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28 Sep 2026
Server rack in a data center, tied to the AMD trillion market cap growth story

AMD Just Joined an Exclusive Club. Wall Street Isn’t Fully Sold.

Categories Business, Tech

AMD shares have surged 188% since the start of 2026. That rally pushed the chipmaker’s AMD trillion market cap milestone into view in late September, placing it alongside a small group of companies worth more than $1 trillion. The stock is up roughly 292% over the past twelve months, according to 24/7 Wall St.

The move puts AMD in rare company among chipmakers. Only a handful of semiconductor firms have ever reached that valuation, and AMD’s climb happened faster than most.

What’s behind the AMD trillion market cap milestone

Data center growth is the main driver. AMD’s second-quarter revenue jumped 50% year over year to $11.5 billion. Data center revenue alone grew 107% to $6.7 billion, now 58% of the company’s total sales. CEO Lisa Su described the company as being “in the early innings of a multi-year AI adoption cycle.”

Anchor customers are backing that growth. OpenAI, Meta, and Anthropic have all signed commitments representing significant GPU demand. AMD has guided for its 2027 data center segment revenue to more than double from current levels.

Close-up of a computer processor board, symbolizing the chip demand behind the AMD trillion market cap milestone

Why some analysts remain cautious

Not everyone on Wall Street is convinced the rally has more room to run. 24/7 Wall St. rates AMD a hold, with a price target of $521.81, which implies roughly 14% downside from recent levels. The firm’s math is stark: AMD trades at 232 times trailing earnings, versus about 46 times for Nvidia.

Other concerns include a forward multiple of 105 times earnings, which leaves little room for error if growth slows, according to Benzinga. Gaming revenue fell 31% year over year, a reminder that not every part of AMD’s business is booming. US export restrictions on the Instinct MI308 chip have also forced inventory charges tied to sales that cannot go through.

The bull case for AMD’s next chapter

Supporters of the stock point to the size of the opportunity ahead. The data center AI accelerator market could reach $1.4 trillion by 2030, based on estimates cited in the same 24/7 Wall St. analysis. If AMD keeps its current share of that market, the AMD trillion market cap milestone could look conservative in hindsight rather than a peak.

What happens next for AMD stock

Investors will watch whether AMD’s data center guidance holds up when the company next reports earnings. Any sign that OpenAI, Meta, or Anthropic are pulling back their commitments would test the stock’s valuation quickly. So would a fresh round of export restrictions affecting AMD’s chip sales to China.

AMD’s rally, in five questions

When did AMD reach a $1 trillion market cap?

AMD crossed the $1 trillion market cap threshold in late September 2026, following a 188% year-to-date share price gain.

What is driving AMD’s stock rally?

Data center revenue tied to AI accelerators is the main driver, with second-quarter data center revenue up 107% year over year and commitments from OpenAI, Meta, and Anthropic.

Do analysts think AMD stock will keep rising?

Views are mixed. 24/7 Wall St. rates the stock a hold, citing a valuation of 232 times trailing earnings, well above Nvidia’s roughly 46 times.

What risks does AMD face?

Key risks include a 31% year-over-year decline in gaming revenue, a high forward earnings multiple, and US export restrictions affecting chip sales to China.

How big could the AI chip market become?

Some estimates cited by 24/7 Wall St. put the data center AI accelerator market at $1.4 trillion by 2030, up sharply from current levels.

Further reading on Tamara News

For more on the chip industry, see our coverage of the Nvidia chip export loophole to China, the pushback on data center tax breaks, and the delay to Oracle’s Project Jupiter.

28 Sep 2026
Chevening scholarship 2027 deadline

Chevening Scholarship 2027 Deadline Is October 6

Categories Scholarships, Study Abroad, Uk

Applications for the Chevening scholarship 2027 deadline close on October 6, 2026 at 11:00 UTC, giving prospective students in the UK’s flagship fully funded scholarship program roughly a week and a half left to finish and submit. The scholarship covers a one-year master’s degree at any UK university, along with tuition, a living stipend, flights and additional allowances, and it remains one of the most competitive fully funded routes into UK graduate study.

The deadline that actually matters

According to Chevening’s official application timeline, the window opened August 4, 2026 at 11:00 UTC and closes exactly nine weeks later, on October 6 at the same time. Chevening is explicit that the portal closes precisely at 11:00 UTC, and applicants are advised to convert that to their own time zone rather than assume a local midnight cutoff — a detail that has cost otherwise strong applicants their submission in past cycles.

What happens after the deadline

Once applications close, eligibility assessment begins in October, followed by review from independent reading committees running from October 2026 through January 2027. Shortlisted candidates are notified in mid-February 2027, with interviews held at British embassies and high commissions worldwide between March and April. Results are announced in mid-June 2027, and successful applicants then face a second deadline: unconditional university offers must be submitted by July 8, 2027 at 17:00 BST, according to the same Chevening timeline and confirmed by the UK government’s own announcement of the scholarship round. Scholars then begin their studies in the UK in September or October 2027.

Why the university offer deadline trips people up

Chevening does not require an unconditional university offer at the time of application — only at the point results are announced, months later. That gap means candidates need to be applying to UK universities in parallel with their Chevening application, since securing an unconditional offer by July 2027 typically requires having submitted university applications well before results come out in June. Candidates who wait until they hear from Chevening to start university applications routinely run out of time to convert a conditional offer into an unconditional one.

Who Chevening is looking for

Chevening scholarships target early- to mid-career professionals who can demonstrate leadership potential and a clear plan to use their UK study to benefit their home country, rather than academic achievement alone. The scholarship’s own guidance emphasizes networking, leadership and influence as much as grades, which is why the application asks for essays on leadership and networking experience in addition to academic and career goals.

What makes an application competitive

Chevening’s own guidance stresses that the four required essays — covering leadership, networking, studying in the UK and career plans — are read as a set rather than in isolation, so a strong career-plan essay paired with a thin leadership essay tends to weaken an otherwise solid file. Because the program explicitly targets future leaders rather than the strongest academic transcripts, candidates from smaller organizations or early-stage careers are not automatically disadvantaged against applicants from larger, better-known employers, provided they can point to concrete examples of influence, initiative or change they drove in their own context.

What happens next

With roughly a week and a half remaining before the October 6 cutoff, the immediate priority for anyone still working on an application is finishing the required essays and securing references, since Chevening does not accept late submissions for any reason. Candidates who submit successfully should expect the review process to run well into 2027, and should use the intervening months to pursue unconditional university offers rather than waiting on Chevening’s own timeline.

Funding beyond Chevening

Candidates who miss the October 6 window, or who are not selected, are not left with only one route into fully funded UK study. Other prominent options include Commonwealth Scholarships for citizens of Commonwealth countries and university-specific bursaries offered directly by UK institutions, each running on its own separate timeline and eligibility criteria rather than Chevening’s single annual cycle. Building a shortlist of two or three funding routes in parallel, rather than treating Chevening as the only option, reduces the risk of losing an entire application cycle to one program’s result.

More study abroad coverage

Related reading: Canada’s higher proof-of-funds requirement for study permits, South Korea’s new university visa sponsorship restrictions, and the UK’s HC 584 immigration rule changes.

A note on the interview stage

Candidates who clear the reading-committee stage should treat the March-April interview as a continuation of the essay themes rather than a fresh assessment: panels at British embassies and high commissions typically probe the same leadership and networking examples submitted in writing, testing whether an applicant can defend and expand on them under questioning. Preparing concrete, specific stories ahead of time — rather than general claims about leadership potential — tends to serve candidates better than last-minute cramming once an interview slot is confirmed.

Chevening scholarship questions answered

When does the Chevening 2027 application close?

October 6, 2026 at 11:00 UTC. Chevening enforces this cutoff exactly, so applicants should check the equivalent time in their own time zone well in advance.

Do I need a university offer to apply?

No. An unconditional offer is only required after results are announced, by July 8, 2027. Applicants should still be applying to universities in parallel with their Chevening application.

What does Chevening fund?

A one-year master’s degree at any UK university, including tuition, a monthly stipend, return flights and additional allowances.

When will applicants know if they were shortlisted?

Mid-February 2027, with interviews at British embassies and high commissions running from March through April 2027.

When do Chevening scholars start their studies?

September or October 2027, after results are announced in mid-June 2027 and unconditional offers are confirmed by July 8, 2027.

Sources

28 Sep 2026
Stock exchange trading floor, illustrating this week ahead economic data preview

Four Numbers This Week Could Decide Where Stocks Go Next

Categories Business

Markets face a dense stretch of numbers between September 28 and October 2, 2026. The week ahead economic data lineup includes an inflation report the Federal Reserve watches closely. It also includes a jobs report due Friday, and earnings from two closely watched companies. Any one of these could move stocks, depending on how far it strays from expectations.

Here is what is scheduled, why it matters, and what a surprise in either direction could mean for the days ahead.

Tuesday: an early read on jobs and confidence

JOLTS job openings data and the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index arrive on Tuesday, September 29. Both offer an early signal on labor conditions and household sentiment ahead of Friday’s bigger jobs report. Neither typically moves markets as much as the payrolls number. Still, a sharp move in either can shift expectations for the rest of the week.

Wednesday: the week ahead economic data centerpiece

Wednesday brings the ADP employment report and the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, known as the PCE. The PCE is the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge. It currently sits at 3.3% year over year, well above the Fed’s 2% target. A hotter-than-expected reading could push interest-rate expectations higher and pressure growth stocks. A cooler number could ease those worries.

Micron also reports earnings Wednesday. Investors will watch its data center and high-bandwidth memory business closely. That segment has become a proxy for demand in AI chips more broadly, as tracked by TradingView’s earnings calendar.

US Capitol dome, representing the policy backdrop for this week's week ahead economic data

Thursday and Friday: manufacturing, claims, and the jobs report

The ISM Manufacturing PMI and weekly jobless claims land on Thursday, October 1. Both give a read on industrial strength and layoff trends. Nike also reports earnings that day, a number often treated as a gauge of consumer spending resilience.

Friday, October 2, brings the week’s biggest release: the September jobs report. August’s reading showed 162,000 jobs added and a 4.1% unemployment rate. Economists will compare September’s number against that baseline to judge whether the labor market is cooling or holding steady.

Why this week ahead economic data matters for the Fed

The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate to a range of 3.75% to 4.00% earlier in September. That was its first hike of this size since 2023, according to CNBC. Inflation and jobs data released this week will shape expectations for the Fed’s next move. Policymakers weigh both sides of their mandate: price stability and employment.

A jobs report that beats expectations, paired with sticky inflation, would make further tightening more likely. A weak jobs number could shift the conversation toward when the Fed might ease instead.

What to watch once the data lands

Traders will react first to Wednesday’s PCE print and Friday’s payrolls number. Those two carry the most weight for Fed policy. Micron and Nike’s results will matter more for their own sectors than for the broader market. Expect volatility to pick up as each release lands, then settle once traders have digested the numbers.

What people want to know this week

What is the most important economic report this week?

The September jobs report on Friday, October 2, typically draws the most attention, alongside the PCE inflation report on Wednesday, September 30.

Why does the PCE matter so much to markets?

The PCE price index is the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge. It currently runs at 3.3% year over year, above the Fed’s 2% target, so any surprise in either direction can shift rate expectations.

Which companies report earnings this week?

Micron reports Wednesday, October 1, with results seen as a signal for AI chip and memory demand. Nike reports Thursday, viewed as a gauge of consumer spending.

What was August’s jobs report?

August showed 162,000 jobs added and a 4.1% unemployment rate. That is the baseline economists will compare September’s report against.

Where does the Fed’s interest rate stand right now?

The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate to a range of 3.75% to 4.00% in mid-September 2026, its first hike of that size since 2023.

More markets coverage from Tamara News

For more markets coverage, see our reports on the S&P 500’s record highs, the recent Treasury yields bond rout, and last week’s stock market weekly gains.

28 Sep 2026
October 2026 visa bulletin

Why the October 2026 Visa Bulletin Never Came Out

Categories Immigration, Visa Updates

The State Department has not published the October 2026 visa bulletin, the monthly document that tells hundreds of thousands of immigrant visa applicants worldwide whether their priority date has finally come up. As of late September, immigration lawyers were calling it the latest October release in at least several years, and the delay lands on top of three separate restrictions that are already reshaping how — and whether — immigrant visas move at all.

What the visa bulletin normally does

Each month, the visa bulletin sets “final action dates” for family-sponsored and employment-based green card categories, based on which applicants with an earlier priority date can move forward. The October edition matters more than most: it opens a new fiscal year, resetting the pool of roughly 226,000 family-sponsored and 140,000 employment-based visa numbers Congress allocates annually. A missing or delayed bulletin leaves consulates and applicants without a starting point for the new year’s allocations.

Three restrictions already in force

The bulletin’s absence follows a stack of policy changes rather than a single cause. Proclamation 10998 expanded an existing visa suspension from 19 to 39 countries effective January 1, 2026, with no expiration date and reviews every 180 days. Separately, a pause on immigrant visas for nationals of 75 countries took effect January 21, 2026, justified by concerns that applicants would become a “public charge” — a rationale immigration attorneys say swept in entire nationalities rather than individual cases. Then, on August 25, 2026, the State Department froze immigrant visa interviews worldwide so consular officers could be retrained on the new public charge screening, and no restart date has been announced since.

A federal judge draws a line

The 75-country pause did not survive court scrutiny. In CLINIC et al. v. Rubio et al., a federal court ruled on August 21, 2026 that public charge eligibility has to be assessed case by case, not through blanket nationality-based rules, according to Immigration Analytics’ review of the case. The State Department confirmed the pause was “no longer in effect,” a status the Immigrant Legal Resource Center also documents, though the government has since appealed the ruling. Immigration Analytics reports the case has identified more than 43,000 affected applications that may need to be reprocessed under individualized review.

The underlying public charge policy has itself been in motion all year. The 2022 public charge rule was slated for rescission as of July 20, 2026, and USCIS published replacement guidance on August 18 that took effect a month later, on September 18. The new guidance widens the range of public benefits officers can weigh — including Medicaid, food assistance and housing aid — and can now count benefits used by an applicant’s family members, not just the applicant. Applications filed before September 18 remain governed by the more lenient 2022 standard, creating two different rulebooks running in parallel depending on filing date.

Why the numbers themselves are now at risk

A missing bulletin, on top of a paused pause and a worldwide interview freeze, creates a practical problem beyond paperwork: unused visa numbers. Family-sponsored and diversity-visa categories depend almost entirely on consular interviews abroad, so a freeze with no restart date risks numbers going unclaimed before the fiscal year closes them out. Employment-based applicants processing domestically through adjustment of status are comparatively insulated, and could even benefit if unclaimed family-based numbers are reallocated once a bulletin finally appears.

What happens next

Three things determine how this resolves: whether the interview freeze gets a restart date, how the government’s appeal of CLINIC v. Rubio proceeds, and how State handles the more than 43,000 cases caught in the reprocessing queue. Applicants filing now should expect heavier scrutiny of affidavits of support and family benefit histories under the September 18 guidance, regardless of how the bulletin dispute resolves. Until a bulletin appears, consulates and applicants are effectively working without an official start date for fiscal year 2027’s visa allocations.

More visa and immigration coverage

Related reading: the UK’s HC 584 immigration rule changes, Brazil’s new electronic visa system, and Australia’s working holiday visa cuts.

October visa bulletin questions answered

Why hasn’t the October 2026 visa bulletin been published?

The State Department has not given an official reason, though the delay coincides with ongoing litigation over the 75-country public charge pause and a worldwide freeze on immigrant visa interviews that began August 25, 2026.

Is the 75-country public charge pause still in effect?

No. A federal court struck it down on August 21, 2026 in CLINIC v. Rubio, and the State Department confirmed it is no longer active, though the ruling is under appeal.

Does the new public charge guidance apply to everyone?

No. It applies only to adjustment-of-status applications filed on or after September 18, 2026. Earlier filings remain governed by the 2022 rule.

What happens to visa numbers that go unused because of the interview freeze?

Family-sponsored and diversity-visa numbers depend on consular interviews abroad, so a prolonged freeze risks those numbers going unclaimed for the fiscal year, though no official accounting has been published yet.

Who is affected by the reprocessing of paused cases?

Immigration Analytics reports more than 43,000 cases connected to the struck-down 75-country pause may require individualized reprocessing rather than blanket denial.

Sources

28 Sep 2026
Golden crown and cross atop the Lourdes sanctuary during the Pope Leo Lourdes visit

800,000 Came to See Pope Leo. Seven Came for a Private Reason.

Categories World

Pope Leo XIV spent four days in France, from September 25 to 28, 2026. His trip took him from a massive open-air Mass in Paris to the sanctuary at Lourdes. The Pope Leo Lourdes visit combined enormous public crowds with one deliberately quiet moment. That moment was a private meeting with seven survivors of clergy sexual abuse.

The Vatican estimated roughly 800,000 people attended the outdoor Mass at Paris’s Place de la Concorde, according to Euronews. That turnout beat the roughly 600,000 who had pre-registered. It ranks among the largest crowds of Leo’s papacy so far.

What happened during the Pope Leo Lourdes visit

After Paris, Leo traveled to Lourdes, the Catholic pilgrimage site in southern France tied to reported 19th-century apparitions of the Virgin Mary. He arrived on Saturday evening and prayed at the Grotto of the Apparitions. This was the fifth international trip of his papacy. Earlier trips touched on artificial intelligence, peace, and European unity.

His itinerary also included Metz and Saint-Denis. In Metz, he delivered an English-language address titled “To the roots of Europe for Peace and Unity.” He met civil authorities, young people, and local clergy at several stops. He also visited a UNESCO headquarters event in Paris.

A private meeting that drew public attention

Leo met privately with seven survivors of sexual abuse by priests and other Catholic personnel during the trip, according to a separate Vatican News briefing. The Vatican did not publicize details of the conversation. Critics have said for years that the Church has not done enough to address abuse within its ranks. The meeting drew attention precisely because it stayed private, not staged for cameras.

Ornate church interior with an altar, evoking the sanctuary setting of the Pope Leo Lourdes visit

Leo also spoke out against assisted dying

While in Lourdes, Leo criticized assisted dying, a policy debate active in French politics. He did not offer a detailed policy proposal in the remarks reported so far. His comments align with longstanding Catholic teaching against euthanasia. Previous popes have taken the same position.

What happens next for Pope Leo’s papacy

Leo has not announced his next international trip. His France visit adds to a travel record that already spans several continents in under two years as pope. Vatican watchers will look for one thing next. Will the private abuse survivor meeting lead to any policy announcement? Past papal meetings with survivors have sometimes preceded new Church guidelines.

Questions readers are asking

How many people attended Pope Leo’s Paris Mass?

The Vatican estimated about 800,000 people attended the outdoor Mass at Place de la Concorde, more than the roughly 600,000 who had pre-registered.

Why did Pope Leo visit Lourdes?

Lourdes is a major Catholic pilgrimage site in southern France. The Pope Leo Lourdes visit was part of a four-day trip that also included Paris, Metz, and Saint-Denis.

Did Pope Leo meet with abuse survivors?

Yes. He met privately with seven survivors of sexual abuse by priests and other Catholic personnel during the trip. The Vatican has not released details of what was discussed.

What did Pope Leo say about assisted dying?

He criticized assisted dying while in Lourdes, a topic under active debate in French politics, without laying out a detailed policy position in the remarks reported so far.

What other cities did Pope Leo visit in France?

Besides Paris and Lourdes, his itinerary included Metz, where he gave an English-language address on European peace and unity, and Saint-Denis.

Keep reading on Tamara News

For more world news, see our coverage of Netanyahu’s UN Assembly speech, the White House press access ruling, and the Falklands sovereignty dispute.

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