Business 24 June 2026

Oracle cuts 21,000 jobs and points the finger at AI

The software giant laid off thousands and said it plainly: it was because of artificial intelligence. The AI-era jobs debate just got a lot more concrete.

Until now, the talk about artificial intelligence “stealing jobs” lived mostly in the realm of theory. Oracle just dragged it into the real world: the software company cut roughly 21,000 roles and, in its annual filing, wrote it in black and white — the layoffs are tied to the adoption and deployment of AI across its operations.

At the same time — and it’s no coincidence — the company ramped up spending on AI infrastructure. Capital expenditure jumped 162%, to $55.7 billion. In other words: fewer people doing certain tasks, far more machines and data centres doing them.

Why it matters

It’s one of the first cases where a major company openly admits it’s swapping human work for AI. That doesn’t mean it’ll play out everywhere, or at the same pace — but it sets the tone for a decade that will force a lot of people to relearn their trade. In Portugal, where services and tech weigh more and more, it’s worth watching this not with panic, but with attention.

By Beatriz Mota

Image: DronePhotographer / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

Business 12 July 2026

Meta plans to double computing capacity to 14 gigawatts by 2027

An internal memo reveals Meta plans to double its AI computing power by 2027, with record spending and a new gigawatt-scale data centre in Canada.

Meta is preparing the biggest infrastructure expansion in its history: according to an internal memo that surfaced this week, the company plans to double its total computing capacity to 14 gigawatts by 2027, with 7 gigawatts coming online this year alone. For perspective, one gigawatt is roughly the output of a nuclear power plant — and Meta wants fourteen of them just to train and serve AI models. This year's outlay is running at the very top of the…

Business 12 July 2026

Banking jobs in Portugal hit highest level since BES collapse: 782 new posts in a year

Employment in Portuguese banking reached its highest level since the 2014 BES collapse, with 782 net jobs added in a year — even as branches keep closing.

After a decade of shrinking, Portuguese banking is hiring again in earnest: over the past year the sector added 782 jobs in net terms, lifting employment to its highest level since the collapse of BES in 2014. It is a remarkable turn of the cycle for an industry that spent years as a byword for restructuring and redundancy packages. Not for the counters — for the technology. Banks are beefing up digital, data and cybersecurity teams, and responding to the…

Business 11 July 2026

SK Hynix jumps 13% in Nasdaq debut after biggest foreign IPO in US history

SK Hynix closed up 13% on its Nasdaq debut after raising $26.5 billion — the largest US listing ever by a foreign company, beating Alibaba's 2014 record.

Investor appetite for anything touching artificial intelligence has a new record to show for itself. South Korea's SK Hynix, maker of the memory that feeds Nvidia's AI chips, debuted on the Nasdaq with a 13% jump to $168.01, after an offering that raised $26.5 billion. Because it is the largest-ever US IPO by a foreign company, beating the record Alibaba had held since 2014 ($25 billion). Demand ran seven times above supply, the depositary receipts were…

Business 11 July 2026

Portugal exports up 5.1% in May, but the year's trade deficit keeps widening

Portuguese goods exports rose 5.1% in May, says the INE, while imports fell 1.6%. Year to date, though, the trade deficit widened by 1.732 billion euros to 14.383 billion.

Portuguese goods exports grew 5.1% in May compared with the same month of 2025 — the best reading in almost two years — while imports fell 1.6%, according to international trade data released by the INE statistics office. A month to frame on the wall, then. The trouble is the full-year picture, which tells a less cheerful story. In the January-to-May period, exports slipped 0.2% while imports rose 3.5% year on year. The result: the goods trade deficit…

Business 11 July 2026

Markets tracker: gold, the Fed, oil and stocks

Our running tracker of the markets that move savings in Portugal — gold, Fed and ECB decisions, oil and stocks. Updated whenever there is news.

This is our running tracker of the markets that move savings in Portugal. Instead of a fresh article for every swing, we update this page whenever something matters: gold, Federal Reserve and European Central Bank decisions, oil and the main stock indices. For the background on the Portuguese economy, see our mid-year review. Official data is at the Bank of Portugal.

Business 10 July 2026

Delta rescues Mocoffee: 3 million euros to save Azambuja capsule factory

The Nabeiro group injects 3 million euros into Mocoffee, becomes sole shareholder and pays creditors 6 million. The plan writes off 64% of 23.4 million in debt.

Delta is taking over Mocoffee — and with it a factory in Azambuja capable of turning out 350 million coffee capsules a year. The recovery plan for the manufacturer, which reached 2026 on the edge of insolvency with 23.4 million euros in debt, rests on a 3-million-euro injection from the Nabeiro group, which becomes sole shareholder. About 36% of what they are owed: the plan negotiated under Portugal's special revitalisation process (PER) writes off 64.4%…

Business 10 July 2026

European Tech Champions Initiative: Portugal joins EIB fund aiming to mobilise 80 billion euros

Portugal has joined the EIB's European Tech Champions Initiative, which aims to raise 15 billion euros and mobilise up to 80 billion for 1,500 European scale-ups.

Portugal will put its own money into the new phase of the European Tech Champions Initiative, the investment alliance led by the European Investment Bank that aims to mobilise up to 80 billion euros for 1,500 European tech companies in their scale-up phase. The announcement came this Friday from finance minister Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, on the sidelines of the Ecofin meeting in Brussels. Nobody knows yet — and that is the honest answer. All 27 member…

ISTSat-1, Portugal's first university satellite

Business 10 July 2026

Portugal's space sector is worth €1.2 billion — and every euro generates another €1.17

Portugal's space sector added €1.2 billion to GDP between 2019 and 2024, according to the Novaspace study for the Portuguese Space Agency.

Space is now serious business in Portugal: between 2019 and 2024, space activities contributed €1.2 billion directly to the country's GDP. The figure comes from the socioeconomic study Novaspace produced for the Portuguese Space Agency — the most complete portrait of the sector to date — and it arrives with a multiplier that explains the excitement: for every euro space adds directly to the economy, another €1.17 is generated through supply chains and…

Business 9 July 2026

Portuguese wine: AEP brings buyers from six European markets to Porto

The third edition of Portugal Premium Wines brought importers from the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland and Scandinavia to Porto to do business with 20 national producers.

While half the country was watching thermometers, Porto was talking exports by the glass. The Portuguese Business Association (AEP) ran the third edition of Portugal Premium Wines through Thursday — a reverse trade mission that brought importers from six strategic European markets to negotiate directly with national producers. It's an AEP initiative that flips the usual logic: instead of flying producers out, it flies the buyers in. Importers from the…

Economic growth chart with an upward line

Business 9 July 2026

Portugal's GDP grows 2.2% in the second quarter as Católica lifts 2026 forecast

Portugal's economy is estimated to have grown 2.2% year-on-year in Q2 2026, according to Católica's NECEP lab, which raised its full-year forecast from 1.5% to 1.8%.

Portugal's economy is estimated to have grown 2.2% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2026, and the Católica University has raised its full-year forecast — from 1.5% to 1.8%. It confirms that the recovery has gained traction after a first half marked by expensive energy and disrupted supply chains. According to the NECEP – Católica Lisbon Forecasting Lab, GDP is estimated to have grown 0.6% quarter-on-quarter and 2.2% year-on-year (against the same…

Business 8 July 2026

New company creation in Portugal falls 4.1% — but construction is booming

Portugal saw 27,831 new companies in the first half of 2026, down 4.1% year on year. Construction grew 11% and is now the second-biggest sector for new businesses for the first time.

Portugal created 27,831 new companies in the first half of 2026 — 4.1% fewer than in the same period last year. At first glance that is bad news; up close, the picture has more nuance: fewer companies are closing than before, and one sector is clearly rowing against the tide. Construction. The sector grew 11% in new company registrations over the half-year and reached, for the first time, second place among all economic activities. It is not hard to guess…

Business 8 July 2026

Grupo Paulo Duarte: UK's ICG buys 33.5% stake and commits up to 200 million euros to build an Iberian freight giant

Portuguese haulier Grupo Paulo Duarte sold a 33.5% stake to London-listed ICG, which will invest up to 200 million euros to build one of Iberia's biggest road freight operators.

One of Portugal's oldest hauliers has just taken on a heavyweight partner. British asset manager ICG, listed in London, has bought 33.5% of Grupo Paulo Duarte and committed to investing up to 200 million euros to accelerate the Torres Vedras company's growth — with a stated goal: turning it into one of the biggest road freight operators on the Iberian Peninsula. Day to day, little — and that's deliberate. ICG comes in as a minority shareholder and…

Business 7 July 2026

Portugal's tax authority set a decade record: 641,000 garnishment orders and 1.55 billion euros recovered in 2025

Portugal's Fisco filed 641,678 garnishment requests in 2025 (+3%) and clawed back 1.55 billion euros in unpaid tax, a ten-year high. VAT led the way; pension garnishments jumped 9%.

Portugal's tax collection machine has never been busier. In 2025 the Autoridade Tributária filed 641,678 garnishment requests over unpaid tax, up 3% on the year before — and recovered 1.55 billion euros through enforced collection, the highest figure of the past decade. More than 641,000 across the year, most of them targeting "other assets and income" — bank accounts, credits and the like. Inside those numbers, two trends pull in opposite directions:…

Business 6 July 2026

COTEC Innovative Status 2026: 1,171 Portuguese companies recognised

COTEC Portugal awarded its Innovative Status 2026 to 1,171 companies, with 202 first-timers and manufacturing once again leading the distinctions.

Portugal's club of innovative companies just got bigger. COTEC Portugal has awarded its Estatuto Inovadora COTEC 2026 — the country's innovation status seal — to 1,171 companies, 174 of them under the Evolution programme, in a year that saw 202 newcomers join the list. It's an annual seal from COTEC Portugal, the country's business association for innovation, recognising companies with a strong record in innovation and sustainability. In practice it works…