Samsung Unveils Record $648B Investment in Chips and AI

The robotics industry is splitting into two competing camps over which AI approach will power the next generation of physical robots. Vision-language-action models (VLAs), derived from large language models, compete against world models, which predict physical outcomes based on video training. Recent moves by Luma and 1X to launch world model labs signal growing momentum for the latter approach, even as major figures like Elon Musk and Jensen Huang predict a robotics ChatGPT moment is near.

SambaNova, an Intel-backed AI chip startup, is raising between $800 million and $1 billion at a $10 billion valuation, roughly five times its valuation from four months prior. The funding reflects intensifying demand for AI server chips that can compete with Nvidia's offerings as developers and cloud providers seek lower-cost alternatives. SambaNova, founded nine years ago, is among a growing cohort of startups targeting the high-margin AI chip market.

Cerebras, an AI chipmaker, saw its stock price decline following its first earnings report as a public company. The company provided guidance for narrower gross margins in its core business, which caught investors off guard. CEO commentary suggests the margin outlook may have been misunderstood by the market.

IBM has demonstrated a prototype chip with 100 billion transistors stacked vertically in two layers, doubling the density of its 2021 design. The nanostack architecture uses complementary field-effect transistors (CFETs) with staggered alignment to pack more transistors without shrinking them further, potentially extending Moore's Law by another decade. The company reports 50% performance gains and 70% energy efficiency improvements over its previous state-of-the-art design.