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

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The Briefing

By Martin Peers, Jessica E. 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

Mercor CEO Brendan Foody. Screenshot via YouTube/First Block.

Mercor Fields $10 Billion-Valuation Offers in ‘Pre-emptive’ Onslaught

By Katie Roof · Sep 4, 2025 4:15pm PDT

The frothiness of the artificial intelligence boom is starting to look like 1999…or 2021. Startups are again receiving unsolicited investment interest months or even weeks after announcing a fundraising, sometimes at prices that would more than double their valuation. The latest is Mercor, a startup that helps OpenAI and other AI developers find... The frothiness of the artificial intelligence boom is starting to look like 1999…or 2021....

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Art by Clark Miller

Nvidia to Pay $1.5 Billion to Rent Back Its Own Chips From Cloud Startup

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Anissa Gardizy · Sep 4, 2025 12:49pm PDT · 3 comments

A small cloud provider for artificial intelligence that’s preparing to go public has secured a major boost from its most important supplier: Nvidia. The chip giant agreed this summer to rent 10,000 of its own AI chips from the cloud firm, Lambda, for $1.3 billion over four years, and a separate $200 million deal to rent 8,000 more Nvidia chips... A small cloud provider for artificial intelligence that’s preparing to go public has secured a...

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff

Salesforce CEO Inadvertently Stokes AI ‘Crisis’ Narrative

By Amir Efrati · Sep 4, 2025 10:30am PDT · 4 comments

After listening to Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and his top brass describe their excitement about the company’s artificial intelligence business for an hour and half on Wednesday, one might have thought they were taking a much deserved victory lap.“Every single one of our customers is becoming an agentic enterprise,” Benioff said.In reality, his... After listening to Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and his top brass describe their excitement about...

Photo via Dyna Robotics

Robotic Arms Company Considers Investment at $600 Million Valuation

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Rocket Drew · Sep 4, 2025 7:15am PDT

Photo via Dyna Robotics

Robotic Arms Company Considers Investment at $600 Million Valuation

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Rocket Drew · Sep 4, 2025 7:15am PDT

Companies like Physical Intelligence or Skild AI that aim to build robots that can handle a variety of tasks out of the box have raised hundreds of millions in funding over the last two years. Now, a startup that’s taking a different approach—building robots that master one task at a time—is raising a new round of funding. The startup,... Companies like Physical Intelligence or Skild AI that aim to build robots that can handle a...

Photo via Getty

Elon Musk’s X Money Plans Stalled by Regulators, Staff Turnover

By Theo Wayt · Sep 4, 2025 7:00am PDT

For decades, one of Elon Musk’s biggest ambitions has been using technology to disrupt and replace traditional banks and payments processors. One of his management obsessions, meanwhile, has been pushing his employees to build things as quickly and cheaply as possible. Inside X, those two ideals are coming into conflict. Musk’s desire for X to... For decades, one of Elon Musk’s biggest ambitions has been using technology to disrupt and...

Photo via Getty

Nasdaq Steps Up Scrutiny of Companies Loading Up on Crypto

By Yueqi Yang · Sep 4, 2025 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Nasdaq is stepping up its scrutiny of companies listed on its exchange that are aiming to get a stock price boost by raising money to buy and hoard crypto, according to company filings and people familiar with the matter. The exchange’s move could slow the crypto boom that is putting increasingly exotic tokens on mainstream markets. The stock... Nasdaq is stepping up its scrutiny of companies listed on its exchange that are aiming to get a...

Nickel processing and smelting plant in North Maluku, Indonesia. Photo: STR/AFP/Getty

The Electric: In a Geopolitics Hack, EV Makers Use Indonesia to Obtain Chinese Batteries

By Steve LeVine · Sep 4, 2025 4:30am PDT

Two years ago, Indonesia’s president came to the White House and offered then-President Joe Biden a deal. Indonesia would supply all of the nickel the U.S. needed to build a competitive electric vehicle battery industry, if Biden made the mineral-rich country eligible for tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act. Two years ago, Indonesia’s president came to the White House and offered then-President Joe Biden...

Photo via Getty

Why Google Data-Sharing Decision Could Affect All of Big Tech

By Martin Peers · Sep 3, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Photo via Getty

Why Google Data-Sharing Decision Could Affect All of Big Tech

By Martin Peers · Sep 3, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Google is out of Wall Street’s doghouse! Stock of Google’s parent company Alphabet shot up 9% on Wednesday as investors rushed to buy up stock of a company whose future is no longer overshadowed by a looming antitrust ruling. Now the focus of antitrust anxiety turns to the other three big tech firms facing government lawsuits—Meta Platforms, ... Google is out of Wall Street’s doghouse! Stock of Google’s parent company Alphabet shot up 9% on...

Lambda CEO Stephen Balaban. Screenshot via YouTube

Nvidia-Backed Cloud Provider Lambda Hires Banks for IPO

By Valida Pau and Natasha Mascarenhas · Sep 3, 2025 1:56pm PDT

Lambda, a cloud provider that rents out Nvidia graphics chips for artificial intelligence, has hired investment banks to prepare for an initial public offering in the U.S., according to people with direct knowledge of the talks. The San Jose, Calif.-based startup has hired Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and Citi to prepare for a listing as soon as... Lambda, a cloud provider that rents out Nvidia graphics chips for artificial intelligence, has...

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. Photo via Getty

Why Anthropic’s Coding Prediction Hasn’t Panned Out

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Rocket Drew · Sep 3, 2025 7:02am PDT

Before we get to today’s column, we’d be remiss to not touch on Tuesday’s Google antitrust ruling, which was a huge victory for the search giant. Google got pretty much everything it wanted, while the judge only accepted a few of the government’s proposed remedies. (For more on the results, check out this column from our co-executive editor... Before we get to today’s column, we’d be remiss to not touch on Tuesday’s Google antitrust...

Photo via Getty

Google Ramps Up AI Chip Competition with Nvidia

By Anissa Gardizy and Miles Kruppa · Sep 3, 2025 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

Google is one of the largest buyers of Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips, which it rents out to Google Cloud customers such as OpenAI and Meta Platforms. But Google’s grand ambitions for its own competing AI chips show no sign of slowing down. In the latest example, Google recently approached small cloud providers that primarily rent out... Google is one of the largest buyers of Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips, which it rents out...

Photo via Getty

Google Wins Antitrust War

By Martin Peers · Sep 2, 2025 5:07pm PDT

Photo via Getty

Google Wins Antitrust War

By Martin Peers · Sep 2, 2025 5:07pm PDT

Google just won the antitrust war. Yes, it might have lost the initial skirmish, having had its search business branded a monopoly, but it couldn’t have asked for a kinder ruling on how to deal with that monopoly. Google essentially got what it wanted, as the judge said he had accepted “in full” Google’s proposed remedies, with a few... Google just won the antitrust war. Yes, it might have lost the initial skirmish, having had its...

Photo via Getty

Nvidia Buys Coding Startup as AI Deal Blitz Grows

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Sep 2, 2025 4:37pm PDT · 1 comment

We’re in the midst of an M&A boom—for artificial intelligence startups. Among the latest: Nvidia last month bought Solver, according to a person with direct knowledge of the deal. The three-year-old startup formerly known as Laredo Labs has developed an AI coding agent that completes software development tasks for users. The company... We’re in the midst of an M&A boom—for artificial intelligence startups. Among the...

Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Photo via Getty

Antitrust Judge Bars Google From Exclusive Deals But Allows Apple Payments to Continue

By Erin Woo · Sep 2, 2025 1:35pm PDT · 1 comment

An antitrust judge rejected the Justice Department’s most drastic proposals for how Google’s search business should be overhauled to make up for its illegal monopoly, saying in a decision Tuesday afternoon he wouldn’t require the company to sell either its Chrome browser or its Android operating system. Judge Amit Mehta barred Google from... An antitrust judge rejected the Justice Department’s most drastic proposals for how Google’s...

Software’s Existential AI Crisis Is Bonanza for Bankers

By Valida Pau · Sep 2, 2025 12:29pm PDT · 1 comment

U.S. tech merger activity is headed for its best year since 2021—driven in part by enterprise software and other older tech companies acquiring artificial intelligence startups to beef up their AI offerings. So far this year, U.S. software companies have spent nearly $33.8 billion on 150 completed AI acquisitions, surpassing the combined... U.S. tech merger activity is headed for its best year since 2021—driven in part by...

Replit CEO Amjad Masad.

Why Replit is Betting AI Prices Will Never Come Down

By Aaron Holmes · Sep 2, 2025 10:30am PDT

Replit CEO Amjad Masad.

Why Replit is Betting AI Prices Will Never Come Down

By Aaron Holmes · Sep 2, 2025 10:30am PDT

The prices businesses are paying for AI has become the subject of much moaning and gnashing of teeth among startups and their investors in recent weeks. At the heart of the issue, as we reported two weeks ago, is that the price of state-of-the-art models from the likes of Anthropic and OpenAI haven’t fallen much in the past year, and AI... The prices businesses are paying for AI has become the subject of much moaning and gnashing of...

Art via Getty

Why AI Psychosis Is Here to Stay

By Rocket Drew · Sep 2, 2025 7:00am PDT

Before we get into today’s Agenda, be sure to check out the story my colleagues and I published on Friday laying out Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman. The article can catch you up to speed on the case and explain why Musk stands a chance of winning if it goes to trial in March. The stakes couldn’t be higher for OpenAI:... Before we get into today’s Agenda, be sure to check out the story my colleagues and I published...

Anysphere CEO Michael Truell. Screenshot via YouTube, art by Clark Miller.

OpenAI and XAI Show Interest in Cursor’s Coding Data

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Sep 2, 2025 6:00am PDT

Startups that sell artificial intelligence–powered coding assistants such as Cursor have created some of the fastest-growing businesses in Silicon Valley, making them ripe acquisition targets for OpenAI and other large AI developers. So far, Cursor’s owner Anysphere isn’t selling. Instead, potential acquirers such as OpenAI, xAI and... Startups that sell artificial intelligence–powered coding assistants such as Cursor have...

Art by Clark Miller

DOGE Is Using AI to Target SEC Regulations for Cutting

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Sep 1, 2025 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Staff at the Securities and Exchange Commission are using artificial intelligence to identify rules and regulations to potentially cut, as President Donald Trump’s administration wages a tumultuous campaign aimed at limiting financial regulators and sidelining staff it views as not aligned with its priorities. Employees associated with the... Staff at the Securities and Exchange Commission are using artificial intelligence to identify...

The Beta Alia in Norway in August. Photo: Courtesy Beta

The Electric: The Startup Betting That Electric Flying Taxis Will First Carry Cargo

By Steve LeVine · Sep 1, 2025 4:30am PDT

The Beta Alia in Norway in August. Photo: Courtesy Beta

The Electric: The Startup Betting That Electric Flying Taxis Will First Carry Cargo

By Steve LeVine · Sep 1, 2025 4:30am PDT

Leading electric air taxi startups have stepped up a campaign of public exploits as they move closer to carrying paid passengers, including recent showy flights by test pilots in California, the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere. But they may be outdone by a group of less-flashy electric aviation companies: cargo startups that will ferry no... Leading electric air taxi startups have stepped up a campaign of public exploits as they move...