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Guests during Cerebras Systems IPO at Nasdaq MarketSite May 14.

Investors Fall Back in Love With IPOs

By Valida Pau · May 19, 2026 5:30pm PDT

For the past two days, I’ve been at JP Morgan’s annual tech conference in Boston. As usual, AI has dominated most of my conversations with investors. But in a change from the past few months, it’s not Anthropic and OpenAI driving those discussions—but hardware and utility companies a few steps removed from what the AI model makers do.On Monday,... For the past two days, I’ve been at JP Morgan’s annual tech conference in Boston. As usual, AI...

Liz Reid, VP and head of search at Google, at Google I/O today. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty.

Google’s AI Search Leap Forward

By Martin Peers · May 19, 2026 5:00pm PDT

If you pay attention to one thing in AI this week, it should be Google’s I/O presentation on Tuesday. The tech giant unveiled a bunch of AI tools, most significantly the addition of new AI features such as agents to Google Search. Any distinction that existed between Google’s Gemini AI chatbot and its search bar is disappearing.No longer should... If you pay attention to one thing in AI this week, it should be Google’s I/O presentation on...

SpaceX IPO Could Return More Than $60 Billion Each for Founders Fund, Valor

By Katie Roof · May 19, 2026 10:59am PDT

SpaceX’s initial public offering, expected to be the largest in history, is also set to yield the largest venture returns ever at the time of the IPO. Among those set to win big are Founders Fund, Valor Equity Partners and Sequoia Capital. Valor Equity Partners, whose founder Antonio Gracias is on the SpaceX board and has backed several of Musk’... SpaceX’s initial public offering, expected to be the largest in history, is also set to yield the...

How Microsoft, Meta, xAI Get AI Training Data From Their Employees

How Microsoft, Meta, xAI Get AI Training Data From Their Employees

By Aaron Holmes and Jyoti Mann · May 19, 2026 10:30am PDT

How Microsoft, Meta, xAI Get AI Training Data From Their Employees

How Microsoft, Meta, xAI Get AI Training Data From Their Employees

By Aaron Holmes and Jyoti Mann · May 19, 2026 10:30am PDT

Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot may have lost much of its early lead in the AI coding race to rivals like Anthropic and Cursor, but Microsoft thinks it has an advantage over those companies: roughly 100,000 software engineers who work for Microsoft. As we reported Monday, Microsoft leaders think they can develop coding models using the wealth of... Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot may have lost much of its early lead in the AI coding race to rivals...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Is the Gap Widening Between Anthropic and Open-Source Models?

By Stephanie Palazzolo · May 19, 2026 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Some developers have told me that the rising costs of frontier AI models from Anthropic and other firms could prompt them to shift to cheaper open-source AI. After all, when companies as sophisticated as Uber are accidentally blowing through their entire year’s AI budget in a matter of months, it makes sense to cut back by using a less capable... Some developers have told me that the rising costs of frontier AI models from Anthropic and other...

A Trainium3 UltraServer at an AWS QA lab in Austin. Photo by Mark Felix / Getty Images.

Amazon’s Nvidia Alternative Starts Winning Over AI Developers

By Catherine Perloff · May 19, 2026 6:00am PDT

Amazon’s yearslong effort to build a serious alternative to Nvidia’s dominant AI chips is starting to gain traction. Anthropic and OpenAI, which have struck multibillion-dollar investment and infrastructure deals with Amazon, have already committed to renting large amounts of current and future Trainium capacity. Now, recent software... Amazon’s yearslong effort to build a serious alternative to Nvidia’s dominant AI chips is...

Analog Devices CEO Vincent Roche. Photo by Getty.

Analog Devices in Talks to Buy AI Power Chip Startup for $1.5 Billion

By Valida Pau and Cory Weinberg · May 18, 2026 6:22pm PDT

Chipmaker Analog Devices is in advanced talks to buy startup Empower Semiconductor for about $1.5 billion, in a deal that reflects demand for technology that can manage the intense energy needs of AI chips, according to people familiar with the discussion. The acquisition of the 12-year-old startup would expand Analog Devices’ portfolio of chips... Chipmaker Analog Devices is in advanced talks to buy startup Empower Semiconductor for about $1.5...

Michael Gonzalez/AFP/Getty.

Musk Loses in Court; Uber Buys More of Delivery Hero

By Martin Peers · May 18, 2026 5:00pm PDT

Michael Gonzalez/AFP/Getty.

Musk Loses in Court; Uber Buys More of Delivery Hero

By Martin Peers · May 18, 2026 5:00pm PDT

Elon Musk’s big week isn’t starting out too well. Firstly, the all-important test launch of Starship got delayed by a day. Meanwhile, news broke that a worker died on Friday at SpaceX’s Starbase complex in Texas, where the rocket will launch. Separately, Musk on Monday lost the lawsuit against his fellow OpenAI founders, Sam Altman and Greg... Elon Musk’s big week isn’t starting out too well. Firstly, the all-important test launch of...

The ‘Price is Right’ for GPUs: The Startup Turning Nvidia Chips Into ‘Boring’ Bankable Assets

AI Infrastructure

The ‘Price is Right’ for GPUs: The Startup Turning Nvidia Chips Into ‘Boring’ Bankable Assets

By Anissa Gardizy · May 18, 2026 10:18am PDT · 1 comment

Good morning, Anissa here!The AI boom requires an enormous amount of new power plants, chips and data centers. But it also requires something that’s less visible: new financial plumbing that makes it possible to lend against this costly hardware.Miami fintech startup Barkr is one of the firms building the pipes, specifically for valuing AI chips... Good morning, Anissa here!The AI boom requires an enormous amount of new power plants, chips and...

Musk at a banquet in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty

The Electric: Enduring Chinese Hero Worship for Musk Bolsters Sales of the Tesla Model Y

By Steve LeVine · May 18, 2026 9:00am PDT · 2 comments

With their no-frills, spartan interiors, Tesla’s electric vehicles pale in comparison to plush Chinese-made models, which are typically replete with luxury and tech extras. And the technology that Tesla considers its singular distinguishing feature—its Full Self-Driving software—is heavily restricted in China. With their no-frills, spartan interiors, Tesla’s electric vehicles pale in comparison to plush...

Krishna Rangasayee. Photo By Shauna Clinton/ Getty Images

Edge Inference Chip Startup SiMa.ai Raising at $1.4 Billion Valuation

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Anissa Gardizy · May 18, 2026 7:00am PDT

Nvidia might be on a tear, but some investors are still convinced that there’s demand for another kind of specialized chips. And they’re putting their money where their mouth is. For example: San Jose, Calif.-based SiMa.ai, which develops chips that work on devices such as drones or cameras, is in talks with investors to raise more than... Nvidia might be on a tear, but some investors are still convinced that there’s demand for another...

Art via Mike Sullivan

Microsoft Executives Sound the Alarm Over GitHub’s Eroding AI Lead

By Aaron Holmes · May 18, 2026 6:00am PDT

Art via Mike Sullivan

Microsoft Executives Sound the Alarm Over GitHub’s Eroding AI Lead

By Aaron Holmes · May 18, 2026 6:00am PDT

No part of Microsoft better illustrates its predicament in AI than GitHub. The AI boom has boosted usage and revenue of the code repository as well as GitHub Copilot, an AI coding assistant. But GitHub has struggled to respond to new AI coding competitors that have since overtaken it. And the service has suffered from frequent and major outages,... No part of Microsoft better illustrates its predicament in AI than GitHub. The AI boom has...

Elon Musk attends a state banquet at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty.

SpaceX Launch, Google I/O Headline a Big News Week in Tech

By Martin Peers · May 17, 2026 3:00pm PDT

This should be an action-packed week in tech news, what with Nvidia’s first-quarter earnings, Google’s annual I/O developer conference and Meta Platforms’ scheduled layoffs of 8,000 employees. But it is Elon Musk who has the biggest week coming up.For one thing, the first test launch of SpaceX’s Starship in seven months is scheduled for Tuesday.... This should be an action-packed week in tech news, what with Nvidia’s first-quarter earnings,...

Sunday Insights

Anthropic and OpenAI’s Share of AI Startup Revenues Rises to 89%

By Amir Efrati and Stephanie Palazzolo · May 17, 2026 7:00am PDT · 4 comments

Anthropic and OpenAI are widening the revenue gap between themselves and the rest of the AI startup field. A group of 34 leading startups in that sector, including Anthropic and OpenAI, is generating nearly $80 billion in annualized revenue, or $6.6 billion per month, from selling AI applications or access to the models that power such apps,... Anthropic and OpenAI are widening the revenue gap between themselves and the rest of the AI...