Skild AI, the robotics‑software startup founded in 2023, closed a $1.4 billion Series C financing round that pushes its valuation above $14 billion. The round was led by SoftBank with participation from Nvidia, Macquarie Group, 1789 Capital and others. The funding brings the company’s total capital raised to more than $2 billion. Skild AI develops general‑purpose foundation models for robots that can be retrofitted to many platforms and learn tasks by observing humans, aiming to cut the training burden that has limited robot adoption. Read more →

Amazon is in advanced discussions with OpenAI about a $10 billion investment that would also see the AI startup adopt Amazon's Trainium chips and increase its use of Amazon Web Services. The proposed deal could lift OpenAI's valuation past $500 billion while deepening the company's reliance on Amazon's cloud and hardware infrastructure. At the same time, OpenAI continues to expand relationships with other technology partners, including Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle and AMD, prompting investors to scrutinize the circular nature of its financing and compute arrangements. Read more →

SoftBank Group and Nvidia are reportedly negotiating a joint investment exceeding $1 billion in Skild AI, a robotics‑software startup valued at $14 billion. The company, which last raised $500 million at a $4.7 billion valuation, focuses on a robot‑agnostic foundation model rather than proprietary hardware. Skild AI recently unveiled its general‑purpose robot model, Skild Brain, and has secured partnerships with LG CNS and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. The move reflects growing investor interest in AI‑driven robotics, following large funding rounds for peers such as Physical Intelligence, Figure, and 1X. Read more →

Google’s AI infrastructure leader told employees the company must double its serving capacity every six months to keep up with soaring AI demand. Vice president Amin Vahdat outlined a goal to increase compute, storage and networking capability roughly a thousand‑fold in the next four to five years while maintaining cost and energy efficiency. The push comes amid intense competition, with rivals like OpenAI planning six new data centers and committing massive investment to support hundreds of millions of weekly users. Google’s challenge is to build faster, more reliable, and more scalable infrastructure than any competitor. Read more →

Anthropic announced a $50 billion partnership with U.K.-based Fluidstack to build custom data centers in Texas and New York, slated for completion through 2026. The facilities are designed to support the compute‑intensive Claude models and reflect Anthropic’s push for dedicated infrastructure alongside existing cloud ties with Google and Amazon. The move positions Anthropic among rivals such as Meta and the SoftBank‑OpenAI‑Oracle consortium, whose infrastructure spending dwarfs the new project. Fluidstack, a rising neocloud provider, gains a high‑profile client and further credibility in the rapidly expanding AI‑hardware market. Read more →

Major technology firms are committing unprecedented sums to AI‑related data center projects, with Oracle, SoftBank, Meta and others pledging hundreds of billions of dollars. While the scale of funding reflects optimism about AI growth, surveys show many companies remain cautious, and industry leaders warn that physical infrastructure—especially power and space—could become a bottleneck. The juxtaposition of massive financial commitments and lingering market uncertainty highlights the complex dynamics shaping the emerging AI ecosystem. Read more →

SoftBank and OpenAI have launched a 50-50 joint venture called SB OAI Japan to localize and sell OpenAI's enterprise AI technologies to Japanese companies. The partnership’s first customer is SoftBank itself, which will deploy the new "Crystal intelligence" packaged solution across its businesses. SoftBank reports that all its employees are actively using AI and that it has created 2.5 million custom ChatGPT instances for internal use. The joint venture aims to combine OpenAI’s enterprise offerings with SoftBank’s local implementation and support, helping Japanese firms boost productivity and management efficiency. Read more →

OpenAI announced a multi‑year agreement with Amazon to purchase $38 billion in cloud computing services. The partnership will see the company shift immediately to Amazon Web Services, with full capacity expected by the end of 2026 and the option to expand beyond 2027. The deal follows OpenAI’s recent restructuring that removed the need for Microsoft’s approval on such purchases and aligns with its broader plan to spend over $1 trillion on computing power in the next decade. Analysts note the massive spending may signal an emerging AI investment bubble. Read more →

OpenAI announced the completion of its recapitalization, converting the organization into a public‑benefit corporation nested inside a non‑profit foundation. The new structure gives the OpenAI Foundation legal control while allowing the for‑profit arm to raise capital and acquire companies. Major stakeholders include Microsoft, SoftBank and OpenAI employees, with the foundation retaining a significant equity stake. State attorneys general reviewed the deal, and the company pledged to continue risk‑mitigation measures. CEO Sam Altman scheduled a public livestream to address questions about the transition. Read more →

Mbodi, a robotics‑software startup founded by former Google engineers Xavier Chi and Sebastian Peralta, will showcase its cloud‑to‑edge system that uses multiple AI agents to train robots via natural‑language prompts at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 in San Francisco. The platform breaks down user requests into subtasks, enabling faster adaptation for tasks like picking and packaging. Mbodi, launched in 2024, previously won the ABB Robotics AI startup competition and partnered with a Swiss robotics firm later acquired by SoftBank. The company is now piloting the technology with a Fortune 100 consumer‑goods client and aims for broader deployment in 2026. Read more →

Analysts note that the artificial‑intelligence sector is exhibiting the four hallmark factors of a technology bubble: deep uncertainty about profitable business models, a surge of pure‑play investments, a wave of novice retail investors, and a powerful narrative of inevitable transformation. Comparisons are drawn to historic bubbles in radio and aviation, while the dominance of Nvidia in the market and massive capital commitments from firms such as SoftBank, Microsoft and OpenAI underscore the scale of the hype. A recent MIT study found that most firms adopting generative AI have not yet profited, adding to concerns about sustainability. Read more →

SoftBank is purchasing ABB’s robotics division for $5.4 billion, a move the company says will cement its focus on "Physical AI." Founder Masayoshi Son described the acquisition as a step toward a new frontier in artificial intelligence. The deal, which still requires regulatory approval, adds to SoftBank’s existing robotics holdings, including stakes in Skild, AutoStore Holdings and Agile Robots, and aligns with its broader investment strategy in chips, data centers, energy and generative AI technologies. Read more →

SoftBank is purchasing ABB’s robotics division for $5.4 billion, a move the company says will cement its focus on "Physical AI." Founder Masayoshi Son described the acquisition as a step toward a new frontier in artificial intelligence. The deal, which still requires regulatory approval, adds to SoftBank’s existing robotics holdings, including stakes in Skild, AutoStore Holdings and Agile Robots, and aligns with its broader investment strategy in chips, data centers, energy and generative AI technologies. Read more →

OpenAI sold $6.6 billion worth of shares held by current and former employees, a transaction that lifted its valuation to $500 billion, the highest ever for a privately held firm. The sale, which involved investors such as SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Thrive Capital, MGX and T. Rowe Price, was not a traditional funding round because the proceeds went directly to shareholders. The move comes amid heightened competition with Meta’s AI lab, recent large‑scale funding rounds, and strategic partnerships with Oracle, Nvidia and Microsoft, while the company continues to roll out new products like the Sora 2 video model. Read more →

Silicon Valley dominated headlines this week with massive AI infrastructure deals. Nvidia announced a potential $100 billion investment in OpenAI, while OpenAI revealed plans to add five new Stargate data centers in partnership with Oracle and SoftBank, promising gigawatts of fresh capacity. Oracle financed the effort by selling $18 billion in bonds. At the same time, OpenAI launched Pulse, a personalized morning briefing feature in ChatGPT that currently runs only for $200‑a‑month Pro users due to server constraints. The flurry of investments and product launches raises questions about the balance between costly data‑center expansion and new AI services. Read more →

OpenAI disclosed plans to stand up five new data center sites across Texas, New Mexico, Ohio and a yet‑to‑be‑announced Midwest location, partnering with Oracle and SoftBank. The effort is part of the so‑called Stargate project, which aims to deliver up to 10 gigawatts of AI compute power and involves billions of dollars in investment. Existing facilities include a site in Abilene, Texas, and collaborations with CoreWeave. CEO Sam Altman emphasized that expanding compute is essential to AI’s promise, while noting challenges such as financing, permitting and community opposition. A lawsuit from Ziff Davis over alleged copyright infringement is also highlighted. Read more →

OpenAI announced plans to add five new data centers across the United States under its Stargate program, partnering with Oracle and SoftBank. The expansion will bring total U.S. capacity close to seven gigawatts and includes sites in Texas, New Mexico, Ohio, and a yet‑to‑be‑named Midwest location. Oracle will operate the flagship Abilene facility, while SoftBank’s SB Energy backs two of the new sites. The project is tied to broader U.S. AI competitiveness goals, with expectations of thousands of jobs and additional collaborations with Nvidia and international partners. Read more →

Tech giants and investors are pouring massive capital into AI infrastructure, signing multi‑billion‑dollar cloud and data‑center deals to meet soaring compute demands. Microsoft, Oracle, Google, Amazon, Nvidia, and others have locked in partnerships with AI firms such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta, committing billions to cloud services, GPU supply, and new data‑center construction. These agreements underline a race to secure the hardware and energy needed for next‑generation models, while also highlighting the growing influence of AI on corporate strategy and the broader technology ecosystem. Read more →

OpenAI announced a nonbinding memorandum of understanding with Microsoft that would allow the AI startup to convert its for‑profit arm into a public benefit corporation. The deal keeps OpenAI’s nonprofit board in control while granting Microsoft preferred access to the technology and primary cloud services. The agreement follows months of negotiation, legal disputes, and competing partnership offers, including a cloud contract with Oracle and a data‑center collaboration with SoftBank. Regulators in California and Delaware must still approve the transition, and the arrangement remains subject to a definitive contract. Read more →

Nvidia is putting $5 billion into Intel common stock as part of a new partnership that will see the two companies jointly create multiple generations of custom system‑on‑chip products for both PCs and data‑center workloads. Intel will build x86 SoCs that integrate Nvidia RTX GPU chiplets, while the firms will also combine their interconnect technologies such as Nvidia’s NVLink. The collaboration is intended to strengthen both companies against rivals like AMD and to broaden Nvidia’s AI and accelerated‑computing reach. The announcement coincided with a U.S. government stake in Intel and a SoftBank investment, sending Intel’s shares sharply higher. Read more →