The Briefing by Martin Peers, Jessica Lessin and the team at The Information

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The Briefing

By Martin Peers, Jessica Lessin and the team at The Information

Get smarter about the day’s news in tech, media and finance by following Silicon Valley’s most-read executive newsletter.

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Recent Editions

Rohit Prasad. Photo by Getty

How Amazon Built a Key AI Team

By Theo Wayt · Jul 10, 2024 8:17am PDT · 1 comment

The Amazon division that’s spearheading many of its most ambitious artificial intelligence efforts is made up almost entirely of executives and staff who were shifted from Amazon’s Alexa team, plus several dozen recent hires from the startup Adept, The Information’s updated Amazon Org Chart shows. The artificial general... The Amazon division that’s spearheading many of its most ambitious artificial intelligence...

Jonathan Ross, CEO of Groq. Photo by Getty

Groq, an Nvidia Rival, Nears $2.2 Billion-Valuation BlackRock Deal; Musk’s Mystery Company Revealed

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Stephanie Palazzolo · Jul 10, 2024 7:25am PDT

The startups developing specialized artificial intelligence chips face some heady challenges—most obviously that they’re taking on entrenched giant Nvidia. One challenge they don’t face, though, is a lack of funding. Groq, a startup that develops chips that are specially designed to run large language models, expects to finalize a... The startups developing specialized artificial intelligence chips face some heady challenges—most...

Art by Clark Miller.

Temu Breaks With Direct-From-China Strategy In Threat to Amazon

By Jing Yang · Jul 10, 2024 6:00am PDT

Chinese bargain site Temu has been a big hit with American shoppers in the past year or two, drawing increasing scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers over its approach to importing goods and attention from rival Amazon. Now, Temu is changing tack, encroaching more on Amazon’s turf. Instead of only shipping items from Chinese factories directly to... Chinese bargain site Temu has been a big hit with American shoppers in the past year or two,...

Photos by Getty

Oracle Loses Out to Musk’s Impatience

By Martin Peers · Jul 9, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Photos by Getty

Oracle Loses Out to Musk’s Impatience

By Martin Peers · Jul 9, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Elon Musk appears to be a firm believer in the saying “If you want something done right, do it yourself.” He signaled that today in a post on X, as he confirmed our scoop that his artificial intelligence startup, xAI, had decided to build its own AI data center rather than getting Oracle to do it.Musk explained, “When our fate depends on being... Elon Musk appears to be a firm believer in the saying “If you want something done right, do it...

Marc Andreessen. Photo by Getty

Sequoia, Andreessen at Odds Over Chip Shortage

By Kate Clark · Jul 9, 2024 3:05pm PDT · 2 comments

The two most influential venture capital firms, Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, have very different perspectives on demand for the most important resource for artificial intelligence companies: graphics processing units. Andresseen Horowitz is stockpiling them and renting them to startups, I reported this morning, which suggests... The two most influential venture capital firms, Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, have...

Jimmy Donaldson, the YouTuber better known as MrBeast. Photo by Getty

Creator Economy

MrBeast’s $100 Million Amazon Deal Is an Outlier

By Kaya Yurieff · Jul 9, 2024 2:55pm PDT

MrBeast’s $100 million deal with Amazon Prime Video for an upcoming reality competition series will test whether creator-led shows on streaming services, especially with content geared toward older viewers, can draw the same massive audiences as they do online. Kids shows that originated on YouTube, such as Cocomelon, are the clearest... MrBeast’s $100 million deal with Amazon Prime Video for an upcoming reality competition series...

Art by Clark Miller

Musk’s xAI and Oracle End Talks on a Server Deal

By Anissa Gardizy · Jul 9, 2024 10:00am PDT · 2 comments

Larry Ellison may be a friend and backer of Elon Musk, but even the Oracle executive chair isn’t immune from Musk’s impatience. Musk’s xAI and Oracle have ended talks to expand an existing arrangement under which xAI rents specialized Nvidia AI chips from the tech giant. Instead, xAI is buying chips to build a data center on... Larry Ellison may be a friend and backer of Elon Musk, but even the Oracle executive chair...

Volley co-founders Max Child and James Wilsterman. Photo courtesy of Volley.

Startup Volley Raises $55 Million to Create Voice-Powered AI Games

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jul 9, 2024 7:00am PDT

Volley co-founders Max Child and James Wilsterman. Photo courtesy of Volley.

Startup Volley Raises $55 Million to Create Voice-Powered AI Games

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jul 9, 2024 7:00am PDT

If you’ve ever wanted to play “Jeopardy” with Scarlett Johansson, you might soon get your chance.Volley, a startup that develops AI-powered games that you can play by giving voice commands to your Amazon Alexa, Fire TV or Roku TV, has raised $55 million in Series C funding. The round is led by Microsoft’s M12 Ventures and Lightspeed Venture... If you’ve ever wanted to play “Jeopardy” with Scarlett Johansson, you might soon get your chance....

Ben Horowitz, left, and Marc Andreessen. Photos by Getty

Andreessen Horowitz Is Building a Stash of More Than 20,000 GPUs to Win AI Deals

By Kate Clark · Jul 9, 2024 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

Andreessen Horowitz, one of the most active venture capital investors in generative artificial intelligence, has added a new tool to its arsenal for winning deals in hot AI startups. The firm has secured thousands of AI chips, including Nvidia H100 graphics processing units, and is renting them to portfolio companies, according to a person who... Andreessen Horowitz, one of the most active venture capital investors in generative artificial...

David Ellison. Photo by Getty.

How the Ellisons Are Ending the Redstone Family’s Value-Destroying Paramount Era

By Martin Peers · Jul 8, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Larry Ellison is having quite the summer. First Oracle scores a deal with OpenAI and Microsoft to help handle OpenAI’s workloads. And now Ellison’s son, David, has struck a deal to buy Paramount Global, owner of CBS and Paramount Pictures, a purchase the elder Ellison is partly financing. Larry Ellison’s Hollywood footprint is growing.David... Larry Ellison is having quite the summer. First Oracle scores a deal with OpenAI and Microsoft to...

Alexandr Wang, co-founder and CEO of Scale AI. Photo by Getty

The Fuzzy Math Behind Scale AI’s Valuation

By Cory Weinberg · Jul 8, 2024 9:01am PDT · 14 comments

Scale AI’s 27-year-old CEO, Alexandr Wang, used to compete in national high school math competitions. His latest math-related victory may have been convincing investors in Silicon Valley to stretch his own company’s numbers. The startup’s $13.8 billion valuation, from a billion-dollar round it raised in May, is almost certainly... Scale AI’s 27-year-old CEO, Alexandr Wang, used to compete in national high school math...

Singapore, Artificial Intelligence and Growth Opportunities in Asia

By The Information Partnerships · Jul 8, 2024 8:05am PDT

Partner Content

Singapore, Artificial Intelligence and Growth Opportunities in Asia

By The Information Partnerships · Jul 8, 2024 8:05am PDT

What’s the next hot area for global tech growth? Amir Efrati, executive editor of The Information, along with Heng Tong Choo, executive vice president of the Singapore Economic Development Board, and Jared Koh, regional director of the EDB, recently invited 12 founders and tech executives to discuss the question. Over dinner at San... What’s the next hot area for global tech growth? Amir Efrati, executive editor of The...

Art by Mike Sullivan via Midjourney

Venture’s Big Bet on Open-Source LLMs

By Julia Hornstein · Jul 8, 2024 7:15am PDT

One constant over the last year has been how much money large language models makers such as OpenAI and Anthropic need for their development work—and how eager venture investors are to fund them. Last week we published this report showing that a cluster of venture firms are responsible for many of those bets, even as doubts simmer over whether... One constant over the last year has been how much money large language models makers such as ...

Art by Mike Sullivan

OpenAI’s China Ban Doesn’t Apply to Microsoft’s Azure China

By Qianer Liu and Juro Osawa · Jul 8, 2024 6:00am PDT

OpenAI last month announced plans to crack down on China-based artificial intelligence developers covertly accessing the startup’s technology, which it doesn’t offer in China. But OpenAI’s conversational AI models are available to Chinese businesses—if they sign up for Microsoft’s Azure cloud service, which operates... OpenAI last month announced plans to crack down on China-based artificial intelligence developers...

Photo: Courtesy Sila Nanotechnologies

The Electric: Seven EV Makers Prepare to Use the First Silicon-Powered Batteries

By Steve LeVine · Jul 8, 2024 4:30am PDT

Amid a race to boost sales and compete with China, at least seven major electric vehicle and battery makers plan to deploy high-silicon battery electrodes in the coming two or so years, a move that would vastly increase the cars’ driving range and how fast they can recharge. Amid a race to boost sales and compete with China, at least seven major electric vehicle and...

Art by Clark Miller

Palantir and the Prime Minister

By Abram Brown · Jul 6, 2024 7:00am PDT

Art by Clark Miller

Palantir and the Prime Minister

By Abram Brown · Jul 6, 2024 7:00am PDT

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:Where Sam Altman, Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook are going next week25 great TV shows and movies for summer 2024Plus: a jailhouse monster; how Juul caught fire; and a wonderland of Miyazaki-style magic.With the Fourth behind us, I suppose we’d all do best to grit our teeth and prepare ourselves for the slog... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:Where Sam Altman, Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook are going next...

Art by Clark Miller

25 Great Movies and TV Shows for Summer 2024

By Abram Brown · Jul 6, 2024 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

A couple years ago, Rembert Browne, a former journalist turned Twitter editorial director, received the type of phone call many former journalists dream about: Would he like to do some screenwriting? He very much did want to, so he blocked off chunks of time on his corporate calendar as unavailable—“I was not doing a lot of... A couple years ago, Rembert Browne, a former journalist turned Twitter editorial director,...

President Joe Biden. Photo via AP.

Biden’s Business Donors Are Caught in a Bind

By Cory Weinberg · Jul 5, 2024 2:30pm PDT

Another day, another barrage of stories about fretful Democratic donors, worried Democratic insiders and a defiant reelection campaign from President Joe Biden. If you’re a liberal Silicon Valley or Hollywood type with strong Biden allegiances and political proclivities, you may find yourself stuck between two playbooks used in business.One... Another day, another barrage of stories about fretful Democratic donors, worried Democratic...

Sun Valley, Tennis and Robots: Summer Adventure Preview

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jul 5, 2024 10:23am PDT · 1 comment

We hope you all had a wonderful Fourth of July. My how summer is flying by! Next week marks the start of Allen & Co.'s Sun Valley mogul-fest. And while, in many ways, the event is becoming less important to the tech conversation, I think this year will be interesting, as I lay out. Plus, Sam's very, very definitive guide to... We hope you all had a wonderful Fourth of July. My how summer is flying by! Next week marks...

Art by Clark Miller

Fear and Longing in Sun Valley

By Nick Wingfield · Jul 5, 2024 9:00am PDT · 1 comment

Art by Clark Miller

Fear and Longing in Sun Valley

By Nick Wingfield · Jul 5, 2024 9:00am PDT · 1 comment

The summer gatherings of the alphas are upon us. This weekend, the annual running of the bulls will commence in Pamplona, Spain. And a couple days later, the media, tech and finance moguls of the world will begin descending in their private jets on Sun Valley, Idaho, for the annual confab hosted by Allen & Co., boutique investment bank. ... The summer gatherings of the alphas are upon us. This weekend, the annual running of the bulls...