Podcast Summary: The Rundown

Episode Title: Nvidia's Shocking $20B Deal with Chip Startup Groq, Silver & Gold Surge to New Records
Host: Zaid Admani
Date: December 26, 2025
Podcast: The Rundown by Public.com
Episode Length: ~10 minutes

Main Theme

This episode delivers a fast summary of the ongoing Santa Claus rally in the stock market, an in-depth look at Nvidia’s $20 billion licensing deal with AI chip startup Groq, and the record surges in gold and silver prices. Zaid also covers notable stock moves in the AI and biotech sectors, capping the episode with a quirky fact about Santa Claus’s origins and some commentary on holiday advertising.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Santa Claus Rally & Market Overview

• Market Performance

  • The S&P 500 (+0.3%) and Nasdaq (+0.2%) closed at record highs on Wednesday (00:55).
  • Winning streak: Both indices have climbed for five consecutive trading days.
  • The “Santa Claus rally” (the last five trading days of December and the first two of January) began, with average S&P gains of 1.3% since 1950 (01:19).

• 2025 in Review and 2026 Outlook

  • "Overall though, it's been another fantastic year for the S&P 500, which has rallied 18% in 2025, the Nasdaq jumping 22%." – Zaid (01:42)
  • Zaid plugs an upcoming deeper recap and interview with Jason Ware, Chief Investment Officer at Albion Financial.
    • Topics include AI stocks, the Fed, tariffs, and views on possible mispricings (02:02).

2. Nvidia’s $20B Deal with Groq (AI Chip Startup)

• Deal Overview

  • Nvidia struck a $20 billion licensing deal with Groq, a company previously viewed as a potential rival in AI chip technology (02:37).
  • Clarifies this Groq is not Elon Musk’s AI chatbot.

• Technical Breakdown

  • Nvidia is dominant in chips for training AI models, a process that is “expensive, power hungry” (03:07).
  • Groq specializes in chips for AI inference—running and responding to queries, which is expected to be an even larger market as AI becomes more embedded in daily tech (03:23).
  • “Groq's chips are more specialized... designed to be faster and cheaper for inference. So Groq could’ve been a threat to Nvidia long-term.” (03:51)

• Strategic Impact & Loophole

  • By licensing Groq’s tech, Nvidia can compete better in AI inference without triggering regulatory scrutiny over a full acquisition (04:03).
  • “So now, Nvidia can use Groq's specialized proprietary technology… It sounds like Nvidia is buying Groq for $20 billion without actually buying them and triggering a regulatory backlash.” – Zaid (04:23)
  • Notes a rising trend of tech giants using licensing deals as acquisition workarounds—raises the specter of future regulatory attention (04:41).

3. Gold & Silver’s Historic Surge

• Record Highs

  • Gold: At $4,500/oz, up 70% YTD—the best year since 1979 (05:03).
  • Silver: Topped $675/oz, up more than 150% in 2025, outperforming gold (05:32).

• Drivers of the Rally

  • Geopolitical tensions (U.S. military activity in Venezuela and Nigeria) and a weaker US dollar (05:11).
  • Strong ETF inflows, central bank demand, and a “Fed cutting interest rates”—which lowers the opportunity cost for holding gold. “When interest rates fall, assets like gold tend to rally since the opportunity cost... goes down.” (05:22)
  • Silver’s rally is driven by tight supply, speculation, and surging demand as an industrial metal for electronics/energy (05:40).
  • Achievements: Silver is wrapping up its eighth straight winning month and just surpassed Apple as the world’s third most valuable asset ($4.2T market cap), behind gold ($31.6T) and Nvidia ($4.6T). (06:01-06:17)

• Notable Comparison

  • “For my crypto people out there, Bitcoin is sitting at $1.7 trillion right now… pretty boring over there in crypto land these days.” (06:26)

4. Notable Stocks on the Move

• Upward Movers: Micron and SanDisk

  • Rallied after reports that Samsung and SK Hynix will hike prices for high-bandwidth memory chips due to AI-induced supply crunches (06:37).
  • “Both of their stocks are up around 3% this morning. By the way, SanDisk stock is up 600% this year... Micron is the third best performing stock, up nearly 250% this year.” (07:10)

• Downward Mover: Biohaven

  • Shares tanked 15% after a failed trial for a new depression drug; it showed no significant improvement over placebo (07:39).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Nvidia and Groq:

  • “To me it sounds like Nvidia is buying Groq for $20 billion without actually buying them and triggering a regulatory backlash.” – Zaid (04:23)

• On Gold and Silver:

  • “Gold is currently sitting at $4,500 an ounce, which is a record high. It's up 70% in 2025, which is the best year it's had since 1979.” – Zaid (05:03)
  • “Silver just passed Apple to become the third most valuable asset on the planet. The market cap: around $4.2 trillion.” (06:02)

• On AI Impacting Memory Stocks:

  • “It's a great time to be an investor in these storage and memory companies right now, but it's not a great time for anyone trying to build a gaming PC because RAM and SSD prices have just gotten so expensive.” (07:23)

Fun Fact Segment: The Modern Santa Claus Origin

• Santa’s Image

  • The contemporary Santa Claus image—“the iconic red outfit”—was created by Coca-Cola and artist Haddon Sundblom for a 1931 winter soda campaign (08:00).
  • “Prior to this campaign, there was no standardized image of Santa. Sometimes he wore blue or green and often he was shown to be small and elfish. But Haddon Sundblom changed all that.” (08:29)
  • Sundblom also created the Quaker Oats man and Aunt Jemima; Zaid jokes he belongs in the marketing Hall of Fame.

• Modern Ad Critique

  • “What is kind of sad, though, is that Coca Cola went from making these iconic ads to now using AI to create terrible TV commercials… Just so bad. The images aren’t consistent. It just has that AI feel to it… but I still consumed a couple of cans of Coke Zero yesterday.” – Zaid (08:44)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:55 — Market overview & Santa Claus rally begins
• 02:02 — Upcoming interview teaser with Jason Ware
• 02:37 — Nvidia-Groq deal introduction
• 03:07 — Explainer: Nvidia vs. Groq chip specializations
• 04:03 — Why this is a big deal & implications
• 05:03 — Gold reaches new record, recap of drivers
• 05:32 — Silver's historic outperformance
• 06:02 — Silver’s new spot as #3 global asset
• 06:37 — AI memory: Micron, SanDisk surge
• 07:39 — Biohaven’s failed depression drug trial
• 08:00 — Coca-Cola invents Santa’s modern look
• 08:44 — Critique of AI-generated modern ads

Tone & Style Notes

• Zaid speaks conversationally and energetically, mixing statistics and market insight with wry humor and cultural observations.
• He keeps segment transitions upbeat and integrates personal commentary (“shout out to my Rockets”) to keep listeners engaged.

Conclusion

This punchy 10-minute episode packs in a sharp overview of the Santa Claus rally, a breakdown of Nvidia’s strategic maneuver with Groq, and the historical rise in both gold and silver. AI’s push is affecting both chip stock prices and even marketing, as noted in the Santa Claus segment. Investors in memory/storage companies are reaping big rewards, while biotech trails. Zaid wraps with industry wit, making market updates both digestible and memorable for listeners.

For deeper insight into 2025 trends and a 2026 preview, Zaid’s interview with Jason Ware drops Sunday. Subscribe for more.