Microsoft

The global technology outage caused by CrowdStrike’s faulty update is estimated to cost US Fortune 500 companies $5.4 billion, according to insurers. CrowdStrike has committed to implementing changes to prevent a recurrence. The projected losses do not include Microsoft, which also experienced widespread system failures due to the crash. Insurer Parametrix indicates that companies in banking, healthcare, and major airlines will be most affected. The total insured losses for non-Microsoft Fortune 500 companies are estimated between $540 million and $1.08 billion.

Nvidia has achieved the status of the world's second most valuable company. As of Wednesday, the chipmaking giant's market capitalization reached $3.01 trillion, surpassing Apple's $3 trillion valuation. With its flagship H100 chip leading the charge in the AI race, Nvidia's market capitalization has continued its upward trajectory. Having attained a $1 trillion valuation in May 2023, the company soared past $2 trillion in February of the current year, surpassing the valuations of both Amazon and Alphabet.

On Friday morning, shortly after midnight in New York, a global disaster began to unfold. In Australia, shoppers encountered Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) messages at self-checkout aisles. In the UK, Sky News suspended its broadcast after servers and PCs started crashing. Airport check-in desks in Hong Kong and India also failed. By morning in New York, millions of Windows computers had crashed, sparking a worldwide tech crisis.