Artificial intelligence infrastructure is taking really big bucks now to build out, as BlackRock and Microsoft joined this week to invest up to $100 billion in AI data centers and power projects.
And that’s not all: Microsoft also teamed up with Constellation Energy to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant to fuel its demand for AI services. Despite that, Microsoft plans to buy back $60 billion of its shares. What a crazy cash machine this company is.
Meanwhile, at its annual Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, Salesforce doubled down on AI, in particular betting big on agents, potentially the future of enterprise computing. We’ve reached the hype stage for agentic AI for sure, but the longer-term path does seem pretty clear.
As it aims to keep the ship from sinking, Intel will spin off its foundry business. But it’s apparently keeping its majority share of Mobileye. Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger will need to do some financial engineering he may have learned from former boss Michael Dell –and more downsizing — to avoid capsizing. Indeed, apparently Qualcomm recently approached Intel on a possible acquisition (!).
IBM aims to get on the right side of escalating cloud costs as it bought Kubecost this week.
Amazon.com Chief Executive Andy Jassy brought the hammer down on remote work this week. Will it really improve things? No doubt having people around in the same place regularly is a good thing, but it seems like maybe there’s a bigger problem higher up in the organization if chaining people to a desk is seen as a solution for lagging innovation.
The upshot from our coverage of current cybersecurity trends from Google’s mWISE and CrowdStrike’s Fal.con conferences this past week is a bit of unusually positive news when it comes to security: AI is helping the good guys so far more than the bad guys.
The FTC weighed in on privacy with a report finding that social media and streaming companies are engaging in “vast surveillance.” I’m not sure most users are unaware of the tradeoff for free services, though, and “surveillance” always seems like an overly loaded term for what they’re doing — matching ads to user interests.
Next week’s events include NetApp Insight and Meta Connect, and maybe the latter will reveal whether virtual and augmented reality are still a pipe dream in terms of being a real business anytime soon.
SiliconANGLE and theCUBE Research analysts John Furrier and Dave Vellante discuss this and other news in more detail on this week’s theCUBE Pod, out late Friday on YouTube. And don’t miss Vellante’s weekly deep dive, Breaking Analysis, coming this weekend.
Here’s the big enterprise and related tech news from SiliconANGLE and beyond:
AI and data: The SaaS scramble to agentic AI
Best start paying attention to Oracle again: It’s Larry’s world. We just live in it
AI power consumption is really getting serious:Three Mile Island nuclear plant will reopen to power Microsoft data centers
Money matters
BlackRock and Microsoft join forces to invest up to $100B into AI infrastructure
Roots Automation raises $22.2M to boost efficiency for insurance firms with generative AI
Supermaven nabs $12M for its AI coding assistant
New models and services
It was all about AI at Dreamforce, naturally:
Highwire act: Salesforce’s big bet on Agentforce spotlights volatile nature of the AI world
At Dreamforce, tech leaders see adoption of AI agents as next chapter of change for enterprise computing
Salesforce living the Dreamforce: Revolutionizing business workflows and data governance
Salesforce’s data integration and gen AI unite its ecosystem: theCUBE insights from Dreamforce
Salesforce launches Agentforce AI Partner Network and updates to Data Cloud
Slack introduces AI-powered chatbots and automation workflows
The future of Salesforce’s platform and AI ecosystem: theCUBE’s Dreamforce event wrap-up analysis
Elsewhere in AI and data
YouTube to bring AI-generated videos to Shorts with Veo integration
Workday jumps on the AI agent train, promising to bolster employee productivity
Microsoft announces updates to AI-powered 365 Copilot with Pages and autonomous agents
Best not to ignore China when it comes to AI: Alibaba releases 100+ open-source AI models and new text-to-video generator
Amazon launches Amelia, a generative AI-powered assist for third-party sellers
No merger scrutiny of Microsoft’s hiring of Inflection staff, EU says
Google to roll out C2PA standard for detecting AI-generated images across several services
Lionsgate partners with Runway AI to develop custom video generation model
Exclusive: Deepgram launches voice agent API that brings AI conversations to life
Runway AI launches an API to expand access to its most powerful video generation model
Osmos takes on LinkedIn with its AI matchmaker-powered professional networking platform
Confluent enhances support for Apache Flink, easing access to real-time data streams
YugabyteDB evolves into a distributed PostgreSQL database for apps that need resilience and scale
HubSpot introduces Breeze, an AI-powered tool with copilot, agents and customer intelligence
There’s moreAI andbig data news on SiliconANGLE
Around the enterprise: Intel dis-integrates
Intel to spin off chip fab business unit as AWS signs up for custom AI chips But not Mobileye: Mobileye shares jump as Intel confirms no plans to divest majority stake Late-breaking: The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Qualcomm approached Intel on a possible acquisition. More to come on that…
Server chip startup Ampere reportedly exploring a sale
The bar for funding software-as-a-service companies is now much higher: $300M in ARR (per the Wall Street Journal)
Microsoft approves new $60 billion share buyback program
IBM buys Kubernetes cost control startup Kubecost to expand its FinOps suite
RISC-V guardian SiFive unveils new chip designs for low-powered AI at the edge
Linux Foundation to host AWS’ OpenSearch search and analytics engine
Veeam acquires Microsoft 365 data protection startup Alcion
Mitel’s common framework promises to simplify hybrid unified communications solutions
Business travel startup Hotel Engine reels in $140M at $2.1B valuation
LiquidStack raises $20M to expand manufacturing and advance liquid cooling technology
Photonics startup Lightium raises $7M to mass-produce thin-film lithium niobate data center interconnects
We have more news oncloud,infrastructure andapps
Cyber beat
Attack & response
FBI and partners disrupt 200,000-device botnet linked to Chinese hackers
Vectra AI warns of Google Cloud Document AI vulnerability allowing data exfiltration
Cofense uncovers new sextortion scam tactics involving Google Street View images
API and bot attacks cost businesses $186M annually, new report finds
Stytch unveils advanced device fingerprinting features to enhance application security
Money matters
Cyberattack simulation and penetration testing startup Picus Security raises $45M
Email security startup EasyDMARC closes $20M funding round
RunSafe Security raises $12M to drive global expansion and product development
C/side raises $6M to prevent supply chain attacks by securing third-party scripts
New services and insights
Google Cloud enhances cybersecurity with Mandiant integration, threat intelligence sharing, updated framework
Google Cloud’s Kevin Mandia on the evolving role of the CISO in cybersecurity risk management
Permiso launches Universal Identity Graph to enhance enterprise identity threat detection
Pulumi expands cloud automation platform with two new security products
LevelBlue launches new managed threat detection and response of government entities
More cybersecurity news here
Elsewhere in tech: Amazonians head back to the office
CEO Andy Jassy tells Amazon employees they’ll have to be in the office 5 days a week next year
EU to step up enforcement of Apple’s compliance with DMA rules
FTC finds that social media, streaming giants engaged in ‘vast surveillance’ of users
International task force shuts down Ghost crime app
EU court scraps €1.49B antitrust fine against Google, mostly upholds Qualcomm penalty
TikTok jousts with US appeals court in attempt to avoid nationwide ban
Cudis raises $5M for a blockchain-based AI-powered wearable health ring
Big changes to Instagram: Will teens be saved?
X has found a way to come back to life in Brazil
Drift raises $25M to expand decentralized exchange on the Solana blockchain
And check out more news onemerging tech,blockchain and crypto andpolicy
Comings and goings
Thierry Breton quits as France’s EU commissioner, criticizing EC President Ursula von der Leyen. Finland’s Henna Virkkunen will become the EVP for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy in the next college of commissioners.
Former SentinelOne, Elastic and Informatica exec Sally Jenkins named chief marketing officer at analytics engineering firm dbt Labs.
Data resilience company Veeam appointed Niraj Tolia chief technology officer.
Chipmaker Qualcomm lays off hundreds of workers in San Diego (per TechCrunch)
What’s next
Events
Sept. 23-24: NetApp Insight, Las Vegas: SiliconANGLE will have the news and theCUBE will be onsite with interviews and analysis.
Sept. 25-26: Meta Connect, virtual
Earnings
Wednesday, Sept. 25: Micron
Thursday, Sept. 26: Blackberry