CNBC Daily Open: Potential Iran tariffs, data centers and tech comments

Hello, this is Justina Lee writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC's Daily Open.

U.S. President Donald Trump wants Congress to add tariffs on Iran, which could further worsen Tehran-Washington relations as the Middle East conflict continues on.

Over in the tech space, capital continues to flow with data centers being built by Nexus Data Centers and China's DeepSeek, while Amazon is projecting its own capital expenditures to hit $220 billion this year.

Trump is flexing his tariff powers again, and wants Congress to add them on Iran to a sanctions bill against Russia and Tehran that has bipartisan support.

"I'd like to see tariffs on Iran. It would make it much stronger," Trump said. If approved, the bill would impose economic sanctions on Russia and those supporting its war against Ukraine.

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has imposed or announced new duties on goods from dozens of countries, including Canada, Brazil and the 27-member European Union, which in turn has caused strain in U.S. ties with other nations.

While Trump remains steadfast in his strong beliefs about tariffs, money is flowing in the tech space.

Nexus Data Centers is in advanced talks to secure $15 billion for a Google-backed Anthropic data center, CNBC confirmed on Thursday. According to a source familiar with the discussion, the company will use the capital to develop a data center campus in Hubbard, Texas. The source also noted that Google agreed to backstop Anthropic with its investment-grade credit rating as part of the deal.

Asia is also not left out when it comes to building data centers. China's DeepSeek is planning a massive artificial-intelligence data center in Inner Mongolia, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Meanwhile, Amazon wants to spend even more on artificial intelligence. The tech giant's capital expenditures are projected to hit $220 billion this year, according to CEO Andy Jassy in a conference call with investors.

Besides AI and data centers, attention is also shifting to quantum computing.

Investors won't have to wait much longer for quantum computing to become a meaningful business for the technology company known for its mainframes and enterprise software, according to IBM CEO Arvind Krishna.

"I think that in 2028 or 2029, you'll see it have a measurable impact on our top line and bottom line," Krishna said on CNBC's "Mad Money" on Thursday. By the end of the 2030s, it may be a trillion dollars of value, he added.

Comments from Reddit CEO Steve Huffman are also in focus, after he said that Google's artificial intelligence offering called AI Overviews has created uncertainty when it comes to search-derived traffic.

"Search is volatile, and we see those changes, we've been through those many times," Huffman said.

The company also said in an investor letter that "search referrals were choppy," highlighting investor concerns about Reddit's reliance on Google to land new users, which sent its stocks tanking 11%.

—Justina Lee

UEFA threatens World Cup boycott over FIFA private equity investment plan

European soccer governing body UEFA said Thursday it will boycott FIFA competitions including the World Cup if the global organization goes through with its proposal to sell a stake to private investors.

Following an emergency meeting, UEFA, which represents 55 of FIFA's 211 member associations, called it "irresponsible and indefensible" for FIFA leadership to bring forth such a proposal without seeking feedback from the countries that make up the organization.

On Tuesday, FIFA announced a plan to sell a 20% stake in a new entity it calls FIFA Forward Enterprise that would take over all commercial and event operations. FIFA said FFE would raise up to $4.2 billion from third party investors. The move championed by FIFA President Gianni Infantino has drawn backlash across the sport.

—Jessica Golden