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

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Recent Editions

Art via Getty Images

Cohesity CIO Shows How AI Can Eat Into Revenues of ServiceNow, Splunk

By Aaron Holmes · Mar 19, 2026 12:05pm PDT · 1 comment

The debate over whether AI might replace traditional enterprise apps such as Salesforce, ServiceNow, SAP, and Workday often ignores a more likely near-term scenario: that AI will stop some customers increasing their spending on those apps.Brian Spanswick, chief information officer at data security firm Cohesity, which generates more than $2... The debate over whether AI might replace traditional enterprise apps such as Salesforce,...

Anjney Midha. Art by Clark Miller, image via AMP

AI Infrastructure

Early Anthropic Investor Develops a ‘Grid’ for AI Servers

By Anissa Gardizy · Mar 19, 2026 10:54am PDT · 1 comment

Anjney Midha, the former Andreessen Horowitz general partner and early personal investor in Anthropic, is finally ready to talk about his highly anticipated AI infrastructure venture, for which he was trying to raise more than $10 billion, my colleague Katie has reported.Midha says the new firm, AMP, is creating a “grid for AI,” similar to how... Anjney Midha, the former Andreessen Horowitz general partner and early personal investor in...

Giga Energy cofounders Brent Whitehead and Matt Lohstroh. Photo courtesy of Giga.

Meet Giga, a AI Data Center Developer That Has Barely Raised Capital

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 19, 2026 7:00am PDT

Startups developing data centers to power AI are among the most capital-hungry businesses around right now. Many are raising billions of dollars in equity and debt to build complicated facilities.There are few like Houston-based Giga Energy, however. Founded in 2019 by two Texas A&M juniors studying finance and industrial distribution, Giga... Startups developing data centers to power AI are among the most capital-hungry businesses around...

Melanie Perkins, Canva co-founder and CEO. Alisha Jucevic/Getty Images.

Why Canva Was Smart to Hold Off on an IPO

By Anita Ramaswamy · Mar 19, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Melanie Perkins, Canva co-founder and CEO. Alisha Jucevic/Getty Images.

Why Canva Was Smart to Hold Off on an IPO

By Anita Ramaswamy · Mar 19, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

A couple of years ago, design software firm Canva was one of the hot startups to watch, on everyone’s list of IPO candidates. But it sat out last year’s IPO class and now finds itself in an awkward spot. Not only is software out of favor with investors, who fret about how AI will disrupt it, but giant offerings coming from SpaceX, OpenAI and... A couple of years ago, design software firm Canva was one of the hot startups to watch, on...

LGES's Spring Hill, Tenn. iron battery production plant. Photo: Courtesy LGES

The Electric: The U.S. is Challenging China's Dominance of Iron Batteries

By Steve LeVine · Mar 19, 2026 4:30am PDT

Until recently, Western car and battery companies seemed to agree that there was no point challenging China’s near-monopoly on the production of iron-based batteries, which power most electric vehicles and are the battery of choice in AI data centers. Until recently, Western car and battery companies seemed to agree that there was no point...

Fal AI Co-Founder Burkay Gur. Getty Images.

Video Hosting Startup Fal in Funding Talks at $8 Billion Valuation

By Katie Roof · Mar 18, 2026 9:52pm PDT · 1 comment

Fal, a fast-growing cloud service for accessing and storing AI models that generate images, video, and audio, is in talks to raise $300 million to $350 million, according to a person with direct knowledge of the fundraise. The deal, which would nearly double the company’s paper valuation to around $8 billion from a financing three months ago,... Fal, a fast-growing cloud service for accessing and storing AI models that generate images,...

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images.

Apple’s App Store Rules Are Stuck In Past

By Aaron Tilley · Mar 18, 2026 5:00pm PDT

It may be time for Apple to update the rules for its App Store. As we reported in this story today, app developers making apps that allow vibe coding—AI tools that let people without coding experience create apps easily—have run into delays getting their apps approved. Slowing down that process isn’t a good look for Apple, which has faced plenty... It may be time for Apple to update the rules for its App Store. As we reported in this story...

Art by Clark Miller

Inside Meta, a Rogue AI Agent Triggers Security Alert

By Jyoti Mann · Mar 18, 2026 2:31pm PDT

Art by Clark Miller

Inside Meta, a Rogue AI Agent Triggers Security Alert

By Jyoti Mann · Mar 18, 2026 2:31pm PDT

A rogue AI agent recently triggered a major security alert at Meta Platforms, by taking action without approval that led to the exposure of sensitive company and user data to Meta employees who didn’t have authorization to access the data. A Meta spokesperson confirmed the incident, while adding that “no user data was mishandled” as a result of... A rogue AI agent recently triggered a major security alert at Meta Platforms, by taking action...

Artwork by Clark Miller

The Buildout Behind AI Is Shaking Investor Confidence

By The Information Staff · Mar 18, 2026 1:05pm PDT · 1 comment

The buildout required to support next-generation AI is proving far more complex and expensive than many expected. The scramble to secure power and finance large-scale data centers is beginning to influence how investors evaluate the economics of the AI industry. We asked Deep Research to examine how these infrastructure demands are shaping Wall... The buildout required to support next-generation AI is proving far more complex and expensive...

Art by Clark Miller

Coinbase Dives Into AI Agent Payments

By Yueqi Yang · Mar 18, 2026 10:10am PDT

Crypto exchange Coinbase is moving fast to build the infrastructure that allows AI agents to make payments, seeking a lead in the nascent market that could become a battleground for payments firms. Coinbase and Zerohash, a crypto infrastructure startup, are among the companies vying to issue a new stablecoin for Cloudflare that is set to launch... Crypto exchange Coinbase is moving fast to build the infrastructure that allows AI agents to make...

Jensen Huang speaks during a keynote address at the Nvidia GTC. Photo by David Paul Morris/ Getty Images

Nvidia’s Build-A-Claw Workshop

By Rocket Drew · Mar 18, 2026 9:15am PDT

Nvidia’s developer conference has agent fever. On Tuesday, one of the most popular spots at the company’s GTC convention was Nvidia’s “Build-A-Claw” tent, where attendees could try out Nvidia’s newly unveiled NemoClaw, open-source software for creating AI agents based on the popular OpenClaw.Many of the people who stopped by the Build-A-Claw... Nvidia’s developer conference has agent fever. On Tuesday, one of the most popular spots at the...

Sheryl Sandberg, left, and Nick Clegg were named to the Nscale board last week. Photos by Getty

Nscale Crashes the Big Leagues of Data Center Developers

By Ken Brown · Mar 18, 2026 8:49am PDT · 1 comment

Sheryl Sandberg, left, and Nick Clegg were named to the Nscale board last week. Photos by Getty

The Information Finance

Nscale Crashes the Big Leagues of Data Center Developers

By Ken Brown · Mar 18, 2026 8:49am PDT · 1 comment

A year ago, CoreWeave looked like AI’s riskiest play. Then last fall, Oracle stepped in front. More recently, Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank, no stranger to big bets, has borrowed its way to the top.This week, though, a new company took the title as riskiest AI firm: Nscale, a company run by a former coal miner that appears to have been independent... A year ago, CoreWeave looked like AI’s riskiest play. Then last fall, Oracle stepped in front....

Art by Mike Sullivan

Apple Cracks Down on ‘Vibe Coding’ Apps

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Aaron Tilley · Mar 18, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Apple has quietly prevented AI vibe coding apps such as Replit and Vibecode, which help people create games and other applications, from releasing updates to their mobile apps on the App Store unless they make modifications, according to several people with knowledge of the situation. The company confirmed it has told some app developers that... Apple has quietly prevented AI vibe coding apps such as Replit and Vibecode, which help people...

Fidji Simo, CEO of Applications at OpenAI. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images Message Shane Burke

OpenAI, Musk and Focus

By Martin Peers · Mar 17, 2026 5:00pm PDT

OpenAI has decided the “everything everywhere all at once” strategy isn’t ideal, after all. As we and others reported on Monday night, senior OpenAI executive Fidji Simo told staffers last week that the company needed to “refocus on business customers and cut down on side quests that were becoming a distraction.” (Is that the understatement of... OpenAI has decided the “everything everywhere all at once” strategy isn’t ideal, after all. As we...

A photo of the Getty Villa, where the Montgomery Summit held its opening event. Photo courtesy of March Capital.

The AI Worries Keeping Investors Up at Night

By Julia Hornstein · Mar 17, 2026 3:45pm PDT

It’s no surprise that if you bring hundreds of venture capitalists and limited partners together in 2026, most will have bought into AI—literally. So it was interesting to hear what investors gathered in Santa Monica, Calif., last week for March Capital’s annual The Montgomery Summit thought were the AI boom’s weak links. Take Matt... It’s no surprise that if you bring hundreds of venture capitalists and limited partners together...

Palantir CEO Alex Karp via Getty

Palantir Has What OpenAI and Anthropic Want

By Laura Bratton · Mar 17, 2026 12:50pm PDT · 1 comment

Palantir CEO Alex Karp via Getty

Palantir Has What OpenAI and Anthropic Want

By Laura Bratton · Mar 17, 2026 12:50pm PDT · 1 comment

Anthropic and OpenAI have leaned heavily into serving businesses with AI agents that automate white collar tasks and software that helps businesses manage these agents. The two AI developers are even competing to sign up private equity firms to create joint ventures that would sell AI to the PE firms’ portfolio companies, my colleagues... Anthropic and OpenAI have leaned heavily into serving businesses with AI agents that automate...

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, speaks during a keynote address at the Nvidia GTC. Photo by David Paul Morris/Getty Images

Nvidia Needed Groq After All

By Wayne Ma and Anissa Gardizy · Mar 17, 2026 7:00am PDT

Greetings from the San Jose Convention Center, where Nvidia is throwing its annual AI conference. The AI craze is palpable here. Humanoid robots offer fist-bumps to conferencegoers, and attendees are buying sweaters with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s face on them. Nebius, a cloud provider that rents out Nvidia graphics processing units, took... Greetings from the San Jose Convention Center, where Nvidia is throwing its annual AI conference....

Art by Mike Sullivan

OpenAI Clinches AWS Deal in Bid to Win Government Contracts

By Sri Muppidi and Aaron Holmes · Mar 17, 2026 6:00am PDT

OpenAI on Friday signed a new contract with Amazon Web Services to sell its AI to U.S. government employees for both classified and unclassified work, according to two people with direct knowledge of the agreement. The contract will allow OpenAI to support the Pentagon through a deal it hastily won late last month after the agency ditched its... OpenAI on Friday signed a new contract with Amazon Web Services to sell its AI to U.S. government...

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

What Meta’s Nebius Deal Signals

By Martin Peers · Mar 16, 2026 5:00pm PDT · 3 comments

If you’ve got a ticket on the AI gravy train, times are good. That could be because you’re a supplier to Nvidia—and therefore enjoying booming business, as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang pointed out in his speech on Monday at the company’s GTC convention. Or it could be because you’re a small data center operator picking up business from a big tech... If you’ve got a ticket on the AI gravy train, times are good. That could be because you’re a...

Art by Mike Sullivan

War Doesn’t Belong to U.S. Weapons Startups Yet

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 16, 2026 10:10am PDT

Art by Mike Sullivan

Reporter's Notebook

War Doesn’t Belong to U.S. Weapons Startups Yet

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 16, 2026 10:10am PDT

War focuses attention on the present. That was very clear from a week’s worth of conversations in Washington with leaders at defense tech startups, traditional military contractors and people close to the Pentagon. Until the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, buzz was building around startups such as Anduril and Saronic that promised to deliver... War focuses attention on the present. That was very clear from a week’s worth of conversations in...