there, tom shannon thanks for joining us. and maybe we'll talk about it at a future date. thank you. >> my pleasure thank you. >> all right, that will do it for us here on "squawk on the street" with the s&p up about .3%. the nasdaq lagging a bit "techcheck" starts now it's real simple you got two more quarters and that's it. good thursday morning, welcome to "techcheck. i'm carl quintanilla with jon fortt and deirdre bosa the second half playbook for tech stek tech and opportunities to watch for the last two quarters of the year the ceo of micron will sit down with us in a moment. and later, amazon takes on the ftc, the latest on that fight as

big tech pushes back, d. >> and, carl we're also keeping an eye on those debuts that we brought you yesterday. didi clear, sentinel one, all showing two-day gains. legal zoom is going the other way for now this morning >> and the string of record highs to close out the first half of the year with the nasdaq nipping at the heels of the s&p on pace for its second best six months since the dotcom era. josh lipton is live from the nasdaq with the wrap on tech's first half >> let's start with faang. digging into the names there interesting moves. facebook and alphabet, for example, they are charging higher so far in 2021. different story, though, for apple. that was its worst first half since 2016 a nice month for the bulls there, popping 10% in june netflix, by the way, the worst of the pack so far this year as for the semis, the smh, up about 20% in the first half. bernstein stacy ras saying from a demand point of view it looks

strong meaning the end markets from pc to auto look solid next year, though, tougher to call, concerns about that sustainability of demand and double ordering. and meantime, dr. ras saying he likes semicap names, applied materials and lam research and broadcom, strong dividend, high margins, attractive valuation. and notable laggards, we should point out here, qualcomm is down about 6% this year and take two, down about 15% under performing its peers activision and ea. back to you. >> josh, thanks for that stay right there we're going to bring in joe longdale for his second half playbook, palantir co-founder, joe, good morning. great to see you again i want to start with the tech megacaps, trillion dollar club, they regained their leadership over the last month or so despite more regulatory scrutiny, competition with each other. what do you think they'll do in the second half? >> you know, these companies are making a lot of money, we're printing a lot of money new and

they're a big part of our economy, and there is a lot of people complaining about them. but it doesn't look like we're going to do anything to hurt their business. >> what about the regulatory landscape? you have strong thought os on a couple of them, google and apple and their app stores >> you want strong american companies, you don't want the chinese ones to be the global leaders. on the other hand, it is really dangerous for our democracy, and for our innovation and economy if you have arbitrary platforms that control a big part of our economy. i'm hoping the regulation forces them to be really clear about what the rules are and doesn't let them change the rules on speech or on the companies we built on the app stores, monopolies are powerful monopolies, should stop them from abusing that power, if it is done correctly, no reason it has to hurt their business. >> so is it -- >> it seems when we have got these booms and there is hype around some trend, there are areas of enterprise tech that are still getting overlooked

i wonder both the public companies and private companies we might expect to come public soon, what are some of the mor intriguing trends? i'm talking to a lot of devops companies that solve problems that don't seem to be getting a lot of focus what are you focused on? >> 100%, you're speaking my language you know, i think blend is going public soon, my guys from palantir, the other founders, tech space for mortgages, for banks, there is a lot of vertical sass companies now that are all going to be coming out and going public in the next couple of years. that's been the big trend in silicon valley the last ten years, great sass companies with high growth, high margins, really well run businesses, and the market continues to -- it is valuing sass pretty well right now, but still a lo of them that these things grow, it looks like they will, they'll be really good investments >> we love getting your take on what is happening with crypto and it doesn't seem like the last few weeks have been the market responding to headlines

about reg risk in china and the uk today, india how impressed have you been with at least bitcoin's ability to weather those headlines and how important is it that we stay above a certain level, like 30k? >> i don't know if there are certain levels that matter so much there is a huge rotation in value and the stock market that happened three or four months ago and that's the big trend this year, that rotation pulled back a little bit. i think the number one story, you know, bitcoin has become a form of value and gold obvious regulations hitting it somewhat the bigger thing you saw the gold stocks pull back as well. it is a financial asset, part of the global financial economy, you have to follow the factors that drive the global economy and i think the biggest factor was the pullback in the rotation in the value pullback a little bit. i think with the plans, you know, i was just talking to a democratic senator, actually, right before i got on with you guys, there is still planning on spending a lot of money and still going to be probably some inflationary concerns. i think bitcoin and gold are

still very interesting to me over the next year. >> i see a lot of investment, joe, going into a lot of different places, scott cohn is in north carolina now, where apple's laying down some more roots as far as facilities and we're just seeing a lot of building happening in general. what are you leaning in to coming out of this pandemic period that you think might accelerate more quickly than you might have expected more than a year ago >> exactly there is a lot to build here i have a call today, we're worried about what happens if china or taiwan in the next few years, and the monopoly that they have in taiwan right now there is very concerning given the shortages. a lot of building on the e-commerce side. e-commerce isa trend not going away e-commerce fulfillment, more warehouses, more solutions for fulfillment companies like deliver and others that are growing really fast, trying to help merchants amazon is 40%, nonamazon is 60%. nonamazon has to be as good as amazon to compete. there is a lot of companies and a lot of building going in to

helping those guys on that part of e-commerce continue to grow as quickly as they have been >> joe, you mentioned earlier that chinese companies could be the ones to benefit if we regulate our own big tech companies. and sort of in efficient or in proper ways. what did you think about the defiance against foreign pressure you said we're too dependent on china. >> china, if you look at the numbers, there are not as many tech unicorns the past couple of years because the crackdown on their tech sector. friends don't let friends become chinese billionaires it is is very dangerous there. it is one of our advantages. you are allowed to succeed in the u.s. you are allowed to take your success and build a lot more you haven't seen as much in china. i think you have to be really careful about the regulation china, didi is coming out soon, didi is allowed to bribe officials. you see officials get bribed,

very open to that. it is an example of regulation that gives china a huge advantage. i'm not sang wyie should be allowed to bribe, but every time you milwaukeake a rule, you hava trade-off. i think china is a very scary place right now. he's going to have to keep doubling down. i think it is going in a bad direction. >> i think you're saying there is different playing fields when it comes to how they perhaps conduct business we're going to be talking to micron ceo later on in the show. and there has been some chatter over whether competition between us and china in terps of chip-making, whether the u.s. has ceded its edge in that strategically nationally important space. what do you think? >> we still design a majority of the top new chips here we're still doing it for defense and for other areas. i think there is a big concern with fabrication where we saw what happened in covid, if we don't make the vaccines, you can't get them we were realizing in a world

where there is a lot of challenges of globalization and we're trying to move something on taiwan, we need to have our own production there will be some shifts there. >> right and pouring lots of money into the space. joe, thank you for being with us >> thanks a lot. so we spoke a little bit about crypto during that last conversation bitcoin touching 60. well off that level recently though still up more than 20% since the start of the year. so is it time to get in or abandon ship kate rooney has been following the ins and outs of this crazy year so far for crypto we have seen bitcoin become mainstream. >> that's been one of the big themes is that bitcoin is now mainstream, pay pal lunched a bitcoin offer early in the year and now it is being talked about on wall street in the same way it is being talked about around the dinner table i'm sure you heard more people mention the currencies this year in terms of prices, bitcoin is up 15% year to date. that is pretty much in lockstep with the s&p

if you look at the chart, like a matterhorn, you have a huge up and down and it is now right where it was if you bought in january, you didn't look at it. you might be pretty happy with your returns and people compared it to crypto winter which was sort of the next worse performance, that is when crypto was down or bitcoin in particular was down, about 80% at this time of the year it is definitely different this time, it has matured a lot it has taken more seriously as a mainstream asset within the crypto community, almost to the point where now bitcoin is sort of for boomers as some people joke. >> that's been an important aspect too, the institutionalization of cryptocurrencies this year you've seen corporate balance sheets what happens to companies that are -- that have been holding it this year, do they have to take a loss >> that's an interesting dynamic. you are already exposed to the volatility of crypto prices. if the price goes below where

some of the companies bought it, they may have to take what is known as an impairment charge. they'll have to write that down on their balance sheet it is unclear what a lot of the companies bought tesla, for example, probably the biggest one we think of, they bought in what seems to be around 30,000 we're at that level now. so folks are watching, will they take an impairment charge and will they sell any bitcoin they sold 10% of their holdings last quarter people are really, really curious to know if they still -- >> that could have implications for other companies, perhaps considering buying bitcoin, putting it on their balance sheet, that will be interesting. kate, you'll continue to cover it for us, thank you >> still to come, an exclusive with the ceo of micron coming up next tech check is just getting started.

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let's get a gut check on some chip names today. up and down first half for several names. intel is down nearly 20% off the 52-week high taiwan semi, qualcomm, stm off by 15% as for the entire sector, down

about 3 and micron not helping a whole lot today, down 5 to about a one-week low, jon. it is higher for the year so far. a beat on the top and bottom not enough to keep shares of micron in the green this morning. upbeat current quarter guidance, shares right now down about 5% with us now, exclusively, on micron results is the ceo, sanjay mehrotra. good to see you. so let's talk about what's good because these results beat despite tight supply what do you see driving the majority of this demand across consumer and enterprise? >> good to be back on your show, jon. as you noted, despite the shortages in the semiconductor ecosystem, micron delivered excellent results in fiscal third quarter. and provided a very strong guidance for the fourth quarter as well. so if you look at the trends that are driving our business, of course we have talked about trends of 5g, ai, intelligent

edge and smart user devices as being secular trends for demand growth for us. and covid has resulted in the transformation and on top of that coordinated stimuluses around the globe being the demand driver. and certainly semiconductor shortages in the industry that our customers are experiencing, that's leaving demand unmet and over time that will be continuing to be additive to our growth drivers as that demand for our customers, for our semiconductors gets met, creating more -- all the trends of data centers, pcs, smartphones, automotives, we're having records in several end market segments and for several product areas. memory and storage is just increasing in demand and we are best positioned ever >> two factors in particular i want your thoughts on. one is 5g, and from everything

we see the ramp on 5g has been faster than 4g perhaps despite a feeling at the consumer level it is not playing out akccording to the marketing hype but then also, the buildout of so many fabs when i see fab buildout plans i worry about oversupply and falling prices in the future pat gelsinger tells us not to worry about that because the plans are going to be so high. are you feeling that >> with respect to fi5g in the mobile space, it is a strong driver in growth 5g smartphones need more memory and need more storage in them, each of those phones and certainly if you look at year over year smartphone sales expected to increase double digit numbers. so pretty solid unit growth, content growth in smartphones and 5g smartphones, nearly 500

million phones doubling from last year. so mobile continues to be a large market, 5g is a driver not only in mobile, but actually on the intelligent edge as well, creating data solutions and data as well as micron products with respect to the fabs and the capacity, we are extremely prudent in terms of how we grow our supply we want to grow our supply in line with the long-term demand trends and, jon, we discussed on the earnings call yesterday we're seeing shortages across all end market segments, we see supply in the industry being short through the end of this year and into calendar year 2022 we see calendar year 22 as a robust business environment for micron as well and managing our supply prudently and in micron inventories are very lean as well and we are making sure we are able to manage the best mix of our business as well as meet our customers' requirements.

so i think focus on continuing given the strong demand drivers, continuing to grow supply in line with demand, with all the vibrant demand drivers we have, i think we're very well positioned here. >> you're really getting to the story in the space, sanjay that is the creeping presence of semiconductors in things that weren't -- in which they were not present in prior cycles, right? automotives, gaming, data center, not just phones and pcs, and that -- the street is having a difficult time understanding why supply demand dynamics are different this time. i assume that's why you argue they are >> they are very different this time as i mentioned because of the digital transformation that covid has brought, we're recovering from covid at different pace around the globe, economies rebounding, and, of course, so much demand being driven for semiconductors. the shortages as they get

alleviated will continue to open up pent-up demand as well, and, yes, the markets today are more diversified than ever. automotive, electric vehicles requiring more memory and storage, actually becoming data centers on wheels in the future, and certainly smartphones, data centers, gaming, industrial applications, we just have a quarter of record in that automotive sales and industrial business during our fiscal third quarter as well. we really see healthier and more robust demand environment than ever >> sanjay, the market is also more diversified from a geographical standpoint. we talked about this earlier, but beijing, you know, the trend has been cutting its reliance on western chipmakers such as micron and boosting its own capabilities xi jinping seemed to double down on china's technological ambitions. are chinese semis making progress

do they represent a greater threat today and a few years from now than they had previously >> so china is certainly investing in the semiconductor industry and there are chinese companies that we continue to monitor closely in terms of their technology advancement, but what i will tell you is look at micron. we just have announced and are shipping industries leading industries leading 176 different technologies we're driving innovation we have the best in class technologies and using them to build really differentiated products we talked about yesterday in our earnings call that will actually strengthen our profitability in the future. so continue to drive innovation, technology leadership, continue to build at a scale with high quality. i think these are the key factors that are important and this is what micron is focused on of course, over the years, we have dealt with a lot of competition, but we have dealt with it well, and i think, you

know, we don't ignore any competition from china, but you really need leading edge technology, the customers in china also need leading edge quality. leading edge technology at high quality and high scale and that's what micron is able to deliver to our customers worldwide including our customers in china >> sanjay, i want to end with a workplace and culture question a little bit unusual in that you have got a significant workforce in idaho but i wonder how you're handling the return to work, not just in labs and fabs, but the corporate workforce, are you leaning into hy hybrid, are you having everybody come back to the office more than half the time what is the philosophy and approach >> so many of our engineers as well as manufacturing personnel around the globe, of course, have been coming to site and helping drive our ability to meet our customers' requirements as well as drive our innovation agenda other functions in the company

that are not manufacturing related more and more of them have started coming back to on site and for them we will have a mix of hybrid, team, as well as some team that will be on site at all times it really depends, jon, on the function you're performing what is very clear is that in order to continue to drive the innovation and the execution engine, it is important to have face to facetime in the office as well, particularly given the hardware nature of our business, the labs and the fabs that you mentioned, so we will have a hybrid for certain part of our team member workforce and for other team members that have to be on site that will continue to be on site so we have managing this on an ongoing basis and over time we will have some that will have -- be on site others that will have part time on site, less working remote we will definitely provide and

that's one thing we learned from the covid environment is we will provide greater flexibility to our team members and that's important. but not lose sight of driving innovation, driving execution, and really the culture that builds, the loyalty that builds and the calm maraderie, we're mixing the two. >> flexibility and a lot of on site reality check on "techcheck." thank you. >> thank you check out shares of amazon, the company's bumpy first half only netting a roughly six-point gain for first six months of the year it is up more than 20% from its lows for 2021. could antitrust tailwinds push the company back nat storm in the second half of the year? remember, andy jassy will be steering that ship we debate that next. nus.eeheck" is back in thr mite

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bottom of the hour welcome back to "techcheck." i'm carl quintanilla with

deirdre bosa, jon fortt and julia boorstin looking to catch the next uber or airbnb before anyone else julia's got more on that in a moment let'snews update with rahel solomon. >> the search for survivors from the surfside condo collapse was paused this morning over concerns of the stability of the section still standing the halt comes as president biden is in florida to meet with families of victims and thank first responders the death toll remains at 18 with 145 people still missing. the decision could make it harder to challenge voting measures put in place by republican lawmakers following last year's election weekly jobless claims falling more than expected to another 15-month low of 364,000. it is the seventh decline in eight weeks, though continuing claims rose slightly and we have a jobs report tomorrow and shares of walgreens boots aliance dropping to a four month low despite beating sales

and profit estimates and raising guidance the stock has trimmed some losses but is still the biggest loser in the s&p 500 you're now up to date. carl, back to you. >> rahel, thank you very much. as you know by now, amazon calling on the ftc chair to recuse herself the tech giant filed a 25 page request pointing to chair lina khan's past antitrust recommendations against amazon dating back to her days at yale law school theftc declined to comment saying petitions and letters to the commission aren't public as of now, the ftc has an open investigation into amazon's businesses practices and recently secured the right to review the company's proposed acquisition of hollywood studio mgm. joining us today, the author of the book "goliath:the 100 year war. matt stoler, good to see you. >> thank you for having me >> correct many if i'm wrong, it doesn't sound like amazon's letter has you convinced >> the chair, lina khan, is a

pro free market advocate for business, she just opposes monopolists and sees the law in a particular way you'll find the biggest enemy of the competition and open markets is a monopolist and that's what you're seeing here. >> is there precedence for a move like this, for an actual rec recusal? >> not the way amazon is asking. amazon mischaracterized the precedence here. no one has ever said that if you're an enforcer and have specific views on the law, that you have to recuse yourself. that's just kind of silly. >> matt, we saw a judge this week really press facebook's critics at the federal and state level on how they define a market, and whether facebook really is a monopoly how is amazon a monopolist when it has arguably 50% of less even

of the u.s. e-commerce market? >> it is a great question. i think you can look at a bunch of different -- you can look at -- you can define markets in lots of diffes of different way. amazon has monopoly power over books. you look at that specific sector of the market and say they have dominant market power and you can look, there is a bunch of areas where they have market power. and, you know, you can see what they're doing. it is not just about what happens if you are a monopolist, it is also what happens if you are engaged in what are called restraints of trade. certain contractual arrangements, price discrimination where you don't have to be a monopolist to manipulate the law. >> that sounds fuzzy i don't think anyone is arguing about amazon's power in books. that's not what people are upset

about. yet this term monopolist is getting thrown around a lot, reminds me of the princess bride line, that word, don't think it means what you think it means. is there potentially going to be a lot more pressure on those who are pressuring big tech to define their argument a lot more narrowly and specifically? >> yeah. i think there is -- the judges read the law very narrowly and so there is going to be a lot of pressure on enforcers, you know, to actually be specific about what they mean. a lot of the legislative efforts in congress are going to go there as well. you're going to have to be very clear about what a line of business is, but in general, i think it is pretty obvious that these firms are dominant, that they have market power, which they use, and there are things that are not fuzzy that you can go after, like a whole range of mergers that these firms have engaged in so as an example, amazon have a

lot of power, but not monopoly in the sale of diapers online and there was a company which sold diapers through diapers.com, and jeff bezos said we're going to lose money by underpricing them until they sell out to us and that is ultimately what has happened that is both a violation of predatory pricing law, and it is a violation of the clayton act, which is merger law. but it doesn't require a showing of monopoly power. and there is a bunch of stuff like that, that is not fuzzy, that you can -- that you can go after. but you are right, the judges read these laws very narrowly. that is why there is action in congress and a lot of pressure on enforcers. >> matt, you bring up the example of the diaper company. you also have the rise of a company like the honest company, that has been quite successful in the d to c ecosystem, li lislistin products on amazon is it obvious that they're bad for consumers or they stifle

innovation you have the rise of shopify as well, and you know, the direct to consumer ecosystem that has thrived over the last few years. >> yeah, and there is an open -- it is a great question there is an open question here of would this stuff have happened anyway or is -- in that context amazon just kind of capture and control over a large chunk of it or did amazon develop it i think it is clear that this stuff would have happened anyway and the other point here, and this is what karl racine in d.c., he has an antitrust suit against amazon, showing amazon forces entities that want to sell through amazon to raise their prices where they're not selling through amazon so that's one of the reasons why it looks like prices are low on amazon not because everything -- the prices are as low as they could be it is that if you need to sell through amazon and everybody wants to get to consumers sells through amazon, you have to raise your prices where you're not selling on amazon in order to let -- in order for amazon to

let you have access to their customers. and so there is actually not good for consumers what amazon is doing and there is a lot of coercive practices here and there is litigation there now from a state and my guess is you're going to see other states come in and make this same claim. >> well, it is one more interesting chapter in what has been a busy week for big tech and regulation as we all know, whether that's facebook, ftc or now this amazon letter matt, appreciate it very much. thanks >> thanks for having me. shares of ev maker neo now losing team, strong delivery numbers for the month of june, though read more on that surge this morning on cnbc.com. nio in the red more disney plus, less amc the results of our cnbc stock survey coming up at noon a lot more "techcheck" is straight ahead stay with us

>> he didn't fall! inconceivable! >> that word, i do not think it means what you think it means.

it has been a huge quarter, a huge week for ipos and for disrupter 50 index the creator of our disrupter 50, julia boorstin, joins us now with a look at index's performance and which ipos to watch for next we have a robust pipeline given everything we have been covering, especially over the last few days. >> absolutely. such a -- in the ipo market. today, the disrupter 50 index is adding a record number of companies that went public in the last quarter ten companies including three which went public just yesterday, making a total of 70 companies in the disrupter 50 index as of today. the recent addition of companies from the list includes coin base, marqeta and didi, clear and ai cybersecurity company

sentinel one so now the index is an equal rated basket of all the former disrupter 50 companies from the past nine years that have gone public year to date, the index is tracking pretty much in line with the nasdaq, but over the past 12 months it is outperforming the nasdaq up about 73%. the nasdaq is up about -- sorry, cnbc disrupter 50 index is up 75%, the nasdaq is up about 42%. it has also outperformed the renaissance ipo etf, up 60% in that same time period. the disrupter 50 index is up 75%. so now there are 12 more companies in the pipeline that could be added to the index as soon as next quarter there are three pending ipos, duolingo, washy parker and robinhood, a direct listing and se seven spac deals in the works as well you can get a closer look at disrupter 50 companies, both old

and new in our new disrupter 50 newsletter, go sign up at c cnbc.com/newsletter. interesting to see if this next round of companies, the ten added today, will continue to outperform as the last batch has. >> julia, fascinating work and definitely this week when we had three disrupters go public on the same day, that is julia boorstin we'll take a break here. when we come back, more on apple and the investments the company is making in its physical office space. zip recruiter, barclays initiates overweight, price target of $30. the ahead of a wave of hiring perhaps this september for all the biggest calls on wall street, subscribe to cnbc pro, cnbc.com/pro. we'll be right back. woo! you are busy... working, parenting, problem solving.

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we are less than two weeks away from the return of america's top states for business on cnbc. handicapping the race between the states for businesses and jobs the events of the past year and a half have transformed that battle for tech companies and scott cohn is live in a state that just notched one of the first big wins in this post pandemic, well, we hope post pandemic world, north carolina scott? >> yeah, jon we're in raleigh, not far from

where i am, apple is getting set to build its first corporate campus on the east coast it is a billion dollar investment in the famous research triangle region 3,000 jobs with an average pay of $187,000 a year in cutting edge fields. but for apple, like a lot of companies, the pandemic actually accelerated their expansion plans and i'm told that the plans for this hub did not really change as the result of the pandemic because apple, unlook a lot of tech companies, is not moving in a big way toward remote work so what has that done? it supercharged an already very hot housing market apple employees already starting to make their plans to move here, we're told, and asking about things like alternative energy and sustainability. so you look at the prices here, the median home price in the triangle region now up nearly 20%. and a lot of that coming in the months since apple announced its plans in april >> my phone started blowing up

with text messages from current and active buyers i'm working with i think the news just created a sense of higher sense of urgency and panic among current buyers in the market. >> reporter: in our top states for business study, we try to look at the factors that mean the most for business, and this year cost of doing business has come back to the top north carolina is providing some $845 million in incentives to lure apple here. followed by infrastructure this is going to be a big issue here, of course, and apple is actually going to pay to fund some $110 million worth of infrastructure improvements nationwide -- state wide, i should say, in north carolina. then there is quality of life and inclusiveness. that is something that we are told was a point in the negotiations here in north carolina north carolina does not have the best record on that front. but apparently made enough movements now to seal the deal, plus they have the local talent

and that certainly did help. more about our study of top states at cnbc.com full rankings coming out on july 13th jon? >> i'll take it. it is fascinating the way in which remote work is affecting your top states list that's scott cohn. thanks. when we come back, the ceo live from mesqretis ua in a moment

welcome back astra, an aerospace company, sending satellites, not people into space, is debuting on the nasdaq today the company is listing at a $2 billion valuation via spac and joining us now with our own morgan brennan is astra founder and ceo chris kemp chris, great to have you the business of space as we look into the future, fascinating because of the potential that we're seeing now in reusability and i guess frequency of launches, that is going to allow a different kind of economics. tell us first what astra adds to that. >> there is a trillion dollar space economy developing and hundreds of companies the past few years have been formed. many will join astra on public markets in the months ahead and trying to go to different places in space on different schedules. and having a small system where we can frequently launch from

anywhere on earth to anywhere in space is the really only way they're going to be able to develop, innovate and get new capabilities into earth orbit to develop new applications. >> it's a new business relatively speaking for investors to understand tell us understand what the path to profitability looks like as you ramp the frequency and get better of a higher yield of what you're able to deliver, is that what leads to the profitability that investors want to see. >> that's right. just think about the economies of scale when you start making hundreds or thousands of small rockets. it's like a cessna companies make hundreds per year our rocket weighs almost as much as a small aircraft and shouldn't cost more than that to produce as long as you produce them to scale. only two ways to get the fishes out of a massive rocket. there is great work in the area. and/or to build a rocket factory

and make systems as you can bring the costs down. >> congratulations on going public today digging into that a bit further, gangbusters growth is what you forecast over the next few years as you ramp production and ramp launches but there is obviously the technological and logistical pieces that are involved in this but also there is the customer base itself. given the fact we have so much competition out there. just yesterday virgin orbit with the second successful mission, spacex doing a dedicated ride share. plus other competitors like rocket lab is there enough demand to get to daily launch sns. >> we already have 50 launches under contract, representing over $150 million of revenue and over a billion dollars of additional backlog where we'll fly even more in the future. there is a tremendous amount of demand and not very much supply. if you look at some of the companies you named, there are

very few flights going where the customers want to go and exactly when they want to get there. and that's where astra stands apart. like if you go to the airport and you book a flight you don't book a year or two in advance. that's what you have to do with the larger rockets with astra we'll have so many flights you'll be able to get on the nextdy next day space, providing the kind of flexibility that a new growing economy and growing marketplace requires >> and of course we know the next major milestone and what investors database the new investors in the company are focusesing on in the near-term is that launch of rocket 3.3, the new iteration after you did have the launch last december reaching space but didn't quite make orbit when is that going to happen. >> before the end of the mere. and that will kickoff the first commercial launch. and we'll be doing about a dozen of those starting monthly before the end of the year. and we do have 15 of those

flights scheduled for next year already. and that will ramp up until we reach daily space delivery where i think we'll really truly reach an inflection point where space will be accessible to the new generation of entrepreneurs and companies building all the exciting new applications. >> chris, you were talking about demand tell us a bit about margin and sort of how your ramp will change the economics of space. i keep thinking back to five years ago when facebook lost its satellites in the spacex launch that didn't work out the way they wanted. if you are able to get more frequent, to what degree are you able to kind of mix in the higher value pay load that customers want >> most of the new constellations and services in space will not be based on single satellites. they'll be based on large consequence sthags installations of small satellites in low earth orbit. no one satellite or one launch

will impact the service. and so we think about this like you think about g mail or google no one server oh data server could be taking it down. they've been designed at highlily resilient systems the same technology in consumer and web is moving to space and so we're really seeing the space industry and the technology industry bridged by companies like astra. >> exciting times when you can apply technology and scale to this sort of thing chris kemp, ceo of astra, thank you. morgan brennan, thanks for lending your expertise as well >> thank you both. a reminder heading to break, if you missed part of the show, follow our pcaodst available any where you download your podcasts. tech check is back in just a moment

plus how americans got richer during covid. a owe especially the rich. >> announcer: the facts, the truth, the news with shepard smith, 7:00 eastern. cnbc i'm a member of the imperial senate hon a diplomatic manipulation to alderon. >> you are part of the rebel alliance and a traitor take her away. >> amazon is eyeing their own rebel aluns. insider out with the report that satisfies the tech giant held talks with slack, dromm box and others floating a bundle for web services in a bid to take on

microsoft 365 empire on jeff bezos's last day as ceo stepping down and assuming the role of executive chair july 5 clinton, marking 27 years to the day that amazon was incorporated in '94 before going public three years later. the everything store climbed nearly 230,000% since the early days bezos shifts focus to infinite and beyond dedicating time to the earth b and will take him into orbit july 20. replacing him is andy jasse, hoosz leadership has been instrumental to the cloud growth the division responsible for 60% of the entire operating profits in 2020. don't miss tomorrow's show we'll do a deep dive into amazon, bezos's legacy and john doerr talk about the end of an era.

>> and we'll see what the next era brings, carl jasse in place bezos not going away a lot of times founder still very much involved. >> yes, as your year to date gains, 5%, 6% for amazon half of the s&p. let's get to tyler in the half". >> thank you very much carl and welcome to "halftime report"". i'm tyler mathson. stocks having the best first half since 1998 within one year after i joined cnbc all major averages up double digits ride the rally into the second half of the year that's a question we explore today and where the best place for money that and more on halftimex. we debate with our committee, jenningoy harrington steve weiss. josh brown well to all of you let's check the markets this hour the s&p 500 coming off, get