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

Judgment Labs cofounders (from left to right): Chief Scientist Andrew Li, CEO Alex Shan and CTO Joseph Camyre. Photo courtesy of Judgment Labs.

Why Lightspeed Backed This Agent Evaluation Startup’s Back-to-Back Rounds

By Stephanie Palazzolo · May 12, 2026 7:00am PDT

Alex Shan may not have been old enough to legally buy alcohol in 2023, but he was still old enough to start his own company and join the AI boom.Shan was 20 when he was first introduced to James Alcorn, an investment partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, through a fellow Stanford University classmate. Shan, who started college at 16, had... Alex Shan may not have been old enough to legally buy alcohol in 2023, but he was still old...

OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, left, and Cerebras CEO, Andrew Feldman. Photos via Getty Images

OpenAI Is Making Billions Just by Promising to Buy From Suppliers

By Cory Weinberg · May 12, 2026 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Chipmaker Cerebras brought in one of the greatest pitchmen in tech, Sam Altman, to appear in a video to promote its $5.5 billion initial public offering. Seated on a gray upholstered couch and speaking softly, the OpenAI chief executive touted Cerebras’ chips as “the best high-speed inference offering in the world right now.” Altman has a strong... Chipmaker Cerebras brought in one of the greatest pitchmen in tech, Sam Altman, to appear in a...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo by Getty.

OpenAI to Save $97 Billion Through 2030 in Latest Microsoft Deal

By Sri Muppidi and Aaron Holmes · May 11, 2026 6:09pm PDT · 2 comments

OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar has plenty of things to worry about. But paying OpenAI’s early backer Microsoft as much as $135 billion through 2030 as part of a revenue-sharing deal is no longer one of them. OpenAI’s initial agreement to pay 20% of its revenue to Microsoft could have amounted to that much if the ChatGPT maker ended... OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar has plenty of things to worry about. But paying OpenAI...

Eran Zinman, co-CEO of Monday.com. Screenshot via YouTube/SaaStr AI.

Monday.com’s AI Hiring Lesson; BuzzFeed’s Rescue

By Martin Peers · May 11, 2026 5:00pm PDT

Eran Zinman, co-CEO of Monday.com. Screenshot via YouTube/SaaStr AI.

Monday.com’s AI Hiring Lesson; BuzzFeed’s Rescue

By Martin Peers · May 11, 2026 5:00pm PDT

Digital media historians will be intrigued by news this afternoon that media mogul Byron Allen is buying control of once-important media outlet BuzzFeed. For more on this unusual deal, see below. Meanwhile... if you’re using mass layoffs as an indicator for AI’s impact on the job market, you may be looking in the wrong place. It might be smarter... Digital media historians will be intrigued by news this afternoon that media mogul Byron Allen is...

Partner Content

Capital, Not Compute, is the Real AI Bottleneck

By The Information Partnerships · May 11, 2026 9:19am PDT

Satisfying AI’s ravenous appetite for power and compute has kicked off a once-in-a-generation infrastructure expansion that is also one of the most expensive in modern history. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has estimated a single gigawatt of capacity can cost as much as $50 billion. With McKinsey projecting data center demand could reach 156 GW by... Satisfying AI’s ravenous appetite for power and compute has kicked off a once-in-a-generation...

A CATL battery swapping station in Ningde, China. Photo: Steve LeVine

The Electric: China's Biggest Battery Maker Is Quickly Expanding Its Rental Business

By Steve LeVine · May 11, 2026 9:00am PDT

As they attempt to lower the cost of their electric vehicles, major Western automakers have mostly struggled with a single component: the battery, which can be up to 40% of an EV’s cost. As they attempt to lower the cost of their electric vehicles, major Western automakers have ...

Employees at Xylem, a water testing and monitoring provider. Photo: Xylem.

AI Infrastructure

Water Use Isn’t a Data Center Problem, It’s an AI Problem

By Ann Davis Vaughan · May 11, 2026 8:00am PDT

Critics of the AI build-out are picking the wrong fight when they attack data centers for their water use. But they are right when they say the digital economy is getting thirstier and the tech industry should answer for it.The whole AI supply chain is water intensive, and reducing use in one place can increase it elsewhere. New research shows... Critics of the AI build-out are picking the wrong fight when they attack data centers for their...

Art via Getty Images

The Startup Helping OpenAI Optimize Its AI For Cerebras Chips

By Stephanie Palazzolo · May 11, 2026 7:30am PDT

Art via Getty Images

The Startup Helping OpenAI Optimize Its AI For Cerebras Chips

By Stephanie Palazzolo · May 11, 2026 7:30am PDT

As access to Nvidia AI chips become more elusive, major developers such OpenAI and Meta Platforms are diversifying their sources of computing power, including by striking deals to use a variety of AI server chips. But making that approach work is not a cinch. The AI labs need to tailor the code that trains and runs their models to each type of... As access to Nvidia AI chips become more elusive, major developers such OpenAI and Meta Platforms...

Photo by VCG/ Getty Images

China’s Kuaishou Plans to Spin Off Kling AI Video Unit at $20 Billion Valuation

By Jing Yang and Juro Osawa · May 11, 2026 4:44am PDT

Chinese social media giant Kuaishou Technology is planning to spin off its Kling AI video business ahead of an initial public offering next year, in an attempt to capitalize on investors’ appetite for AI stocks, according to two people with knowledge of the plans. Kuaishou has held talks with potential investors for a pre-IPO funding round that... Chinese social media giant Kuaishou Technology is planning to spin off its Kling AI video...

Andrew Feldman, CEO of Cerebras Systems. Art by Clark Miller; YouTube.

Cerebras IPO Will Test Investor Appetite for AI Chip Startups

By Martin Peers · May 10, 2026 3:00pm PDT

How many AI chip designers can the public market support? We’ll get a sense of that on Thursday when Cerebras Systems, the biggest of a new generation of chip designers dedicated to AI, is expected to go public at a valuation of $35 billion. If it follows the pattern of other AI-related IPOs, such as cloud firm CoreWeave, Cerebras will be a big... How many AI chip designers can the public market support? We’ll get a sense of that on Thursday...

Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images.

Sunday Insights

Tech’s AI Margin Math Is Getting Messier

By Meredith Mazzilli and Shane Burke · May 10, 2026 8:01am PDT · 3 comments

Tech companies from Spotify to Uber to Airbnb told investors on their March-quarter earnings calls that AI was making their workers more productive, allowing them to ship more code and handle more customers with the same or fewer employees. Many companies are seeing profit margin improvement as AI is helping them do more while holding their... Tech companies from Spotify to Uber to Airbnb told investors on their March-quarter earnings...

Art: Clark Miller (Photos: Getty Images)

AI Finds Necessity in Frenemies

By Abram Brown · May 9, 2026 8:00am PDT

Art: Clark Miller (Photos: Getty Images)

AI Finds Necessity in Frenemies

By Abram Brown · May 9, 2026 8:00am PDT

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• Tech Culture: Billionaire tax brings new boom time to Tahoe haven• Plus, Recommendations—our weekly pop culture picks: “The Interview: What Does Tucker Carlson Really Believe? I Went to Maine to Find Out,” “Hated by All the Right People,” and “Widow’s Bay”A very old proverb comes to mind when I think... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• Tech Culture: Billionaire tax brings new boom time to...

Art: Clark Miller; Slim Aarons, Getty Images

Billionaire Tax Refugees Flock to Ritzy Nevada Lake Town

By Eli Rosenberg · May 9, 2026 7:00am PDT · 8 comments

Naveen Rao, a longtime California resident, ascended to a rarefied tier of wealth last year when his startup, Unconventional AI, was valued at $4.5 billion. The company is based in Palo Alto, but with the specter of a new tax on billionaires looming over the state, Rao began considering other places to live. Last month, he found one: a... Naveen Rao, a longtime California resident, ascended to a rarefied tier of wealth last year when...

Photo of Elon Musk by Getty Images; art by Mike Sullivan.

Cursor Staff Meet With xAI Employees as Layoffs, Exits Mount

By Theo Wayt, Laura Bratton and Erin Woo · May 8, 2026 2:04pm PDT · 5 comments

Cursor is already starting to make its presence known at SpaceX’s AI unit, just weeks after Elon Musk’s firm got an option to buy the coding startup for $60 billion. Cursor staffers have been visiting xAI offices to meet with employees and discuss their work, according to two people with direct knowledge of the companies. Fresh xAI exits have... Cursor is already starting to make its presence known at SpaceX’s AI unit, just weeks after Elon...

Corning CEO Wendell Week. Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/ Getty Images

Corning’s Stock Rally Risks Outpacing Reality

By Anita Ramaswamy · May 8, 2026 6:00am PDT

Shares of iconic glassmaker Corning Inc. have doubled so far this year to their highest price ever, thanks to surging demand for Corning’s fiber optic cables that connect servers and AI data centers to one another. A partnership Corning announced with Nvidia this week gave the stock another lift. But Corning’s current deluxe valuation, which is... Shares of iconic glassmaker Corning Inc. have doubled so far this year to their highest price...

DeepSeek To Raise More than $7 Billion as Startup Plots Revenue Efforts

By The Information Staff · May 8, 2026 4:40am PDT

DeepSeek To Raise More than $7 Billion as Startup Plots Revenue Efforts

By The Information Staff · May 8, 2026 4:40am PDT

Liang Wenfeng, billionaire founder and CEO of DeepSeek, is planning to write the biggest check for the startup’s first-ever funding round, which the company now hopes will raise up to 50 billion yuan ($7.35 billion), according to two people with direct knowledge of the talks. That would make it the biggest funding round by a Chinese AI company... Liang Wenfeng, billionaire founder and CEO of DeepSeek, is planning to write the biggest check...

Art by Clark Miller.

The Problem With Fast Follows

By Katie Roof · May 7, 2026 5:35pm PDT

How soon is too soon to raise a new funding round?I’ve been covering venture capital long enough (more than a decade!) to remember that the hottest startups used to raise financing every 12-18 months. Then it was 9-12 months. Then 6-9 months. And now…two months? Two weeks? Recently, a wave of both early and late stage startups have been... How soon is too soon to raise a new funding round?I’ve been covering venture capital long enough...

Coreweave CEO Michael Intrator. Getty Images.

CoreWeave’s Balancing Act

By Martin Peers · May 7, 2026 5:00pm PDT

If you’re getting dizzy watching CoreWeave’s balancing act, you’re not alone. The AI cloud startup reported first-quarter numbers Thursday evening showing that its business is ramping up quickly—revenue doubled in the quarter to $2 billion compared to the year-earlier period—but its investment spending and operating expenses are also taking off.... If you’re getting dizzy watching CoreWeave’s balancing act, you’re not alone. The AI cloud...

Jerry Tworek. Screenshot via YouTube.

Ex-OpenAI Researcher’s Six-Week-Old Startup Targets Funding at $4 Billion Valuation

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Julia Hornstein · May 7, 2026 4:33pm PDT · 4 comments

Nvidia’s investment spree in startups that use its AI chips has stoked traditional venture capital firms’ interest in those companies. That has paved the way for brand-new startups taking on Anthropic and OpenAI to raise back-to-back funding rounds, sometimes in a matter of weeks. In the latest example, Core Automation, an AI model developer ... Nvidia’s investment spree in startups that use its AI chips has stoked traditional venture...

Photo via Allen Control Systems.

Anti-Drone AI Startup in Talks for $2 Billion Valuation

By Julia Hornstein · May 7, 2026 12:32pm PDT · 1 comment

Photo via Allen Control Systems.

Anti-Drone AI Startup in Talks for $2 Billion Valuation

By Julia Hornstein · May 7, 2026 12:32pm PDT · 1 comment

Allen Control Systems, a four-year-old startup building an autonomous weapons station that can shoot down drones, is aiming to raise new funding at a valuation of $2 billion before the investment, according to two people with knowledge of the efforts. The startup is targeting a round size of roughly $200 million, the people said. The company’s... Allen Control Systems, a four-year-old startup building an autonomous weapons station that can...