Analog Devices Pursues $1.5B Empower Acquisition to Tackle AI Power Crunch

SoftBank announced a U.S. neocloud venture on Thursday, adding to hundreds of firms now competing in the AI server rental market. Together AI raised $800 million at an $8.3 billion valuation, while Nvidia said it will provide financial backing to younger cloud firms in exchange for a revenue share. The moves highlight intense competition in the sector, though Nvidia's backstop offer raises questions about the actual strength of demand for computing capacity.

Anthropic is in early-stage talks with Samsung Electronics to manufacture a custom AI chip, according to sources with direct knowledge of the project. The move mirrors OpenAI's strategy of developing proprietary chips to reduce dependence on external computing infrastructure and control costs. Google, Amazon Web Services, Meta, and Microsoft have all developed their own chips, while OpenAI unveiled Jalapeno, an inference chip designed for large-language models, last month.

NVIDIA is introducing a revenue-sharing partnership model that allows AI cloud providers to procure its infrastructure and resell services to startups, enterprises, and research organizations. The model addresses capital constraints that have historically limited emerging AI companies' access to large-scale compute. Early partners Sharon AI and Firmus are deploying tens of thousands of NVIDIA GPUs through this arrangement.

Tesla and SpaceX are operating with significant organizational overlap, with multiple executives holding senior roles at both companies, including in the $55 billion Terafab semiconductor manufacturing project. The cross-company collaboration suggests the two entities are already functioning as an integrated operation in key areas, even as speculation grows about a potential formal merger. This structural integration spans materials engineering, AI software, and vehicle software divisions.