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Elon Musk. Photo by Krisztian Bocsi/ Getty Images

Apollo Nears $3 Billion Chip-Funding Deal Tied to XAI

By Miles Kruppa · Feb 9, 2026 6:00am PST

Apollo Global Management, one of Wall Street’s biggest private credit firms, is nearing a deal to lend about $3.4 billion to an investment vehicle that will purchase Nvidia chips and lease them to Elon Musk’s xAI, which just merged with SpaceX, said a person with knowledge of the deal. The deal would be Apollo’s second big investment in a... Apollo Global Management, one of Wall Street’s biggest private credit firms, is nearing a deal to...

Construction has started at Lithium Americas' Thacker Pass lithium project. Photo: Courtesy Lithium Americas

The Electric: Lithium Makes a Comeback as Trump Moves to Challenge China

By Steve LeVine · Feb 9, 2026 4:30am PST

Mining lithium in the West has been a terrible business recently. From a peak of about $80 a kilo in late 2022, the price of the metal plummeted as low as $8 last year, causing big losses for investors and forcing mines to close in the U.S., Australia and elsewhere. Mining lithium in the West has been a terrible business recently. From a peak of about $80 a kilo...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Photo by Fabrice/Getty Images

Nvidia CEO Becomes the Latest SaaS Defender—Sort Of

By Amir Efrati · Feb 5, 2026 10:30am PST · 2 comments

Simmering anxieties about AI’s threat to subscription software have turned into a raging nervous breakdown on Wall Street in the past week, thanks in part to Anthropic’s recent AI launches (and despite Anthropic's own love for SaaS apps). Even Palantir, which has lately posted blockbuster growth, has been caught up in the selloff.Enter Jensen... Simmering anxieties about AI’s threat to subscription software have turned into a raging nervous...

China's ADA Space plans to launch 2,800 of these satellites into space to make up a data center constellation. Photo: An Yuan/China News Service/Getty

The Electric: This Chinese Startup Has Already Put a Data Center In Space

By Steve LeVine · Feb 5, 2026 4:30am PST · 1 comment

China's ADA Space plans to launch 2,800 of these satellites into space to make up a data center constellation. Photo: An Yuan/China News Service/Getty

The Electric: This Chinese Startup Has Already Put a Data Center In Space

By Steve LeVine · Feb 5, 2026 4:30am PST · 1 comment

With his $1.2 trillion merger of SpaceX with money-losing AI developer xAI, Elon Musk suggests he is in the vanguard of the next big thing—the establishment of AI data centers in space. Sorry, Elon, a Chinese startup got there first. With his $1.2 trillion merger of SpaceX with money-losing AI developer xAI, Elon Musk suggests he...

Carina Hong, founder and CEO of Axiom. Screenshot via YouTube

A Major Anthropic Backer Quintuples an AI Math Startup’s Valuation in New Deal

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Valida Pau · Feb 3, 2026 7:00am PST

Investors usually fund startups based on metrics involving revenue, profits or product usage. But investors backing newer AI research startups that are taking on Anthropic and OpenAI have to rely on other measures of success, such as incremental research breakthroughs or recent talent hirings. One example is AI math startup Axiom, which is... Investors usually fund startups based on metrics involving revenue, profits or product usage. But...

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

Inside Musk’s SpaceX-xAI Megamerger

By Cory Weinberg, Theo Wayt, Miles Kruppa, Amir Efrati and Katie Roof · Feb 2, 2026 6:13pm PST · 3 comments

Elon Musk rammed through the combination of his space company, SpaceX, with his AI startup, xAI, on Monday, merging the shiniest jewel in his business empire with his most money-losing firm. The deal—which valued xAI at $250 billion and SpaceX at $1 trillion, according to people familiar with the situation—comes as xAI battles to... Elon Musk rammed through the combination of his space company, SpaceX, with his AI startup, xAI,...

Elon Musk. Getty Images.

What’s Really Driving Musk’s SpaceX-xAI Merger

By Martin Peers · Feb 2, 2026 5:00pm PST · 5 comments

Talk about pie in the sky. On Monday, Elon Musk announced that his SpaceX had acquired his cash-eating xAI, at a price we reported to be $250 billion. SpaceX was already planning to go public, but now xAI will be able to get some of the cash the newly enlarged company will raise. Of course, that’s not how Musk explained the combination. Instead,... Talk about pie in the sky. On Monday, Elon Musk announced that his SpaceX had acquired his...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Jason Redmond/Getty Images.

Microsoft Is Striking the Right Balance Between Software and Cloud

By Anita Ramaswamy · Feb 2, 2026 6:00am PST · 2 comments

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Jason Redmond/Getty Images.

Microsoft Is Striking the Right Balance Between Software and Cloud

By Anita Ramaswamy · Feb 2, 2026 6:00am PST · 2 comments

Microsoft is in Wall Street’s doghouse. The company’s shares have lagged the S&P 500 index for the past few months, and the big stock sell-off that followed last Wednesday’s earnings report has left them trading at their lowest value, as a multiple of operating profits, since 2022. Investors were responding to a slight slowdown in growth at... Microsoft is in Wall Street’s doghouse. The company’s shares have lagged the S&P 500 index...

A home battery in Houston, which has been hit hard by power outages in recent years. Photo: Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle/Getty

The Electric: Amid the Flurries, Home Battery Installers Are Going After Grid and Data Center Demand

By Steve LeVine · Feb 2, 2026 4:30am PST

Heavy snow and Arctic temperatures last week strained the natural gas-powered electric grid across the Northeastern U.S. states and inland as far as Virginia, leaving utilities to ask customers to curtail their use of power and causing thousands of homes to go dark. Heavy snow and Arctic temperatures last week strained the natural gas-powered electric grid...

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made a full pivot away from electric vehicles. Photo: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg/Getty

The Electric: Musk Talks Up Optimus, But Tesla's 2025 Was Saved By Plain Old Batteries

By Steve LeVine · Jan 29, 2026 4:38am PST · 1 comment

Tesla CEO Elon Musk makes much of the shining future of the driverless Cybercab and the Optimus robot. As for revenue today, one of the company’s few bright spots is batteries. Tesla CEO Elon Musk makes much of the shining future of the driverless Cybercab and the Optimus...

Sam Altman. Photo by Kyle Grillot/Getty Images

What Went Wrong With OpenAI’s Year of Agents?

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Sri Muppidi · Jan 28, 2026 7:00am PST

A year ago, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote in a blog post that he expected 2025 to bring the first AI agents that could join the workforce and “materially change the output of companies.” Altman, like so many other AI leaders at the time, was being overly optimistic.As my colleagues Kevin and Sri have reported, OpenAI’s ChatGPT Agent, a product it... A year ago, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote in a blog post that he expected 2025 to bring the first...

Art by Mike Sullivan

OpenAI One-Ups Anthropic with New Whistleblower Policy

By Rocket Drew · Jan 27, 2026 9:19am PST

Art by Mike Sullivan

OpenAI One-Ups Anthropic with New Whistleblower Policy

By Rocket Drew · Jan 27, 2026 9:19am PST

OpenAI recently updated its policy for handling whistleblower complaints, following concerns about AI startups ignoring what are standard rules applying to all companies. It follows similar steps from Anthropic and could pressure other AI companies to follow suit. Federal government rules mandate that companies cannot retaliate against... OpenAI recently updated its policy for handling whistleblower complaints, following concerns...

Art by Mike Sullivan

AI Clogs Exits for PE-Backed Software Firms

By Valida Pau · Jan 27, 2026 6:00am PST

Private equity firms are struggling to sell the software companies they acquired in a buying frenzy in 2021 and 2022, even though they enjoyed a rebound in sales for such companies last year. The lack of deals could force more PE firms to sell their holdings at a lower price, or even at a discount to the original deal price. Sales did pick up... Private equity firms are struggling to sell the software companies they acquired in a buying...

Art by Mike Sullivan

AI Infrastructure

Five Takeaways From ‘Data Center Davos’

By Anissa Gardizy · Jan 26, 2026 8:00am PST · 1 comment

Last week, the data center industry migrated temporarily to Hawaii for the Pacific Telecommunications Council conference. The event—like Davos except warmer—is typically where deal talks in the data center business begin and the priorities for the year are set. The sector’s power brokers are coming off a wild 12 months, bookended by the... Last week, the data center industry migrated temporarily to Hawaii for the Pacific...

Sam Altman. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Why OpenAI Is Doubling Down on Enterprises

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jan 26, 2026 7:00am PST

The circular funding party continues! This morning, Nvidia announced that it’s invested $2 billion into cloud provider CoreWeave, who said it’ll use that capital to build more than five gigawatts in AI data center capacity by 2030. CoreWeave also said that it’ll be an early adopter of Nvidia products like its AI chips and software. This is just... The circular funding party continues! This morning, Nvidia announced that it’s invested $2...

Chart by Shane Burke

Intel is Now Pricier Than TSMC: That Makes No Sense

By Anita Ramaswamy · Jan 22, 2026 9:06am PST · 2 comments

Chart by Shane Burke

Intel is Now Pricier Than TSMC: That Makes No Sense

By Anita Ramaswamy · Jan 22, 2026 9:06am PST · 2 comments

Intel’s stock price has more than doubled in the past five months, since President Donald Trump announced the U.S. government would buy a 10% stake in the ailing chip manufacturer, followed by similar investments from SoftBank and Nvidia. Investors are betting the new capital, coupled with a surge in AI demand, will help resuscitate the company.... Intel’s stock price has more than doubled in the past five months, since President Donald Trump...

GE Vernova turbines at the Stargate AI data center construction site in Abilene, Tex. Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

The Information Finance

Data Center Inflation Is Here

By Ken Brown · Jan 21, 2026 8:00am PST · 5 comments

In the first weeks of the year, it has become clear that building data centers is getting more expensive. On a relative basis, the shift could benefit the cash-rich tech giants, particularly Google, while potentially hurting cash-burning startups. This doesn’t mean giant data centers won’t get built. Investors are still enthusiastic about... In the first weeks of the year, it has become clear that building data centers is getting more...

Art by Mike Sullivan/Gemini

Why AI Startups' Fixation on 'Cracked' Engineers is Short-Sighted

By Rocket Drew · Jan 20, 2026 7:37am PST

Before we get to today’s column, OpenAI’s Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar pulled back the curtain this weekend on how the ChatGPT maker’s consumption of computational resources and annualized revenue have grown at approximately the same pace over time. That isn’t super surprising, given that most companies would expect their revenue to grow... Before we get to today’s column, OpenAI’s Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar pulled back the...

Photo by Chris Ratcliffe/Getty Images

Tech at Davos; Netflix and Intel Earnings on Deck This Week

By Martin Peers · Jan 19, 2026 3:00pm PST

We have a change of pace this week after the AI dramas of the past few days. President Donald Trump’s latest tariff assault on Europe, related to his aspirations for owning Greenland, will have markets jumpy—as we saw on Monday. Maybe a deal can be worked out at the annual World Economic Forum confab at Davos, which started today. Expect to see... We have a change of pace this week after the AI dramas of the past few days. President Donald...