-AI partnerships gained traction as nuclear power emerges as a solution for power-hungry AI data centers. Companies like Microsoft and Google are forming alliances with nuclear providers to address AI's carbon footprint and operational costs, potentially reshaping energy infrastructure investments. This trend intersects with the U.S. government's energy-focused AI initiatives, creating new sector opportunities.

Retail AI competition intensified with Amazon and Walmart racing to implement agentic systems across logistics and customer personalization. Their battle for AI-driven supply chain automation and predictive analytics is reshaping global retail infrastructure, though neither has established clear dominance yet.