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

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Chinese EV Battery Giant CATL Plans to Invest in DeepSeek

By Juro Osawa and Qianer Liu · May 22, 2026 4:56am PDT

Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology, better known as CATL, is planning to invest in Chinese AI developer DeepSeek’s fundraising, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. CATL’s planned investment comes as it is aggressively stepping up its efforts to sell power equipment to AI data centers. DeepSeek’s... Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology, better known as CATL, is planning to...

Elon Musk and Sam Altman in 2015.

A Trio of Trillion Dollar IPOs

By Katie Roof · May 21, 2026 5:17pm PDT · 4 comments

On Wednesday, right before SpaceX dropped its long-awaited S-1, the company led by Musk adversary Sam Altman had some IPO news of its own: OpenAI was planning to file its IPO prospectus within weeks. The news not only took some of the spotlight away from SpaceX’s upcoming public debut, but also that of Altman’s other rival, Anthropic. ... On Wednesday, right before SpaceX dropped its long-awaited S-1, the company led by Musk adversary...

SpaceX's new Starship V3 rocket docked on May 21 in South Padre Island, Texas. Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty.

Why SpaceX is Worth $700 Billion, Not $1.75 Trillion

By Martin Peers · May 21, 2026 5:01pm PDT · 9 comments

If SpaceX pulls off what is widely described in the news media as the “largest IPO in history” next month, it will be a testament to Elon Musk’s skills as a salesman. The company’s newly public IPO prospectus makes it plain that SpaceX is largely a telecom firm with a rocket launch business on the side, with future growth coming from a cloud... If SpaceX pulls off what is widely described in the news media as the “largest IPO in history”...

Art by Clark Miller.

Venture Capital Reshuffle Looms As IPO Drought Ends

By The Information Staff · May 21, 2026 12:44pm PDT

Art by Clark Miller.

Venture Capital Reshuffle Looms As IPO Drought Ends

By The Information Staff · May 21, 2026 12:44pm PDT

A potential cluster of mega-listings by SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic this year could cement the dominance of venture firms that managed to get into the most important private companies of the last decade. For years, venture investing has been defined by a lack of cash returns. Startups stayed private longer, initial public offerings slowed, and... A potential cluster of mega-listings by SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic this year could cement the...

Art via Shutterstock

AI Customers Negotiate a SaaS Escape Hatch

By Laura Bratton and Aaron Holmes · May 21, 2026 11:47am PDT

Businesses used to feel locked in to their enterprise software providers, but some now say they can cut and run if they need to.Companies such as insurer National Life Group, for instance, have negotiated “opt out” provisions that let them exit their software contracts or reduce their subscriptions, even in the middle of a contract term, if the... Businesses used to feel locked in to their enterprise software providers, but some now say they...

OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images.

OpenAI Generated Nearly $6 Billion in Revenue in First Quarter, Boosted by Codex

By Sri Muppidi · May 21, 2026 11:26am PDT · 6 comments

OpenAI generated about $5.7 billion in revenue in the first quarter, nearly $1 billion more than archrival Anthropic generated in the same period, according to two people with knowledge of the financials. OpenAI’s coding agent Codex, along with growth from selling to businesses and testing ads on ChatGPT, helped drive first-quarter growth,... OpenAI generated about $5.7 billion in revenue in the first quarter, nearly $1 billion more than...

An AI data center under construction in Michigan for Oracle and OpenAI. Photo: Jim West/UCG/Universal/Getty

Exclusive From The Electric: AI Data Center Demand Could Finally Spur a Battery Boom

By Steve LeVine · May 21, 2026 9:00am PDT · 1 comment

Western battery makers, which have scaled back plans for new factories amid tepid consumer demand for electric vehicles, have found a smaller but much needed stream of income from their ability to quickly deploy backup power for AI data centers. Western battery makers, which have scaled back plans for new factories amid tepid consumer demand...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Cursor Sees Opening as GitHub Flounders

By Rocket Drew · May 21, 2026 7:10am PDT · 1 comment

Art by Mike Sullivan

Cursor Sees Opening as GitHub Flounders

By Rocket Drew · May 21, 2026 7:10am PDT · 1 comment

Microsoft's GitHub unit has been on the defensive lately. Amid a series of outages and other snags, Jay Parikh, who oversees the software-project management platform, recently warned deputies that coding tools from Cursor and Anthropic could eventually make GitHub obsolete, my colleague Aaron wrote this week.Parikh was right to be worried.... Microsoft's GitHub unit has been on the defensive lately. Amid a series of outages and other...

Getty Imags.

Anthropic Is in Talks to Use Microsoft’s AI Chips

By Aaron Holmes and Qianer Liu · May 21, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Anthropic is in talks to rent servers powered by Microsoft-designed AI server chips as it seeks more computing power to meet rising demand for its AI, according to two people who spoke to executives involved in the discussion. Winning Anthropic as a customer would be a coup for Microsoft, whose in-house chip design effort ran into delays last... Anthropic is in talks to rent servers powered by Microsoft-designed AI server chips as it seeks...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Ian Maule/Bloomberg/Getty.

Nvidia’s Blowout and SpaceX’s Blue Sky Ambitions

By Martin Peers · May 20, 2026 5:00pm PDT

Nvidia, wow. The AI chip giant did it again, delivering better than projected 85% revenue growth for its April quarter, the first in its 2027 fiscal year. Even better, Nvidia forecast 95% growth for the second quarter. Its fiscal 2027 is shaping up to be a firecracker, with sharply faster growth than last year’s still-stellar 66% rate of... Nvidia, wow. The AI chip giant did it again, delivering better than projected 85% revenue growth...

Photo by Ethan Swope/Getty Images.

The 7 Biggest Reveals in SpaceX’s IPO Filing

By Cory Weinberg and Theo Wayt · May 20, 2026 3:38pm PDT · 1 comment

SpaceX’s long-awaited public offering paperwork revealed fresh details about its unlikely partnership with Anthropic that are representative of the overall IPO story for Elon Musk’s company: Enormous potential, with risks everywhere. The company said Anthropic agreed to pay SpaceX $1.25 billion per month to rent capacity from both of its... SpaceX’s long-awaited public offering paperwork revealed fresh details about its unlikely...

Photo of Donald Trump via Getty Images. Art by Mike Sullivan

White House Briefs AI Companies on Plan to Review Models Before Release

By Leo Schwartz and Stephanie Palazzolo · May 20, 2026 12:06pm PDT · 2 comments

Photo of Donald Trump via Getty Images. Art by Mike Sullivan

White House Briefs AI Companies on Plan to Review Models Before Release

By Leo Schwartz and Stephanie Palazzolo · May 20, 2026 12:06pm PDT · 2 comments

The White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director hosted a briefing Tuesday for companies including OpenAI, Anthropic and Reflection AI on a planned executive order on AI that will empower intelligence and other government agencies to review advanced models before the models are released, according to people familiar with the matter. ... The White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director hosted a briefing Tuesday for companies...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

The Information Finance

Fintech Lenders are Still Learning the Hard Way

By Ann Gehan · May 20, 2026 9:41am PDT

The recent bankruptcy of Parker, a corporate card startup that catered to e-commerce customers, is a good reminder that lending is one of the toughest ways to make money in fintech. Parker had been among the dwindling number of standalone, tech-heavy lenders geared toward small businesses that first sprung up during the fintech funding... The recent bankruptcy of Parker, a corporate card startup that catered to e-commerce customers,...

As Anthropic Costs Mount, Businesses Pressure Software Firms to Shorten Contracts

By Laura Bratton · May 20, 2026 9:00am PDT · 3 comments

Businesses are spending more on Anthropic and other AI providers, and the additional budget has to come from somewhere. One natural target for cuts is other software. While businesses aren’t abandoning their enterprise applications outright, they’re putting themselves in a better position to do so if AI makes traditional apps less important. For... Businesses are spending more on Anthropic and other AI providers, and the additional budget has...

Google CEO Sundar Pichai on stage at Google I/O. Photo courtesy of Google.

Google Pitches Its AI Coding Tools as the Cost-Effective Option

By Erin Woo · May 20, 2026 7:00am PDT

Google came into its flagship developer conference, Google I/O, on Tuesday with a big question to answer: Does it have a counter to Anthropic’s dominance in coding?The takeaway, after a sweltering day in Mountain View, Calif.: Google wants to redefine the competition. Google didn’t release a new “pro” version of its flagship model, Gemini, to... Google came into its flagship developer conference, Google I/O, on Tuesday with a big question to...

SpaceX's rocket Starship makes a test flight last October. Photo by AP Photo/Eric Gay.

Starship Launch and IPO Filing Mark Critical Week for SpaceX

By Cory Weinberg, Theo Wayt and Valida Pau · May 20, 2026 5:19am PDT

SpaceX's rocket Starship makes a test flight last October. Photo by AP Photo/Eric Gay.

Starship Launch and IPO Filing Mark Critical Week for SpaceX

By Cory Weinberg, Theo Wayt and Valida Pau · May 20, 2026 5:19am PDT

SpaceX’s draft prospectus, which could become public as soon as later on Wednesday, has prominently positioned a photograph of its Starship rocket, in the very early stages of liftoff, with bright orange flames emerging from its engines and smoke plumes underneath. The photo underlines how the 400-foot-tall rocket is the most significant piece... SpaceX’s draft prospectus, which could become public as soon as later on Wednesday, has...

Guests during Cerebras Systems IPO at Nasdaq MarketSite May 14.

Investors Fall Back in Love With IPOs

By Valida Pau · May 19, 2026 5:30pm PDT

For the past two days, I’ve been at JP Morgan’s annual tech conference in Boston. As usual, AI has dominated most of my conversations with investors. But in a change from the past few months, it’s not Anthropic and OpenAI driving those discussions—but hardware and utility companies a few steps removed from what the AI model makers do.On Monday,... For the past two days, I’ve been at JP Morgan’s annual tech conference in Boston. As usual, AI...

Liz Reid, VP and head of search at Google, at Google I/O today. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty.

Google’s AI Search Leap Forward

By Martin Peers · May 19, 2026 5:00pm PDT

If you pay attention to one thing in AI this week, it should be Google’s I/O presentation on Tuesday. The tech giant unveiled a bunch of AI tools, most significantly the addition of new AI features such as agents to Google Search. Any distinction that existed between Google’s Gemini AI chatbot and its search bar is disappearing.No longer should... If you pay attention to one thing in AI this week, it should be Google’s I/O presentation on...

5 Charts That Make Sense of SpaceX’s IPO Numbers

By Cory Weinberg and Valida Pau · May 19, 2026 2:08pm PDT · 1 comment

SpaceX’s initial public offering prospectus will read like a kaleidoscope when it’s unveiled publicly in the coming days. There will be a dazzling mixture of storylines and figures that show huge financial losses, exciting promises, impressive growth and unmet expectations. Information in the prospectus will help investors knit together parts of... SpaceX’s initial public offering prospectus will read like a kaleidoscope when it’s unveiled...

SpaceX IPO Could Return More Than $60 Billion Each for Founders Fund, Valor

By Katie Roof · May 19, 2026 10:59am PDT

SpaceX IPO Could Return More Than $60 Billion Each for Founders Fund, Valor

By Katie Roof · May 19, 2026 10:59am PDT

SpaceX’s initial public offering, expected to be the largest in history, is also set to yield the largest venture returns ever at the time of the IPO. Among those set to win big are Founders Fund, Valor Equity Partners and Sequoia Capital. Valor Equity Partners, whose founder Antonio Gracias is on the SpaceX board and has backed several of Musk’... SpaceX’s initial public offering, expected to be the largest in history, is also set to yield the...