Blaize Surges on $120M Asia AI Contracts; Talen Rallies on Plant Acquisitions

Blaize Holdings announced a collaboration with Starshine Computing Power Technology Limited to deploy its hybrid AI platform across Asia Pacific markets, in an agreement valued at a minimum of $120 million over an 18-month period.

Blaize shares soared 68% in premarket trading on Friday.

The deployment will begin in the third fiscal quarter of 2025 and continue through 2026, initially focusing on smart city applications across India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, and China, according to the company’s statement.

The partnership aims to integrate Blaize’s Graph Streaming Processor-based inference accelerators with existing GPU infrastructure to create hybrid AI computing clusters for applications in urban surveillance, retail operations, industrial automation, and agricultural resource management.

Talen Energy is acquiring two power plants located in Pennsylvania and Ohio for a net $3.5 billion, it said on Thursday, adding that it expects the move to boost the company's free cash flow per share by over 40% in 2026.

Shares of the company jumped about 14% in premarket trading on Friday.

In June, Talen expanded its nuclear energy partnership with Amazon to supply up to 1,920 MW of electricity from its Susquehanna plant in Pennsylvania to cope up with the increasing electricity demand.

BlackSky Technology stock plunged about 15% in premarket trading on Friday after the company announced plans for a private offering of $125 million in convertible senior notes due 2033.

The geospatial intelligence company said the notes would be offered to qualified institutional buyers under Rule 144A of the Securities Act. BlackSky also plans to grant initial purchasers an option to buy up to an additional $18.75 million in notes during a 13-day period following issuance.

According to the announcement, BlackSky intends to use approximately $103.1 million of the proceeds to repay outstanding borrowings and terminate its secured term loan facility. An additional $10.2 million will go toward repaying and terminating its secured revolving credit facility. The remainder will fund general corporate purposes, including working capital, operating expenses, capital expenditures, and potential strategic investments.

Sarepta Therapeutics said another patient has died from acute liver failure after receiving one of its gene therapies, putting additional pressure on the biotech company after the recent deaths of two teenage boys.

Shares of Sarepta fell about 17% in premarket trading on Friday.

A company spokesperson said a patient had died of acute liver failure last month in an early-stage trial of a gene therapy to treat limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, which often weakens muscles around the hips and shoulders. The company told regulators and investigators about the death “in an appropriate and timely manner,” the spokesperson said in a statement.