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

Five times/week

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.

By providing your email, you agree to The Information’s Privacy Policy

Recent Editions

Photo by Shutterstock

Microsoft’s AI Bundle Gets In Trouble

By Aaron Holmes and Kevin McLaughlin · Oct 28, 2025 10:30am PDT

Microsoft last year got more aggressive about getting people to pay up for artificial intelligence features in its Office productivity suite, such as those that draft emails or summarize documents. It began including AI features by default and raising the baseline price of Office for individual consumers by 30%. The maneuver paid off, as... Microsoft last year got more aggressive about getting people to pay up for artificial...

Getty Images

How OpenAI’s Sora is Evolving Like TikTok

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 28, 2025 7:10am PDT

When OpenAI released its Sora video app last month, it seemed like an attempt to develop a TikTok-like viral video service with artificial intelligence at its core. And in some ways, usage of Sora has echoes in how TikTok is used.In a recent all-hands, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told employees that 20% to 30% of Sora users created AI-generated videos... When OpenAI released its Sora video app last month, it seemed like an attempt to develop a TikTok...

Art by Mike Sullivan

The Creative Dealmaking Behind Meta’s $30 Billion Data Center Financing

By Miles Kruppa · Oct 28, 2025 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

It took a year and some financial acrobatics, but Meta Platforms and a small army of bankers and lawyers were able to secure funding for a $27 billion data center project without doing any immediate damage to the company’s finances. A private letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission helped seal the deal. ... It took a year and some financial acrobatics, but Meta Platforms and a small army of bankers...

Image by Getty Images.

Apple Supplier Skyworks Agrees to Buy Rival Qorvo for $10.6 Billion

By Valida Pau and Katie Roof · Oct 27, 2025 10:26pm PDT

Image by Getty Images.

Apple Supplier Skyworks Agrees to Buy Rival Qorvo for $10.6 Billion

By Valida Pau and Katie Roof · Oct 27, 2025 10:26pm PDT

Skyworks Solutions, which supplies radio frequency chips to Apple and other smartphone makers, is acquiring its main rival Qorvo for $10.6 billion in a combination of cash and stock. The news, announced Tuesday morning, confirmed a report in The Information late Monday night. Skyworks’ shares jumped 13% on Tuesday, while Qorvo shares... Skyworks Solutions, which supplies radio frequency chips to Apple and other smartphone makers, is...

Getty Images

Qualcomm’s AI Hope

By Martin Peers · Oct 27, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Another day, another chip company-A deal. This time, it’s Qualcomm, best known for its mobile phone chips (such as the modem in most iPhones). What Qualcomm is not known for is selling chips for data center servers, despite its valiant attempts to do so in the past. Will this time be different? We’ll see. At least Qualcomm has a customer for its... Another day, another chip company-A deal. This time, it’s Qualcomm, best known for its mobile...

Art via Getty Images; Mike Sullivan

Why Anthropic and OpenAI Are Using Cognition’s Coding Test

By Rocket Drew · Oct 27, 2025 7:00am PDT

As artificial intelligence models improve, the companies developing them are seeking more sophisticated ways to measure how good they are at a wide range of tasks. As a result, they are developing internal benchmarks to test models’ capabilities, rather than relying on publicly available tests.Cognition, which has created the Devin coding agent,... As artificial intelligence models improve, the companies developing them are seeking more...

Photo of Palmer Luckey by Getty Images. Art by Mike Sullivan.

Anduril Is a Hot Ticket Despite Burning More Than $800 Million in Cash

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 27, 2025 6:00am PDT

Defense tech company Anduril expects to burn through $800 million to $900 million in cash this year in an aggressive bid to win giant Pentagon contracts. Investors big and small are unperturbed, lining up to back the fast-growing seller of drones, missiles and border surveillance towers. The company appears to be the most coveted stock in the... Defense tech company Anduril expects to burn through $800 million to $900 million in cash this...

The Pelican Spray, an electric autonomous cropduster. Photo: Courtesy Pyka

The Electric: This Startup Has Commercialized An Autonomous Electric Cropduster

By Steve LeVine · Oct 27, 2025 4:30am PDT

The Pelican Spray, an electric autonomous cropduster. Photo: Courtesy Pyka

The Electric: This Startup Has Commercialized An Autonomous Electric Cropduster

By Steve LeVine · Oct 27, 2025 4:30am PDT

Michael Norcia’s passion for building aircraft started when he was a kid making model planes. After college, he worked for electric aircraft startups but never got to build anything commercial. Michael Norcia’s passion for building aircraft started when he was a kid making model planes....

Getty Images

Big Tech Earnings, Nvidia’s GTC Dominate Crowded Week

By Martin Peers · Oct 26, 2025 3:00pm PDT

This is our first of what we plan to be a regular Sunday evening Briefing, looking out at the coming week. And what a week this promises to be. Nvidia is holding one of its GTC events for developers and customers in Washington Monday through Wednesday—which leather jacket will Jensen Huang wear onstage this time? (For more on GTC, see below.) We... This is our first of what we plan to be a regular Sunday evening Briefing, looking out at the...

Vinod Khosla Talks AI, Power and Why Businesses Struggle With New AI Services

By Akash Pasricha · Oct 26, 2025 10:00am PDT · 2 comments

Vinod Khosla thinks companies which say they’re struggling to get a return on their spending on artificial-intelligence services may be doing it wrong. In an interview with The Information’s TITV this past week, he said “most enterprises who are executing AI are doing it with their people who are not qualified to execute.” In contrast, when... Vinod Khosla thinks companies which say they’re struggling to get a return on their spending on...

Chart by Mike Sullivan.

Sunday Insights

Why Netflix Is Still Outrunning Rivals

By Martin Peers and Catherine Perloff · Oct 26, 2025 8:00am PDT

Netflix’s quarterly earnings reports have lately lacked the drama that once made the updates a must-watch for investors and reporters. For the past eight quarters, the video streamer has routinely posted quarterly revenue growth averaging around 15%—hardly hypergrowth but a big improvement on the 2% to 4% growth rate it recorded between... Netflix’s quarterly earnings reports have lately lacked the drama that once made the updates a...

SoftBank's Masayoshi Son (left) and OpenAI's Sam Altman. Photo by Getty Images

SoftBank Greenlights Remaining $22.5 Billion of OpenAI Investment

By Sri Muppidi · Oct 25, 2025 1:19pm PDT · 1 comment

SoftBank's Masayoshi Son (left) and OpenAI's Sam Altman. Photo by Getty Images

SoftBank Greenlights Remaining $22.5 Billion of OpenAI Investment

By Sri Muppidi · Oct 25, 2025 1:19pm PDT · 1 comment

SoftBank has taken the next step to complete its gargantuan $30 billion investment in OpenAI. The Japanese conglomerate’s board has approved a second installment of $22.5 billion on that investment, as long as the artificial intelligence startup completes a corporate restructuring that would pay the way for an eventual public offering, according... SoftBank has taken the next step to complete its gargantuan $30 billion investment in OpenAI. The...

Photo via Getty

Google Investigates Weekslong Security Breach Involving Contractor

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Erin Woo · Oct 25, 2025 11:12am PDT · 2 comments

Google is investigating a breach of its security systems involving a contractor who took almost 2,000 screenshots and sensitive internal files, including information related to Google’s Play store systems and guardrails, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. The contractor sent the images to an unidentified outsider, the person... Google is investigating a breach of its security systems involving a contractor who took almost...

Rodrigo Liang, Co-founder & CEO, SambaNova Systems. Getty Images.

AI Chip Startup SambaNova Explores Sale After Stalled Fundraising

By Valida Pau · Oct 25, 2025 7:34am PDT · 2 comments

Artificial intelligence chip startup SambaNova Systems is exploring a sale, after it struggled to complete a fundraising round, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. The Palo Alto, Calif., startup was last valued at $5 billion in 2021. SambaNova and other AI chip startups have had difficulty growing sales in the face of... Artificial intelligence chip startup SambaNova Systems is exploring a sale, after it struggled to...

Art by Clark Miller

Our Smart Bed Future May Be a Nightmare

By Abram Brown · Oct 25, 2025 7:04am PDT

Welcome, Weekenders!Quickly, a programming note: The Briefing, the newsletter written by my colleague Martin Peers, is shifting to an altered schedule, and starting tomorrow, it’ll appear Sunday through Thursday. Martin on a Sunday evening—what a treat! Among other topics, he’ll be applying his inimitable powers of explanation to previewing tech... Welcome, Weekenders!Quickly, a programming note: The Briefing, the newsletter written by my...

Form left: Miami Heat's Terry Rozier, FBI's Kash Patel and Portland Trail Blazer's Chauncey Billups. Photos via Getty

Despite NBA Scandal, Sports’ Gambling Habit Will Be Hard to Break

By Sara Germano · Oct 25, 2025 6:00am PDT

Form left: Miami Heat's Terry Rozier, FBI's Kash Patel and Portland Trail Blazer's Chauncey Billups. Photos via Getty

Despite NBA Scandal, Sports’ Gambling Habit Will Be Hard to Break

By Sara Germano · Oct 25, 2025 6:00am PDT

The 2025–26 NBA season kicked off this week with loads to get excited about: new broadcasts from NBC’s Peacock and Amazon Prime Video, a blockbuster double-overtime opening matchup between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets, and a career-defining 40-point game by rising star Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs. But all of... The 2025–26 NBA season kicked off this week with loads to get excited about: new broadcasts...

Art by Clark Miller. Photo of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman by Getty Images

OpenAI Moves to Generate AI Music in Potential Rivalry With Startup Suno

By Sri Muppidi and Erin Woo · Oct 24, 2025 2:22pm PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI recently made a splash with artificial intelligence that generates short videos from text prompts—say, a scene from “Lord of the Rings” but with Gen Z characters, or Pokémon’s Pikachu as “The Godfather.” Now the company has set its sights on doing the same thing with music. OpenAI staff have been taking steps to develop AI... OpenAI recently made a splash with artificial intelligence that generates short videos from text...

Andreessen Horowitz General Partner Anjney Midha. Photy by Getty Images.

Andreessen Horowitz General Partner Midha to Establish Compute Firm

By Katie Roof · Oct 24, 2025 12:52pm PDT · 1 comment

Andreessen Horowitz’s artificial intelligence chip hunter is setting out on his own. Anjney Midha—an Andreessen general partner who helped the firm’s startups gain access to highly sought-after graphics processing units—told the firm’s staff on Friday that he was setting up an outside venture called AMP to “provide compute and... Andreessen Horowitz’s artificial intelligence chip hunter is setting out on his own. Anjney...

Art by Mark Sullivan.

OpenAI Readies Itself for Its Facebook Era

By Kalley Huang, Erin Woo and Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 24, 2025 6:03am PDT · 6 comments

This summer, Fidji Simo wasted no time addressing a concern among many at OpenAI. Leading her first all-hands meeting as the startup’s new CEO of applications, she acknowledged that she and many others at OpenAI shared the same background: They’d previously worked at Meta Platforms. And then Simo, who’d risen to be head of Facebook over a decade... This summer, Fidji Simo wasted no time addressing a concern among many at OpenAI. Leading her...

Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao. Getty Images.

Trump Opens Door for Crypto’s Offshore Giants

By Yueqi Yang · Oct 23, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao. Getty Images.

Trump Opens Door for Crypto’s Offshore Giants

By Yueqi Yang · Oct 23, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

For crypto’s offshore giants these days, there’s nothing more important than figuring out their Trump playbook. Most are succeeding, as President Donald Trump’s pardon of Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao today demonstrated. The pardon of Zhao, who was convicted of violating anti–money-laundering laws and served a four-month sentence last year,... For crypto’s offshore giants these days, there’s nothing more important than figuring out their...