Marcin Frąckiewicz

Marcin Frąckiewicz is the CEO of TS2 Space and a longtime technology entrepreneur focused on telecommunications, satellite communications and digital innovation. A graduate of the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH), he writes about space technology, artificial intelligence and publicly traded technology companies. His analysis covers major market trends, emerging technologies and the businesses shaping the future of the global economy.

Microsoft Lands Codelco AI Mining Deal as Investors Demand Payoff From Big AI Spend
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Microsoft Lands Codelco AI Mining Deal as Investors Demand Payoff From Big AI Spend

Microsoft landed an 18-month memorandum of understanding with Chile’s Codelco on Thursday, setting up a framework to pilot artificial intelligence, advanced analytics, automation, and digital security across the mining giant’s operations. The agreement nudges Microsoft’s AI ambitions further into the industrial sector—territory that falls outside its core business of office software and cloud services. Timing here isn’t incidental. Microsoft wants to prove its AI expansion can land real-world deals, though the ramp-up keeps attracting questions about its electricity needs. Just a day before, the company, along with Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta, made a White House commitment to finance new power for data centers.
March 5, 2026
Tesla’s UK sales drop 37% as BYD gains ground, putting March in focus
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Tesla’s UK sales drop 37% as BYD gains ground, putting March in focus

Industry data showed Tesla registered 2,422 cars in the UK this February—a 37% slide year-on-year—even as BYD, the Chinese competitor, surged 83% on the same metric. But a Tesla spokesperson pushed back, saying, “Tesla monthly registration figures are not an accurate reflection of sales or orders taken,” emphasizing that quarterly numbers tell a more reliable story since UK deliveries come in large batches. The broader UK market moved in the opposite direction. According to SMMT, February saw new car registrations climb 7.2% to 90,100—marking the busiest February since 2004. BEV registrations inched up 2.8% to 21,840, but their market share slipped again, now at 24.2% for a second month. “All eyes are now on ‘new plate’ March,” SMMT chief executive
March 5, 2026
Amazon debuts ‘agentic AI’ healthcare tool to cut clinic call times and paperwork
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Amazon debuts ‘agentic AI’ healthcare tool to cut clinic call times and paperwork

Seattle — It’s 1:23 p.m. PST on March 5, 2026. Amazon.com, Inc. on Thursday rolled out Amazon Connect Health, a new AI-powered platform from its cloud division, Amazon Web Services. The product is designed to handle repetitive administrative tasks, like appointment scheduling and billing. AWS says it integrates directly with hospitals’ and clinics’ electronic health records, funneling more complex situations to human staff.
March 5, 2026
Palo Alto Networks widens industrial 5G security push with Siemens as AI factory build-out grows
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Palo Alto Networks widens industrial 5G security push with Siemens as AI factory build-out grows

Palo Alto Networks is stepping deeper into industrial security, teaming up with Siemens to debut a new cybersecurity suite targeting private 5G factory networks. Shares of Palo Alto climbed $4.68 during Thursday afternoon trading in the U.S. Private 5G is catching on fast in factories loaded with sensors, robots, and autonomous gear — all tied into networks running entirely on-site, not through traditional carriers. Siemens flagged that a breach in these environments can bring production to a halt or even put workers at risk. On top of that, the EU’s NIS2 directive is clamping down on cybersecurity requirements in 18 key industries.
March 5, 2026
AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) lands TELUS equity deal for Canada satellite-to-phone service, adds Africa’s Axian
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AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) lands TELUS equity deal for Canada satellite-to-phone service, adds Africa’s Axian

AST SpaceMobile and TELUS Corp of Canada have struck a commercial deal to deliver space-powered cellular broadband across Canada’s remote regions, the companies said March 3. TELUS is also taking an equity stake in the U.S.-based satellite operator. The launch target is late 2026. The companies aim for the service to function with standard smartphones, no extra gear required. The timing is crucial here: operators want coverage they can market without adding more towers—particularly out in rural regions, at sea, and across the far north. The real draw is so-called direct-to-device service, which lets ordinary phones tap into satellites, no need for those specialized satellite handsets.
March 5, 2026
Shopify rolls out POS Hub and faster checkout tools as SHOP shares climb
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Shopify rolls out POS Hub and faster checkout tools as SHOP shares climb

Shopify Inc climbed roughly 3% on Thursday, building on gains from a sharp rally in Toronto the previous day. LSEG data showed the Canadian e-commerce company's stock recently changing hands at $133.76 in New York. Shopify, largely recognized for its e-commerce storefront tools, is now working to shore up the in-person shopping experience. Its point-of-sale product, Shopify POS, is grabbing a larger share of attention, especially as more of its merchants juggle both physical and online sales at checkout.
March 5, 2026
Caterpillar says it needs 38,000 more technicians as CONEXPO puts the labor crunch on display
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Caterpillar says it needs 38,000 more technicians as CONEXPO puts the labor crunch on display

Caterpillar has warned that its worldwide dealer network could require upwards of 38,000 new technicians before 2028 wraps up, highlighting mounting difficulties in recruiting and keeping enough skilled workers for heavy machinery. The hiring gap came to light this week, timed with CONEXPO-CON/AGG in Las Vegas. Downtime hits hard these days—every idle loader or excavator racks up costs fast. Contractors burn through hours, and equipment makers miss out on those parts-and-service sales that usually stay steady when demand for new machines drops.
March 5, 2026
AbbVie closes $8 billion bond offering to refinance debt as shares slide
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AbbVie closes $8 billion bond offering to refinance debt as shares slide

AbbVie wrapped up its earlier $8 billion senior unsecured notes sale on March 4, according to a regulatory filing. Shares slipped roughly 2.6%, last seen trading at $229.98 in the afternoon. This deal is a cash move for AbbVie, aimed at wiping out near-term debt instead of letting its bank borrowing deadline creep closer. In a related filing for the offering, AbbVie projected net proceeds around $7.95 billion. Most of that amount will go toward paying off a term loan maturing in May; any leftover funds head to general corporate uses, possibly covering more debt.
March 5, 2026
Exxon Mobil’s rare Australia gasoline shipment shows how the Strait of Hormuz shock is rewriting fuel trade
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Exxon Mobil’s rare Australia gasoline shipment shows how the Strait of Hormuz shock is rewriting fuel trade

Exxon Mobil is set to move at least 300,000 barrels of gasoline out of the U.S. Gulf Coast, headed for Australia to meet its own import needs, according to four sources familiar with the situation. The company has secured two medium-range tankers—Largo Eagle and Nord Ventura—to take on cargo in Houston sometime between March 13 and 18, loading a combined 600,000 barrels. The last tracked gasoline shipment on this route, based on Kpler data, was from Marathon Petroleum’s Garyville facility back in December 2023. Shipping costs run close to $6 million per vessel, or about $20 for each barrel, and the final price tag “will depend heavily on the magnitude and duration of the conflict,” said James Noel-Beswick, an analyst
March 5, 2026
Western Digital flags hyperscaler orders through 2028 as AI video tests storage supply
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Western Digital flags hyperscaler orders through 2028 as AI video tests storage supply

Western Digital disclosed that major cloud clients have locked in hard drive orders running out to 2028—a level of long-term commitment unusual for what’s typically a cyclical sector. The stock slipped about 2% on Thursday. https://www.marketscreener.com/news/transcript-western-digital-corporation-presents-at-morgan-stanley-technology-media-telecom-conf-ce7e5cd2dd80f620 Why it matters now: Data-center budgets have pivoted toward artificial intelligence lately, with a wave of investment moving beyond just text into the much heavier realm of images and video—demanding far more storage. With the hard-drive market dominated by a handful of major players, buyers are moving quickly to secure inventory up front instead of scrambling to find it down the road.
March 5, 2026
CoreWeave-Perplexity deal puts fresh demand behind its Nvidia-heavy AI cloud buildout
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CoreWeave-Perplexity deal puts fresh demand behind its Nvidia-heavy AI cloud buildout

CoreWeave has struck a multi-year partnership with AI search startup Perplexity, putting forward dedicated Nvidia GB200 NVL72 clusters aimed at handling inference—the task of running trained AI models to generate real-time answers for users. Financial terms weren’t made public. “AI applications running in production require more than just access to raw infrastructure,” said Max Hjelm, CoreWeave’s senior vice president of revenue. Perplexity’s chief business officer, Dmitry Shevelenko, described CoreWeave as “an essential partner” supporting its infrastructure plans. CoreWeave is under pressure to show it won’t leave fresh data centers underused—this partnership comes right in that spotlight. Shares slipped roughly 6.6% Thursday.
March 5, 2026
JPMorgan’s next big test: $10.5B U.S. debt sale for the $55B Electronic Arts buyout
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JPMorgan’s next big test: $10.5B U.S. debt sale for the $55B Electronic Arts buyout

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is out front as lenders get ready to offload the debt tied to Electronic Arts’ record leveraged buyout, according to people familiar with the matter. The majority gets sliced into a $10.5 billion U.S. tranche and a €4 billion portion for Europe. Pre-marketing could kick off in the next couple of weeks, those people said. Timing is crucial right now as leveraged finance desks push for large commitments from investors, all while markets remain on edge. The Middle East conflict has entered its sixth day, and inflation worries have resurfaced. “The base case for the U.S. is that this war should be relatively short-lived,” said Kiran Ganesh, multi-asset strategist at UBS Global Wealth Management.
March 5, 2026
Costco earnings today: what COST stock has to prove after its early‑2026 rebound
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Costco earnings today: what COST stock has to prove after its early‑2026 rebound

Costco Wholesale Corporation plans to post its fiscal second-quarter results once U.S. markets wrap up on Thursday, with February sales figures also on deck, according to its investor calendar. The company will host a webcast at 1:15 p.m. PT. Why it matters now: Costco shares have surged this year, with investors seeking out membership-driven retailers for more reliable sales as volatility hits other sectors. Analysts are looking for an 8% bump in quarterly revenue, and adjusted earnings per share — profit minus certain items — to jump 12% to $4.53, according to Visible Alpha figures cited by Investopedia.
March 5, 2026
Visa’s stablecoin-linked cards are headed to 100+ countries — here’s what’s changing
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Visa’s stablecoin-linked cards are headed to 100+ countries — here’s what’s changing

Visa Inc plans to extend its collaboration with Stripe’s Bridge, the stablecoin platform, aiming to roll out stablecoin-linked Visa cards across more than 100 countries, according to a joint statement from the companies Tuesday. With this move, card program operators can now choose to settle transactions on blockchain rails, working through Lead Bank, Bridge’s partner. The deal comes as stablecoins — crypto tokens usually linked to the U.S. dollar — are starting to show up in payments infrastructure, not just trading. Back in January, Visa’s crypto chief Cuy Sheffield told Reuters the company saw $4.5 billion in annualised stablecoin settlement. That’s tiny compared to the $14.2 trillion Visa handled in payments volume last year, but the stablecoin figure keeps climbing
March 5, 2026
Medline backers cash out in $3.1 billion share sale priced at $41
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Medline backers cash out in $3.1 billion share sale priced at $41

Shareholders of Medline Inc. have set the price on a 75 million-share secondary offering at $41 apiece, valuing the transaction near $3.1 billion. The move hands Medline’s private equity owners another path to exit. https://newsroom.medline.com/releases/pricing-secondary-offering-class-a-common-stock/ A secondary offering involves selling shares already in circulation—no new funds head to the company. Medline clarified: it’s not putting any of its own stock up for sale and won’t pocket any cash from the deal. Even so, investors keep an eye on these moves, since more shares in the market can bump up the float and weigh on the stock in the short run. https://newsroom.medline.com/releases/secondary-offering-class-a-common-stock/
March 5, 2026
Oil prices jump on Iran war as Hormuz logjam lifts Brent above $84, WTI near $79
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Oil prices jump on Iran war as Hormuz logjam lifts Brent above $84, WTI near $79

Oil prices surged over 3% on Thursday, as the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran snarled Middle East supply lines and shipping routes. Brent crude, the global benchmark, advanced $2.92, or 3.6%, to $84.32 a barrel at 11:43 a.m. EST. U.S. West Texas Intermediate shot up $4.40, or 5.9%, landing at $79.06. “Crude prices are going to be very sensitive to the Strait’s closure,” said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president of trading at BOK Financial. For a fifth straight day, shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains at a standstill, blocking a crucial artery for Middle Eastern oil and gas. Iraq has already pulled nearly 1.5 million barrels per day from the market, warning that almost 3 million bpd could go offline
March 5, 2026
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