Amazon's Cheaper AI Chips Challenge Nvidia's Data Center Grip

CyrusOne, a data center operator owned by KKR and BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners, is preparing for what could be one of the largest IPOs next year by interviewing investment banks. The company was taken private in early 2022 for $15 billion. The IPO would allow the private equity owners to cash out while enabling CyrusOne to pay down debt accumulated during data center expansion.

Xsight, an Israeli server networking and storage chip startup, raised $300 million at a $2.8 billion valuation in its first major funding round in five years. Led by Fidelity Investments with participation from Atreides Management, Valor Equity Partners, Battery Ventures, and Intel Capital, the round reflects investor appetite for networking infrastructure that connects GPUs in data centers. The funding follows recent rounds for competing networking startups Eliyan and Upscale AI, signaling a broader market opportunity beyond GPU chips themselves.

Google DeepMind introduced Gemini Robotics 2, a suite of AI models designed to give robots whole-body control, dexterous manipulation, and multi-robot collaboration capabilities. The system includes three models: a vision-language-action model for motor control, an embodied reasoning model for planning and communication, and an on-device model optimized for fast adaptation to new robot bodies. Early-access partners can now deploy these models on humanoid and bi-arm robots to perform complex, multi-step tasks in unstructured environments.

TSMC is developing advanced chip-packaging technology to compete with Intel's existing offerings, according to sources with direct knowledge of the project. Chip packaging, once a routine manufacturing step, has become a critical bottleneck as AI demand drives designers to integrate more processors and high-bandwidth memory into single units. The move signals TSMC's concern about Intel's competitive position in a sector where packaging complexity is now a key differentiator.