OpenAI has signed a $38 billion cloud deal with AWS, marking the first partnership between the ChatGPT maker and the cloud giant. The seven-year agreement will provide OpenAI access to Nvidia chips in Amazon data centers by the end of 2026 for training AI models and processing queries. While smaller than OpenAI's $300 billion Oracle deal and $250 billion Microsoft commitment, it's crucial for AWS, which has lagged Microsoft and Google in AI-driven cloud growth. OpenAI now has nearly $600 billion in total cloud commitments across Oracle, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, vastly exceeding its projected $13 billion in 2025 revenue.
Synthesia, a London-based AI video generation startup, has raised $200 million at a $4 billion valuation, nearly doubling its $2.1 billion valuation from January. Alphabet's venture firm GV led the round. The company, which crossed $100 million in annualised revenue in April, uses AI avatars to help enterprises like DuPont, Xerox, and Spirit Airlines create training and safety videos in over 100 languages. Adobe reportedly explored acquiring Synthesia for $3 billion but couldn't agree on price.
Nvidia and Qualcomm Ventures have joined the India Deep Tech Alliance, a coalition of US and Indian investors in deep-tech startups launched in September with over $1 billion in commitments. Nvidia will serve as a strategic technical advisor without financial investment, while Qualcomm Ventures joins with capital alongside six Indian VC firms, adding $850 million in commitments. The alliance aims to support Indian deep-tech startups in areas like semiconductors, quantum computing, and AI, coinciding with India's new ₹1 trillion ($12 billion) research and development initiative. India's deep-tech funding rose 78% year-over-year to $1.6 billion in 2024.
Commercially traded location data is enabling surveillance of EU officials, NATO personnel, and military sites, according to a joint investigation by netzpolitik.org, Bayerischer Rundfunk, L'Echo, Le Monde, and BNR. Reporters identified hundreds of devices belonging to European Commission and Parliament staff using free preview datasets from data brokers, pinpointing home addresses and workplaces of senior officials. The data, originating from smartphone apps, contains 278 million location records from Belgium alone. Despite GDPR protections, the practice continues largely unchecked.
Amazon is suing Perplexity AI to block the startup's AI browser agent, Comet, from making purchases on its platform. The lawsuit accuses Perplexity of computer fraud for failing to disclose when Comet shops on users' behalf, violating Amazon's terms of service. Amazon claims Perplexity disguised its agents as regular Chrome browser users and evaded security measures. Perplexity, valued at $20 billion, called Amazon "a bully" and argued users should choose their preferred shopping agent. The case could set precedents for how far agentic AI can automate real-world tasks beyond content creation.
Bending Spoons has acquired AOL for approximately $1.5 billion from Apollo Global Management and raised $710 million in equity at an $11 billion pre-money valuation. The company also secured $2.8 billion in debt financing from banks including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and BNP Paribas. AOL, which has 30 million monthly active users and generates hundreds of millions in free cash flow, will receive product and technology investments. Bending Spoons specialises in acquiring tech brands with large user bases, including Evernote, Meetup, and Vimeo, and holding them long-term.
Microsoft has committed over $17.6 billion in AI infrastructure spending across two major deals announced Monday. The company will invest $7.9 billion in the UAE through 2029 on data centres, cloud computing, and employees, nearly tripling its Nvidia chip deployment after receiving US government clearance. Microsoft will ship 60,400 A100-equivalent chips, including new GB300 units. Separately, the company signed a $9.7 billion deal with Australian data centre operator IREN for AI cloud capacity in Texas, providing access to Nvidia GB300 systems. Both investments address Microsoft's severe cloud capacity shortage as Azure demand surges.
Big Tech is planning to spend $400 billion on AI in 2025, yet executives say it's still insufficient. Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet all announced increased 2026 spending, citing severe capacity constraints. Microsoft says demand exceeds supply for "many quarters" and will double its data center footprint in two years. Meta's capex nearly doubled to $72 billion this year and will grow "notably larger" in 2026. Google's spending will jump to $91-93 billion from $85 billion. Investor reactions were mixed: Meta dropped 11% on concerns about vague returns, while Amazon surged 10% after demonstrating immediate monetisation. The race centers on reaching AGI first, creating intense competitive pressure despite uncertainty about long-term payoffs.
Intel is in preliminary talks to acquire AI chip startup SambaNova, according to Bloomberg. The deal would likely value SambaNova below its $5 billion 2021 valuation from a SoftBank-led funding round. Founded in 2017 by Stanford professors, SambaNova designs custom AI chips targeting inference workloads and has pivoted to offering AI cloud services on its own hardware. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan has served as SambaNova's executive chairman since May 2024, and his VC firm Walden International was a founding investor.
Nvidia reportedly plans to invest up to $1 billion in AI coding startup Poolside as part of a $2 billion funding round that would value the company at $12 billion. Poolside has allegedly secured over $1 billion in commitments, including $700 million from existing investors and participation from hedge fund manager Magnetar. The new valuation quadruples Poolside's $3 billion valuation from last year. Founded in 2023 in France, Poolside focuses on coding automation for government and defense while pursuing broader AGI ambitions. The startup plans to use funds to purchase Nvidia GB300 chips and is building a 2GW data center in West Texas with CoreWeave. |
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