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

An Annapurna Labs Trainium 2 chip. Photo by Getty

Amazon Undercuts Nvidia With Aggressive AI Chip Discounts

By Kevin McLaughlin and Anissa Gardizy · Mar 18, 2025 6:00am PDT · 5 comments

Amazon Web Services has a new strategy to convince cloud customers to use its artificial intelligence chip rather than chips made by Nvidia: sharply undercutting Nvidia on price. A longtime AWS cloud customer said the company recently pitched them on renting servers powered by the chip, Trainium, that would give them the same computing... Amazon Web Services has a new strategy to convince cloud customers to use its artificial...

Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of Klarna. Photo via Getty

Klarna Affirms Marketing Savvy With Walmart Deal

By Martin Peers · Mar 17, 2025 5:00pm PDT

If the folks at Klarna ever decide to diversify from installment lending, they should give marketing a go. The Swedish company seems to be an expert in getting attention—and we’re not just talking about its frequent pronouncements about how it is using AI to cut costs. More to the point: Klarna’s announcement on Monday that it will become the... If the folks at Klarna ever decide to diversify from installment lending, they should give...

From left to right: Andrew Bosworth, Chris Cox, Mark Zuckerberg, Alex Schultz, Adam Mosseri, Susan Li and Dave Wehner. Art by Clark Miller; Images via Getty.

Meta Ramps Up for Landmark FTC Trial

By Kalley Huang and Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Mar 17, 2025 10:54am PDT

Next month, a much-anticipated Federal Trade Commission trial against Meta Platforms is expected to kick off in a federal courtroom in Washington. If the government gets its way, the trial could end up forcing Meta to sell one or both of its most popular apps, Instagram and WhatsApp, but it will likely take months or years before that’s known. ... Next month, a much-anticipated Federal Trade Commission trial against Meta Platforms is expected...

Photo via Getty

Salesforce and Manus Show the High Cost of Agents

By Juro Osawa · Mar 17, 2025 7:22am PDT

Photo via Getty

Salesforce and Manus Show the High Cost of Agents

By Juro Osawa · Mar 17, 2025 7:22am PDT

The unexpected popularity of Manus, a so-called computer-using AI that takes over a person’s web browser to execute tasks like travel booking and stock analysis, has put the Chinese startup behind it in a bind. The firm’s ability to meet demand for the product, also known as an agent, is limited both by its server capacity and, more importantly,... The unexpected popularity of Manus, a so-called computer-using AI that takes over a person’s web...

Photo by AP

Google Taps MediaTek for Cheaper AI Chips

By Qianer Liu · Mar 17, 2025 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Google plans to work with a new firm to help design and produce some of its artificial intelligence chips: MediaTek. Google is preparing to team up with the Taiwanese firm on the next version of the chips, known as Tensor Processing Units, that would be produced next year, according to two people involved in the project. Google plans to work with a new firm to help design and produce some of its artificial...

The Xiaomi SU7 sedan. Photo: Costfoto/NurPhoto/Getty

The Electric: Xiaomi's Latest EV Will Make It Harder for Tesla To Grow This Year

By Steve LeVine · Mar 17, 2025 4:30am PDT

Over the past year, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has shown up two formidable U.S. brands: First, it released an electric car, something that Apple failed to do, despite spending an estimated $10 billion and a decade trying. Over the past year, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has shown up two formidable U.S. brands:...

Crusoe CEO Chase Lochmiller, left, and Engine No. 1 founder Christopher James. Photos: Erin Beach

Startup Behind OpenAI’s Stargate Data Center Lands Record Power Deal

By Anissa Gardizy · Mar 16, 2025 8:57pm PDT · 5 comments

An Nvidia-backed startup building a massive data center for OpenAI has gained access to one of the largest new power sources for data centers in the U.S. The startup, Crusoe, said it struck an agreement with the owner of gas turbines that would generate 4.5 gigawatts of energy by 2027, an unprecedented sum that could power millions of Nvidia... An Nvidia-backed startup building a massive data center for OpenAI has gained access to one of...

Art by Clark Miller

Vibe Coding Explained

By Abram Brown · Mar 15, 2025 7:00am PDT

Art by Clark Miller

Vibe Coding Explained

By Abram Brown · Mar 15, 2025 7:00am PDT

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Amazon’s retail chief shifts from Bezos era• Artificial Intelligence: Scale AI’s billionaire CEO eyes a grander stage in politics• Plus, our Recommendations: Death at 28,000 feet; a VC tells all; and an unapologetically twisty apocalypse show“It was like strapping on an Iron Man suit and... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Amazon’s retail chief shifts from Bezos...

Art by Clark Miller; Wang image via Getty.

Artificial Intelligence

Government Deals and a Palace Dinner: Scale AI’s Billionaire CEO Eyes Grander Stage In Politics

By Julia Black and Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Mar 15, 2025 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Just a day before a major AI summit in Paris commenced last month, the event’s organizers made a sudden addition to the speaker lineup: Alexandr Wang, the 28-year-old billionaire co-founder and CEO of Scale AI, a startup that specializes in fine-tuning and assessing the quality of AI models for both private companies as well as the U.S.... Just a day before a major AI summit in Paris commenced last month, the event’s organizers made a...

Photo via Getty

Klarna’s Measly AI Savings

By Martin Peers · Mar 14, 2025 3:26pm PDT

How much money can AI save a business? That’s a hugely important question for businesses nowadays—uncertainty about the answer is holding up wider adoption of various new AI products, as we described on several fronts this week. (See this piece on Salesforce’s struggles in selling its new AI agent tool, and these other two stories on the same... How much money can AI save a business? That’s a hugely important question for businesses nowadays...

Silicon Valley Unscripted: Billionaires, AI, and Interplanetary Exploration

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 14, 2025 11:49am PDT

In this week’s episode: Waymo, Larry Page, TikTok and our first $1 million More or Less bet. YouTube Spotify In this week’s episode: Waymo, Larry Page, TikTok and our first $1 million More or Less bet....

Moveworks CEO Bhavin Shah. Photo via Flickr/Web Summit.

Pro Weekly: AI Agent M&A Heats Up

By Akash Pasricha · Mar 14, 2025 8:00am PDT

Moveworks CEO Bhavin Shah. Photo via Flickr/Web Summit.

Pro Weekly: AI Agent M&A Heats Up

By Akash Pasricha · Mar 14, 2025 8:00am PDT

ServiceNow’s $2.85 billion acquisition of Moveworks turned heads this week, marking one of the largest recent purchases of an artificial intelligence software company. Moveworks may be a familiar name. It was one of the 78 companies we highlighted as potential acquisition candidates in October when we published our Generative AI Takeover List... ServiceNow’s $2.85 billion acquisition of Moveworks turned heads this week, marking one of the...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

DeepSeek, a National Treasure in China, is Now Being Closely Guarded

By Juro Osawa and Qianer Liu · Mar 14, 2025 6:51am PDT · 7 comments

DeepSeek’s sudden rise to global stardom has earned the startup a status akin to national treasure in China. One result is restrictions on how the company operates. In recent weeks, company executives have forbidden some of DeepSeek’s employees involved in the research and development of artificial intelligence models from traveling abroad... DeepSeek’s sudden rise to global stardom has earned the startup a status akin to national...

Art by Clark Miller; Herrington image via Getty.

Amazon Retail Chief Shifts Culture Toward Lower Costs And—Gasp!—Some Slower Shipping

By Theo Wayt · Mar 14, 2025 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

In the summer of 2022, Amazon was reeling. The company’s revenue growth had fallen to its lowest levels in decades, and it was grappling with a hangover from a costly, pandemic-era expansion of its warehouses and workforce. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy began breathing down the necks of lieutenants like Doug Herrington to focus on profits, a change from... In the summer of 2022, Amazon was reeling. The company’s revenue growth had fallen to its lowest...

Photo via Getty

A Silent Oracle’s TikTok Edge

By Martin Peers · Mar 13, 2025 5:00pm PDT

It’s hard to walk down the street lately without tripping over someone who has expressed interest in buying TikTok. I’m kidding, but you get the point—everyone from AI startup Perplexity to billionaire Frank McCourt to the YouTube influencer MrBeast claims to be interested. As is often the case, however, it’s the people who aren’t talking that... It’s hard to walk down the street lately without tripping over someone who has expressed interest...

Mira Murati. Photo via Getty

Mira Murati’s Stock-Option Strategy Pays Off With Recruits

By Natasha Mascarenhas, Kalley Huang, Stephanie Palazzolo and Rocket Drew · Mar 13, 2025 3:44pm PDT · 1 comment

Mira Murati. Photo via Getty

Mira Murati’s Stock-Option Strategy Pays Off With Recruits

By Natasha Mascarenhas, Kalley Huang, Stephanie Palazzolo and Rocket Drew · Mar 13, 2025 3:44pm PDT · 1 comment

It says something about the hype around ex-OpenAI executive Mira Murati’s new startup, Thinking Machines Lab, that when Sequoia Capital’s Alfred Lin said his firm was “talking” to the startup, that was deemed worthy of a headline.We’ll do you one slightly better: Murati has told people she’s also had conversations with Vinod Khosla, an early... It says something about the hype around ex-OpenAI executive Mira Murati’s new startup, Thinking...

Makeup influencer Mikayla Nogueira. Photo via Getty.

Creator Economy

Have We Reached Peak Influencer Brand?

By Ann Gehan · Mar 13, 2025 2:05pm PDT

It seems like more creators than ever are starting their own lines of makeup, skin care, snacks and more, with at least three new brands this week alone. On Tuesday, makeup artist Mikayla Nogueira, who has over 16 million followers on TikTok, announced a skincare line, Point of View. The same day, TikTok and Instagram star Alix Earle helped... It seems like more creators than ever are starting their own lines of makeup, skin care, snacks...

Art by Mike Sullivan

CIOs Face a Glut of AI Sellers

By Jon Victor · Mar 13, 2025 10:41am PDT

Convincing professionals, software engineers and other application developers to open their wallets for new artificial intelligence that speeds up their work seems easier than ever. But selling AI to large enterprises is a different ballgame. That was painfully clear this week at the first annual HumanX conference in Las Vegas, which... Convincing professionals, software engineers and other application developers to open their...

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff via Getty. Art by Clark Miller

Why AI Isn’t Giving Salesforce a Boost

By Kevin McLaughlin · Mar 13, 2025 9:31am PDT · 3 comments

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff last month declared 2025 as the “absolute year of Agentforce,” a product the software company launched last fall to help customers automate customer service and other business functions. “We’ve never seen products grow at these levels, especially Agentforce,” he said, citing customers such as gym owner Equinox and... Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff last month declared 2025 as the “absolute year of Agentforce,” a...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Are Enterprises Actually Using Reasoning Models?

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 13, 2025 8:34am PDT

Art by Mike Sullivan

Are Enterprises Actually Using Reasoning Models?

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 13, 2025 8:34am PDT

The excitement around reasoning models like OpenAI’s o1 and DeepSeek’s R1 got me thinking: How much are businesses actually using them? The answer might be: not as much as you’d think.When I ask business executives at startups and large firms about their companies’ usage of reasoning models to power their products, a common refrain I’ve... The excitement around reasoning models like OpenAI’s o1 and DeepSeek’s R1 got me thinking: How...