Lana

Alphabet has minimal debt, relative to its size, around $150 billion in cash flow each year, and close to $100 billion in the bank.

Meanwhile, OpenAI still leans on frequent funding, and many of its partners have had to sell assets or take on debt to pay for its data centers.

Put Alphabet's performance and financial firepower together, and it's easier to see why the firm's share price has recently pulled ahead of many OpenAI-linked names.

That's it for today.

I'm Lana.

I'll see you tomorrow.

Hey, I'm Lana with your daily brief for Tuesday, January 13th.

Coming up, South Korea and China broke records while India ended a five-day fall.

And U.S.

prosecutors opened an investigation into the Federal Reserve Chair, leading investors to seek safety.

We'll also check in with Carl to get his answers to your burning questions.

More on the way, but first, a word from Guy at Finimize HQ.

South Korea's main KOSPI index has picked up 10% this year to notch a record high, building on last year's 75% rally.

China celebrated a different all-time high at the same time.

Investors traded a record value of mainland-listed shares, encouraged by talk of institutional interest.

Meanwhile, India's Sensex index has slipped about 1% this year.

Investors are jittery about the country's slow progress on a US trade deal, reliance on oil imports, and high stock valuations.

That said, after five drops in a row, the index finally finished a day in the black on Monday.

AI is pivotal for these countries.

South Korea's two biggest companies dominate global memory chip manufacturing, a core part of AI infrastructure, and China is pushing ahead with the latest cutting-edge models.