Nigeria’s naira could strengthen significantly against the U.S. dollar by the end of 2025, according to BUA Group Chairman Abdul Samad Rabiu, who expressed rare optimism about the economy after a closed-door meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Aso Villa on Wednesday.

“The exchange rate has continued to improve. Naira is trading below N1,500 today, and I’m confident it will strengthen even further. I expect that the rate should come down to maybe N1,300 to N1,400 before the end of the year. This is something we should all celebrate,” Rabiu said.

The billionaire industrialist tied his forecast to ongoing fiscal reforms, improved market confidence, and reduced reliance on Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) interventions, arguing that businesses now access foreign exchange more freely through global banking channels, including ATMs and credit cards abroad.

Rabiu also pointed to a softening of food prices as evidence that reforms are trickling down to households. Earlier this year, BUA said it slashed the price of a 50kg bag of rice from over N100,000 to N50,000, triggering what he described as a broader trend of price corrections.

“Products such as flour, pasta, macaroni, semolina, and others that we produce have seen significant price reductions from what they were last year,” he noted.

He credited the Tinubu administration’s duty waivers on key food imports for helping stabilize costs and domestic supply chains, saying, “We must acknowledge and appreciate His Excellency for these waivers. They have contributed greatly in making this possible.”

The BUA chairman stressed that the reforms are beginning to instill confidence among businesses, framing them as “bold” and “decisive” steps, laying the foundation for long-term growth.

“There are bold reforms and decisive policies creating the foundation for a stronger economy, a more stable currency, and a better future for businesses and Nigerians alike,” Rabiu said.

Global Institutions More Cautious

Rabiu’s upbeat projection stands in contrast to more guarded assessments from rating agencies and global lenders. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has repeatedly warned that Nigeria’s foreign exchange market remains fragile, stressing that currency stability cannot be sustained without higher non-oil revenues, improved fiscal discipline, and stronger reserves. The World Bank has similarly flagged risks tied to low oil production, heavy debt servicing, and ongoing structural bottlenecks, cautioning that reforms, though positive, are not yet sufficient to anchor lasting stability in the naira.

Credit rating agencies have echoed this concern. Moody’s and Fitch both noted earlier this year that while recent measures by the Tinubu administration—including subsidy removals and exchange rate liberalization—have improved transparency, Nigeria’s external vulnerabilities remain high. Fitch said the naira’s recent rally is “vulnerable to reversal” if foreign inflows do not rise substantially.

Analysts Link Gains to Global Trends

Some economists argue that the naira’s recent appreciation is tied less to local reforms and more to global monetary conditions and U.S. fiscal uncertainty.

“Recent disinflationary trends, and more importantly, the easing in the U.S. market, have afforded some room for the CBN to ease off the brakes. As rates decline in the U.S., the risk premium generally becomes lower,” said financial analyst Abdulrauf Bello.

“Additionally, the USD is under pressure due to the current state of the U.S. fiscal deficit and ongoing trade disputes between the U.S. and its trading partners,” Bello added, referencing trade tensions that have escalated under President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.

Against this backdrop, there is concern that if the dollar regains strength, the naira’s fragile recovery could quickly reverse. The Trump administration is already facing legal challenges over the legality of its tariff regime, a development that has injected volatility into global markets. A ruling against the U.S. government could trigger unpredictable shifts in trade flows and currency values.

Currency Still Under Pressure

Despite Rabiu’s optimism, data from the CBN shows the naira remains under pressure. On Thursday, it closed at N1,493.99/$1 in the official market. In the parallel market, it slipped further to about N1,521.5/$1, widening the gap with the official rate.

The projection of a recovery to N1,300–N1,400 per dollar by year’s end, therefore, represents a bold bet on both domestic reforms and global tailwinds aligning—a scenario that, while possible, remains uncertain.

Corintis, a Swiss semiconductor cooling startup, has raised $24 million in fresh funding and brought Intel’s new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, onto its board, as surging demand for artificial intelligence chips fuels the hunt for more efficient ways to manage heat.

The Lausanne-based company, spun out of Switzerland’s Federal Institute of Technology in 2022, develops rapid liquid-cooling systems designed to keep increasingly power-hungry chips from overheating. Unlike conventional methods that pump cold air through data centers, or liquid systems that cool only the chip’s surface, Corintis channels liquid directly through tiny etched pathways inside the chip itself. The company says the approach reduces hot spots, improves efficiency, and consumes less water and energy.

Tests by Microsoft, a Corintis customer, have shown the system can be up to three times more efficient than standard cooling techniques. Demand for such solutions is growing as AI chips from Nvidia and other manufacturers consume unprecedented amounts of power, straining both chip performance and global power grids.

“Right now we are able to produce around 100,000 cold plates per year. Next year we are ramping up to around 1 million cold plates per year,” co-founder and CEO Remco van Erp told Reuters.

Corintis manufactures its cold plates in Europe and uses custom software to automate design, enabling the systems to serve as drop-in upgrades to existing liquid-cooling setups or be built directly into chips.

The latest Series A round, led by venture capital firm BlueYard Capital, valued Corintis at around $400 million, a source familiar with the matter said. Other backers include Founderful, Acequia Capital, Celsius Industries, and XTX Ventures. The round brings Corintis’s total funding to $33.4 million, including a pre-seed raise.

The company also bolstered its leadership with high-profile industry figures. Lip-Bu Tan, who became Intel’s CEO in March after years leading Walden International and serving as Cadence Design Systems’ chairman, joined Corintis’s board earlier this year. Geoff Lyon, founder and former CEO of liquid-cooling pioneer CoolIT, also joined as a director.

Corintis plans to use the fresh capital to expand its team from 55 to 70 employees by the end of 2025, scale up its manufacturing capacity, and establish U.S. offices to support its growing base of customers there.

The investment comes amid a broader scramble for next-generation cooling technologies. As AI adoption accelerates, hyperscale data centers are grappling with soaring electricity costs and mounting climate concerns. Traditional cooling methods, long designed for CPUs running at lower power levels, are increasingly inadequate for advanced GPUs and AI accelerators running at hundreds of watts each.

Analysts say startups like Corintis could play a crucial role in redefining the infrastructure of AI computing. Liquid cooling isn’t just about keeping chips from melting anymore — it’s about sustaining the economics of AI. Thus, it is believed that without breakthroughs in cooling, the power demands of next-generation chips risk outpacing what data centers and power grids can deliver.

Looking ahead, having Intel’s chief executive on Corintis’ board underscores the strategic importance of its technology. The company is entering a fiercely competitive space that includes established liquid-cooling providers and experimental approaches from chipmakers themselves. But if its etched-in cooling channels scale as promised, Corintis could become a vital enabler for the next wave of AI hardware.

President Donald Trump on Thursday issued an executive order approving a sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations to a U.S.-led investor consortium, clearing a major legal and political hurdle that has shadowed the short-form video app’s future in the United States.

Vice President J.D. Vance said the deal would value TikTok U.S. at “around $14 billion,” though important details and approvals remain outstanding.

The White House framed the move as a national-security solution that keeps the app operating in the U.S. while shifting control to American investors. Under the announced framework, Oracle will audit and operate the U.S. algorithm, which White House officials say will be “retrained and operated in the United States outside of ByteDance’s control.”

Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi’s MGX fund are reported to be the main investors, together holding roughly 45% of the new U.S. entity, while ByteDance-related investors and new holders would own about 35%, according to reporting cited by CNBC. ByteDance itself would retain less than 20%.

“We want this to be American operated all the way,” President Trump said at the signing, singling out Oracle and its founder Larry Ellison as playing “a very big part.”

Vice President Vance described the buyers as a “blue chip group of investors” and named Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch among those expected to participate.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said U.S. users will continue to view and share content with creators abroad and that Oracle will perform ongoing audits of the algorithm. The administration also said it expects to collect a fee for facilitating the transaction; the U.S. government will not take an equity stake.

Deal architecture, participants, and lingering unknowns

Reported ownership and governance plans leave several moving parts:

• Oracle is slated to oversee security operations and supply cloud infrastructure for the spun-off TikTok U.S. unit.
• A consortium that may include Larry Ellison, Michael Dell, Silver Lake, and MGX is widely reported to be involved; President Trump also mentioned Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch.
• ByteDance investors, including firms like General Atlantic, Susquehanna, and Sequoia, are expected to roll some equity into the U.S. entity.
• ByteDance itself would hold a minority stake below 20%, satisfying the statutory threshold in the U.S. divestiture law that threatened an effective ban.
• The administration said China’s leader, Xi Jinping, had “given us the go-ahead,” but Beijing has not publicly confirmed approval, and Chinese regulatory sign-off remains a necessary and uncertain step.

The executive order prevents the Department of Justice from enforcing the divestiture law until Dec. 16, buying time to consummate a deal.

Despite the publicity, no formal purchase agreement was presented at the White House signing. ByteDance did not send representatives to the ceremony and has not publicly acknowledged a transaction.

In a reported valuations conflict, Vance’s $14 billion figure sits well below prior analyst estimates that placed TikTok’s U.S. business in a $30–$35 billion range, and below earlier, larger valuations attached to ByteDance itself.

Practical questions for advertisers, employees, and the product

However, a host of operational questions remain unanswered: Advertising partners will want clarity about whether global ad buys will still route through a single platform or become siloed; marketers depend on broad reach and unified measurement. TikTok Shop and other commerce initiatives face a strategic crossroad: will new owners double down on social commerce or focus on immediate revenue generation?

Employees worry about restructuring and priorities. Some U.S. TikTok staff told BI they fear layoffs or deprioritization of teams such as e-commerce. Others questioned how a “retrained” U.S.-operated algorithm will compare to the current model developed by ByteDance engineers.

Legal and geopolitical hurdles

The deal is designed to satisfy a U.S. national-security law that required ByteDance to divest TikTok or face an effective ban. Key legal obstacles remain. China’s approval is essential; Beijing must amend or permit transactions under its own foreign-investment and export-control regimes to let a sale proceed. Negotiations over ByteDance’s retained stake and intellectual-property arrangements could be complex. The timing and terms of any Chinese sign-off will likely determine whether the transaction closes and on what timetable.

The administration’s extension of the enforcement deadline and the pledge of a facilitation fee do not eliminate these diplomatic and legal hurdles. Markets and technology partners will be watching for final purchase agreements, regulatory filings, and Chinese government statements.

If consummated, the deal would shift ownership and operational control of TikTok’s U.S. arm to an American-led investor group, addressing the core national-security argument about foreign control of the algorithm and U.S. user data. Oracle’s role as algorithm auditor and cloud provider is central to the administration’s assurances that the algorithm will be under U.S. oversight.

At the same time, a transaction that leaves ByteDance with a minority stake preserves value for existing investors and may ease Beijing’s acceptance. But it also creates an unusual governance structure: a U.S.-operated platform with continuing economic ties to a Chinese parent. That setup could spawn future frictions over data flows, content moderation policy, and product development.

For the broader tech ecosystem, the sale could set a precedent for how national-security concerns are resolved through ownership changes rather than outright bans or stricter regulatory controls. It may also reshape M&A norms for other China-origin platforms operating in the U.S.

What to watch next

• Chinese approval. Beijing’s public sign-off is both necessary and unpredictable. Officials in Beijing have yet to issue a formal confirmation.
• Definitive purchase agreement. The market needs detailed transaction documents showing price, ownership percentages, governance, and the mechanics for algorithm retraining and data custody.
• Regulatory filings and antitrust review. Federal and state regulators could review aspects of the deal, especially if it affects competition, advertising markets, or data practices.
• Employee and product roadmaps. Signals from the new owners about investment priorities—commerce, creator monetization, and moderation—will shape staff morale and advertiser confidence.
• Enforcement timeline. The DOJ’s enforcement pause runs to Dec. 16; if key approvals are not secured by then, the administration’s options will narrow.

Bottom line: The president’s executive order moves the U.S. closer to resolving a years-long uncertainty over TikTok’s future in America by signaling approval of a U.S.-led takeover. The announcement answers some political questions but raises many commercial, legal, and technical ones. The deal’s fate now depends on a complex mix of corporate negotiation, regulatory review, and international diplomacy.