Caterpillar — which was formed decades before computers and nearly a century before ChatGPT — is becoming an AI play.

• The heavy equipment maker recorded a 22% increase in Q1 revenue compared with a year earlier, to $17.4 billion.
• That crushed S&P Capital IQ estimates of $16.4 billion.
• It included a 38% increase in construction industry revenue and a 22% rise in its power and energy segment.

Between the lines: Much of Caterpillar's growth in power and energy is being driven by data center demand and the electricity needed to support cloud computing and generative AI.

• Caterpillar makes the engines and turbines that supply both primary and backup power to those facilities, as well as the electrical infrastructure to run them.

Zoom in: CEO Joe Creed said Caterpillar has accumulated a "record" backlog in orders — totaling $63 billion, up 79% from a year earlier.

• "Customers are committing to longer-term orders with some orders well into 2028," he said on an earnings call.

The impact: CAT is the second largest component in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, representing more than 10% of the index, according to Bespoke Investment Group.

• The stock rose 9.9% today, contributing to a 790-point rise in the Dow.

Our thought bubble: The AI economy continues to translate into demand for actual stuff like Nvidia chips and Caterpillar machines.

• That's making it increasingly difficult to argue the AI boom is a mirage.

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Eli Lilly delivered a 56% revenue boost and upped its earnings outlook as it extends its lead in the surging GLP-1 space.

Zoom in: The weight loss drug boom spawned a 65% increase in sales volume for the company, while realized prices declined 13%.

• The drug giant's stock rose 9.8% today after the earnings report.

💊 State of play: The company's first oral pill for obesity, Foundayo, is off to a strong start in its initial weeks on the market, executives said.

• Lilly USA president Ilya Yuffa said on an earnings call that the company has already attracted 8,000 prescribers and 20,000 users of the medicine.

🔭 What we're watching: Whether the pill generates new patients or cannibalizes sales from injectable GLP-1 treatments Zepbound and Mounjaro.

• So far, 80% of Foundayo users "are new" to GLP-1 treatments, Yuffa said. "So this is expansive in bringing new people into being treated for overweight or obesity."

That's what some analysts are predicting for AI-related capital expenditures in 2027.

Zoom in: Both Evercore and Bank of America are forecasting spending levels over the 13-digit mark for next year, with estimates for 2026 between $800 and $900 billion, per CNBC.

🇸🇦 The Saudi sovereign wealth fund confirmed it's withdrawing support for LIV Golf after the 2026 season, placing the tour's future in jeopardy. (Axios)

📱Apple reported 17% revenue growth for the quarter, topping expectations. Revenue from iPhones rose 21.7%. (Axios)

Colossal Biosciences, the company that's attempting to bring back the woolly mammoth and the dodo, said it's aiming to revive another species: the bluebuck.

• Why it matters: The bluebuck — a member of the antelope family once found in South Africa — was hunted to extinction more than two centuries ago.

Zoom in: Colossal said the bluebuck — which got its name from its silvery bluish hue — is the sixth member of the company's "de-extinction portfolio."

• The company already generated global buzz in 2025 when it showed off multiple dire wolves, which had been extinct for more than 12,500 years.

🧬 Colossal CEO Ben Lamm tells Axios that the company has obtained bluebuck DNA, mapped it and compared it to the animal's closest living relatives — and now it's in the final, and most difficult, phase of genomic editing.

• He says the company is aiming for a birth in "2028-ish," which will come after a nine-month gestation period via a surrogate.

🦣 What we're watching: The company's highest-profile effort is its woolly mammoth project, which Lamm said remains on track to deliver its first birth in 2028.

• "The team is in the last stages of editing," he says. "The next stage will be doing embryo transfer into elephants."

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