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

How Microsoft, Meta, xAI Get AI Training Data From Their Employees

How Microsoft, Meta, xAI Get AI Training Data From Their Employees

By Aaron Holmes and Jyoti Mann · May 19, 2026 10:30am PDT

Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot may have lost much of its early lead in the AI coding race to rivals like Anthropic and Cursor, but Microsoft thinks it has an advantage over those companies: roughly 100,000 software engineers who work for Microsoft. As we reported Monday, Microsoft leaders think they can develop coding models using the wealth of... Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot may have lost much of its early lead in the AI coding race to rivals...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Is the Gap Widening Between Anthropic and Open-Source Models?

By Stephanie Palazzolo · May 19, 2026 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Some developers have told me that the rising costs of frontier AI models from Anthropic and other firms could prompt them to shift to cheaper open-source AI. After all, when companies as sophisticated as Uber are accidentally blowing through their entire year’s AI budget in a matter of months, it makes sense to cut back by using a less capable... Some developers have told me that the rising costs of frontier AI models from Anthropic and other...

A Trainium3 UltraServer at an AWS QA lab in Austin. Photo by Mark Felix / Getty Images.

Amazon’s Nvidia Alternative Starts Winning Over AI Developers

By Catherine Perloff · May 19, 2026 6:00am PDT

Amazon’s yearslong effort to build a serious alternative to Nvidia’s dominant AI chips is starting to gain traction. Anthropic and OpenAI, which have struck multibillion-dollar investment and infrastructure deals with Amazon, have already committed to renting large amounts of current and future Trainium capacity. Now, recent software... Amazon’s yearslong effort to build a serious alternative to Nvidia’s dominant AI chips is...

Analog Devices CEO Vincent Roche. Photo by Getty.

Analog Devices in Talks to Buy AI Power Chip Startup for $1.5 Billion

By Valida Pau and Cory Weinberg · May 18, 2026 6:22pm PDT

Analog Devices CEO Vincent Roche. Photo by Getty.

Analog Devices in Talks to Buy AI Power Chip Startup for $1.5 Billion

By Valida Pau and Cory Weinberg · May 18, 2026 6:22pm PDT

Chipmaker Analog Devices is in advanced talks to buy startup Empower Semiconductor for about $1.5 billion, in a deal that reflects demand for technology that can manage the intense energy needs of AI chips, according to people familiar with the discussion. The acquisition of the 12-year-old startup would expand Analog Devices’ portfolio of chips... Chipmaker Analog Devices is in advanced talks to buy startup Empower Semiconductor for about $1.5...

Michael Gonzalez/AFP/Getty.

Musk Loses in Court; Uber Buys More of Delivery Hero

By Martin Peers · May 18, 2026 5:00pm PDT

Elon Musk’s big week isn’t starting out too well. Firstly, the all-important test launch of Starship got delayed by a day. Meanwhile, news broke that a worker died on Friday at SpaceX’s Starbase complex in Texas, where the rocket will launch. Separately, Musk on Monday lost the lawsuit against his fellow OpenAI founders, Sam Altman and Greg... Elon Musk’s big week isn’t starting out too well. Firstly, the all-important test launch of...

Photo by David Paul Morris/Getty Images

Artificial Intelligence

Musk Loses OpenAI Lawsuit in Victory for Altman

By Rocket Drew · May 18, 2026 12:04pm PDT · 7 comments

Jurors rejected Elon Musk’s claims against OpenAI, delivering a major victory to CEO Sam Altman in Silicon Valley’s biggest grudge match. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers agreed with the jury’s decision on Monday that Musk waited too long to bring his lawsuit. The decision came after just two hours of deliberation following three weeks of testimony... Jurors rejected Elon Musk’s claims against OpenAI, delivering a major victory to CEO Sam Altman...

The ‘Price is Right’ for GPUs: The Startup Turning Nvidia Chips Into ‘Boring’ Bankable Assets

AI Infrastructure

The ‘Price is Right’ for GPUs: The Startup Turning Nvidia Chips Into ‘Boring’ Bankable Assets

By Anissa Gardizy · May 18, 2026 10:18am PDT · 1 comment

Good morning, Anissa here!The AI boom requires an enormous amount of new power plants, chips and data centers. But it also requires something that’s less visible: new financial plumbing that makes it possible to lend against this costly hardware.Miami fintech startup Barkr is one of the firms building the pipes, specifically for valuing AI chips... Good morning, Anissa here!The AI boom requires an enormous amount of new power plants, chips and...

Musk at a banquet in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty

The Electric: Enduring Chinese Hero Worship for Musk Bolsters Sales of the Tesla Model Y

By Steve LeVine · May 18, 2026 9:00am PDT · 2 comments

Musk at a banquet in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty

The Electric: Enduring Chinese Hero Worship for Musk Bolsters Sales of the Tesla Model Y

By Steve LeVine · May 18, 2026 9:00am PDT · 2 comments

With their no-frills, spartan interiors, Tesla’s electric vehicles pale in comparison to plush Chinese-made models, which are typically replete with luxury and tech extras. And the technology that Tesla considers its singular distinguishing feature—its Full Self-Driving software—is heavily restricted in China. With their no-frills, spartan interiors, Tesla’s electric vehicles pale in comparison to plush...

Krishna Rangasayee. Photo By Shauna Clinton/ Getty Images

Edge Inference Chip Startup SiMa.ai Raising at $1.4 Billion Valuation

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Anissa Gardizy · May 18, 2026 7:00am PDT

Nvidia might be on a tear, but some investors are still convinced that there’s demand for another kind of specialized chips. And they’re putting their money where their mouth is. For example: San Jose, Calif.-based SiMa.ai, which develops chips that work on devices such as drones or cameras, is in talks with investors to raise more than... Nvidia might be on a tear, but some investors are still convinced that there’s demand for another...

Art via Mike Sullivan

Microsoft Executives Sound the Alarm Over GitHub’s Eroding AI Lead

By Aaron Holmes · May 18, 2026 6:00am PDT

No part of Microsoft better illustrates its predicament in AI than GitHub. The AI boom has boosted usage and revenue of the code repository as well as GitHub Copilot, an AI coding assistant. But GitHub has struggled to respond to new AI coding competitors that have since overtaken it. And the service has suffered from frequent and major outages,... No part of Microsoft better illustrates its predicament in AI than GitHub. The AI boom has...

Elon Musk attends a state banquet at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty.

SpaceX Launch, Google I/O Headline a Big News Week in Tech

By Martin Peers · May 17, 2026 3:00pm PDT

This should be an action-packed week in tech news, what with Nvidia’s first-quarter earnings, Google’s annual I/O developer conference and Meta Platforms’ scheduled layoffs of 8,000 employees. But it is Elon Musk who has the biggest week coming up.For one thing, the first test launch of SpaceX’s Starship in seven months is scheduled for Tuesday.... This should be an action-packed week in tech news, what with Nvidia’s first-quarter earnings,...

Anthropic and OpenAI’s Share of AI Startup Revenues Rises to 89%

By Amir Efrati and Stephanie Palazzolo · May 17, 2026 7:00am PDT · 5 comments

Sunday Insights

Anthropic and OpenAI’s Share of AI Startup Revenues Rises to 89%

By Amir Efrati and Stephanie Palazzolo · May 17, 2026 7:00am PDT · 5 comments

Anthropic and OpenAI are widening the revenue gap between themselves and the rest of the AI startup field. A group of 34 leading startups in that sector, including Anthropic and OpenAI, is generating nearly $80 billion in annualized revenue, or $6.6 billion per month, from selling AI applications or access to the models that power such apps,... Anthropic and OpenAI are widening the revenue gap between themselves and the rest of the AI...

Photo by Getty.

BlackRock Weighs Multibillion-Dollar Investment in SpaceX IPO

By Cory Weinberg · May 16, 2026 9:00am PDT · 1 comment

BlackRock has discussed investing $5 billion to $10 billion in SpaceX’s initial public offering next month, people familiar with the matter said. The massive order, for an offering that could raise as much as $75 billion, would represent a vote of confidence in Elon Musk’s company from the world’s largest asset manager. The investment would... BlackRock has discussed investing $5 billion to $10 billion in SpaceX’s initial public offering...

Art: Mike Sullivan

San Francisco’s Robo-Fight Club, General Catalyst’s Divisive Virality

By Julia Hornstein and Abram Brown · May 16, 2026 8:00am PDT

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Why Trump officials and VCs love a nuclear power startup’s brute-force approach• Biotech: The case of the disappearing embryo startups • Plus, Recommendations—our weekly pop culture picks: “Are We Doomed?” “Steve Jobs in Exile” and “Lord of the Flies” The legal slugfest between Elon... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Why Trump officials and VCs love a...

Art: Clark Miller

Silicon Valley Likes the Idea of Gene-Edited Embryos. It’ll Be a Wait

By Amy Dockser Marcus · May 16, 2026 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Two companies aiming to make better babies by tweaking the DNA of embryos were invited to talk about the future of the technology at SynBioBeta, a major gathering of the biotech world scheduled for earlier this month in San Jose, Calif. As the discussion’s moderator, I felt eager to hear more from them about their science and how they might... Two companies aiming to make better babies by tweaking the DNA of embryos were invited to talk...

Art by Clark Miller; YouTube

Why Trump Officials and VCs Love This Nuclear Power Startup’s Brute-Force Approach

By Jemima McEvoy · May 15, 2026 6:00am PDT · 17 comments

Art by Clark Miller; YouTube

Why Trump Officials and VCs Love This Nuclear Power Startup’s Brute-Force Approach

By Jemima McEvoy · May 15, 2026 6:00am PDT · 17 comments

On a cloudy day in late March, Isaiah Taylor, the 27-year-old founder and chief executive of Valar Atomics, a Hawthorne, Calif.–based nuclear energy startup, led me into a large black tent at the Utah San Rafael Energy Lab in the middle of the Utah desert. Dozens of construction workers and beeping forklifts buzzed around the nearly... On a cloudy day in late March, Isaiah Taylor, the 27-year-old founder and chief executive of...

Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Cerebras IPO Stock Pop; Apple-OpenAI Drama

By Martin Peers · May 14, 2026 5:00pm PDT

This was quite the day. OpenAI is jumping up and down about its unhappiness with Apple (it’s doubtful Tim Cook is shaking in his boots). Big telecom threw down the gauntlet to Elon Musk and Amazon (not that they should worry). We get to both news items lower down. But first…the AI trade on Wall Street is booming, as demonstrated by today's... This was quite the day. OpenAI is jumping up and down about its unhappiness with Apple (it’s...

Photo by Getty Images.

Cerebras Payday Includes Tiger—And SPVs

By Katie Roof and Julia Hornstein · May 14, 2026 4:20pm PDT

Earlier this morning we published exclusive returns on some of the biggest investors in AI chip designer Cerebras, whose shares surged in their first day of trading. The offering represents welcome cash for investors after they’ve seen initial public offerings get delayed year after year. Tiger Global Management, for instance, bought... Earlier this morning we published exclusive returns on some of the biggest investors in AI...

Art by Clark Miller.

Cerebras Shows IPO Market Will Pay Up for Messy AI Math

By The Information Staff · May 14, 2026 1:05pm PDT

Cerebras’ shares surged in their trading debut Thursday, showing that public investors are willing to look past unusual financial risks for companies tied to the AI infrastructure boom. That’s a striking reception for a company that does not look like the clean software listings investors used to love: Cerebras is an expensive... Cerebras’ shares surged in their trading debut Thursday, showing that public investors are...

Apple's Craig Federighi announces a ChatGPT integration on Apple devices at the company's developer conference in 2024. Screenshot via YouTube

OpenAI’s Apple Partnership Sours

By Aaron Tilley · May 14, 2026 12:39pm PDT · 2 comments

Apple's Craig Federighi announces a ChatGPT integration on Apple devices at the company's developer conference in 2024. Screenshot via YouTube

OpenAI’s Apple Partnership Sours

By Aaron Tilley · May 14, 2026 12:39pm PDT · 2 comments

OpenAI appears to be headed into conflict with another big name partner, Apple. The AI startup is considering legal action against Apple over breach of contract related to the ChatGPT integration deal it announced with Apple two years ago, said an OpenAI employee familiar with the matter. The AI company has been trying to improve its... OpenAI appears to be headed into conflict with another big name partner, Apple. The AI startup is...