Google's big bet on smartphones, AMD jumps on Tesla deal, Baidu launches self-driving car fund

Yahoo Finance

Here’s a look at some of the stocks the Yahoo Finance team will be tracking for you today.

Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL) is buying part of Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC in a deal worth $1.1 billion. The tech giant is acquiring the HTC division that develops the Pixel smartphone. As part of the deal, Google will gain 2,000 HTC workers to help ramp up production of its Android smartphones.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) was up sharply in early trading. The semiconductor company is teaming up with Tesla (TSLA) to build chips for self-driving cars. That’s according to CNBC. The deal will allow Tesla to reduce its reliance on AMD competitor Nvidia (NVDA). Shares of Nvidia are down on the news in early trading.

Baidu (BIDU) is also revving things up in the self-driving car space. The Chinese search engine is launching a $1.5 billion self-driving car fund. The company hopes to have its cars ready to drive by 2020. Baidu could run into some headwinds. Chinese regulators have previously stopped the company from highway testing.

Calgon Carbon (CCC) shares soared on Thursday. The stock surging in early trading after it announced that it’s being bought by the Japanese chemical manufacturer Kuraray in a $1.1 billion deal. Kuraray says it plans to expand US Calgon’s carbon business to include energy and water which would advance innovation and cut costs.