All eyes were on Nvidia’s earnings report this week as a proxy for the artificial intelligence economy, and even for the graphics chip giant, it was too much to live up to.
Nvidia earnings disappointed, but really, how could they not? Most of the news was actually quite good, as growth looks to continue for a while. After all, demanding new models and services keep coming out at a rapid clip.
Moreover, AI investment doesn’t seem to be slowing down: Leader OpenAI, which says ChatGPT is being used by 200 million people a week, is raising billions of dollars at a $100 billion valuation from Nvidia and Apple, ROI sure things such as coding assistants keep raising big bucks, and Meta’s open-source Llama models have been downloaded 350 million times.
Investor concern is understandable, though, as competitors also keep hammering away: Cerebras threw down the gauntlet to Nvidia with a new inference service. And IBM started offering Intel’s Gaudi chip in its cloud. Those are on top of Advanced Micro Devices buying ZT Systems last week.
For a read on what’s coming next in cloud, check out John Furrier’s exclusive with Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman: Can he pull a Tom Brady surprise with generative AI? AWS re:Invent will be here before we know and we’ll find out a lot more then, but think of this as a preview.
Most enterprise providers turned in upside earnings this week — including Dell, HP, Nutanix, NetApp, Pure Storage, MongoDB, Salesforce, Marvell, Box and even Okta and beleaguered CrowdStrike — though investors in some cases sold on muted outlooks and other uncertainties.
VMware intensified its focus on private cloud under Broadcom, as CEO Hock Tan throws shade at cloud providers. Customers are far from happy, and VMware is likely to lose more than a few, but as theCUBE Research analysts Dave Vellante and Rob Strechay recently pointed out, Tan’s plans make sense to get VMware more focused — even if success depends on execution, including on AI plans.
Meantime, data management remains hot, even independent of AI’s impact, as Cribl raised $319M at a $3.5B valuation.
Cyber consolidation may be picking up as Cisco, Check Point Software and BrowserStack all went fishing this week.
The California AI bill passed the Assembly, though there’s more wrangling to come amid widely divergent opinions on whether it’s good or bad.
Finally, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov apparently misread sentiment about his private-messaging company in a big way and now he’s facing major charges of harboring criminal activity. Although some free-speech advocates are crying foul, if there’s child sexual abuse material and other criminal activities happening under Telegram’s cover, that’s not going to stand, and shouldn’t.
Next week’s key earnings include HPE, Broadcom, UiPath, Zscaler and more.
Furrier and Vellante will discuss this and other news in more detail on this week’s theCUBE Pod, out later today on YouTube. And don’t miss Vellante’s weekly deep dive, Breaking Analysis, this weekend.
Here’s the top news and newsy topics of the week from SiliconANGLE and beyond:
AI and data: Inside the mind of AWS’ new chief
John Furrier’s exclusive conversation with cloud’s top dog: Exclusive: Inside the mind of AWS CEO Matt Garman and how he aims to shape the future of cloud and AI
TheCUBE Research analyst David Linthicum weighs in: Hype around generative AI: Has it already ‘jumped the shark’?
Related: Researchers point out anew that large language models aren’t all they’re assumed to be.
Small steps to transparency; will it make a difference? US AI Safety Institute will have access to OpenAI and Anthropic for a safer future
New models, services — and more?
Cerebras Systems throws down gauntlet to Nvidia with launch of ‘world’s fastest’ AI inference service
Amazon turns to Anthropic’s AI for Alexa revamp (per Reuters; our story coming soon)
AI image generator Midjourney is venturing into hardware development
Google updates Gemini with new image generation model, custom Gem chatbots
Nvidia launches AI agent blueprints to allow enterprises to build their own AI apps
OpenAI reportedly preparing to launch new ‘Strawberry’ AI model
Anthropic reveals system prompts that guide its Claude AI models’ behavior
Meta reports rapid growth in popularity for its Llama AI models, with nearly 350M downloads
IBM to make Intel’s Gaudi 3 AI chip available in its public cloud
Alibaba announces Qwen2-VL AI model with advanced video analysis and reasoning capabilities
The big system integrators are clearly all-in on AI: AWS and Deloitte build on existing collaboration to provide industry-specific enterprise AI solutions and
Accenture and Google Cloud strengthen alliance to boost AI adoption and cybersecurity
Dremio says it has dramatically improved query performance on Iceberg data lakes
Money matters
OpenAI could reportedly raise billions of dollars at $100B+ valuation And a bunch of other companies apparently could join in: Report: Nvidia, Apple could join OpenAI’s multibillion-dollar funding round
Nothing says “AI ROI” like coding assistants: AI coding assistant Magic raises $320M round as rival Codeium nabs $150M
Data management startup Cribl nabs $319M at $3.5B valuation
Atlassian acquires AI-powered video meeting assistant platform Rewatch
AI-powered code editor Cursor raises $60M in Series A round
Viggle AI raises $19M in funding for its AI video generator
Katara raises $2.2M in seed funding to accelerate developer experiences with generative AI
There’s moreAI andbig data news on SiliconANGLE
Around the enterprise: What’s next for VMware?
From VMware Explore
VMware goes all-in on the private cloud, as Broadcom unit showcases AI and counters price concerns
VMware Cloud Foundation 9 and Tanzu 10 simplify development and deployment in private clouds
TheCUBE analysts assess enterprise challenges and opportunities at VMware Explore
The CUBE Pod analysis: Navigating VMware ecosystem challenges and strategic shifts at VMware Explore
VMware private cloud strategy: theCUBE’s analysis on simplifying digital transformation
TheCUBE assesses VMware’s shifting cloud strategy and its future under Broadcom’s leadership
There’s lots more analysis and interviews free to watch on demand.
Big earnings week — mostly good
Nvidia beats expectations but disappoints investors’ sky-high expectations
Salesforce beats earnings estimates as it talks up its new AI agents
Dell’s stock rises on crushing earnings beat driven by AI server sales
Strong beat and raise helps MongoDB’s stock surge more than 13% after-hours
Data storage leaders Pure Storage, NetApp and Nutanix all beat Wall Street’s targets
PC sales rebound helps HP return to revenue growth, but its stock falls on earnings miss
Cybersecurity firms CrowdStrike and Okta beat earnings forecasts but face challenges
SentinelOne achieves second-quarter profitability thanks to strong customer growth
Shares of Box surge in extended trading as generative AI bets start paying off
Strong AI chip demand and improved guidance boost Marvell’s stock after-hours
Autodesk outperforms projections with strong earnings and revenue growth
Elastic shares plunge 25% on lower revenue projections amid slower customer commitments
HashiCorp cuts losses on 15% rise in revenue as IBM acquisition looms.
Mo’ money matters
Intel working with bankers to present board with strategic options, sending shares up 8% (per CNBC; our story coming soon)
Supermicro shares drop on short seller claim of ‘accounting red flags’
Defense technology firm Parry Labs raises $80M to develop next-generation open architecture
Cloud cost management startup nOps secures $30M
Planera raises $13.5M for its construction management platform
New products and services
IBM unveils new Telum II AI processor set to power its next-generation mainframe systems
Startup FuriosaAI debuts RNGD chip for LLM and multimodal AI inference
Slack adds new capabilities to make workflow automation easier and more accessible
There’s plenty more news oncloud,infrastructure andapps
Cyber beat: Consolidation picks up
Cisco snaps up AI model and data security startup Robust Intelligence
Check Point Software acquires cybersecurity startup Cyberint
BrowserStack acquires Bird Eats Bug to enhance bug reporting capabilities
Attack & response
Researchers discover China-linked hacking campaign targeting US internet providers
Seattle-Tacoma Airport suffers through third day of disruptions following possible ransomware attack
Google reports watering-hole attacks on Mongolian sites leveraged iOS and Android exploits
New services
Fortinet expands unified SASE solution with sovereign options and AI integration
DigitalOcean enhances role-based access control with new predefined roles
Secureworks launches Taegis IDR to tackle identity-based threats in 90 seconds
Bonus: a worthwhile interview with Signal President Meredith Whittaker: Signal Is More Than Encrypted Messaging. Under Meredith Whittaker, It’s Out to Prove Surveillance Capitalism Wrong
Morecybersecurity news here
Elsewhere in tech: slapdowns for Telegram and Uber
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov arrested in France over alleged failure to moderate criminal content
Netherlands fines Uber €290M for breaching EU’s GDPR privacy regulation
Plaud introduces an AI-powered, ultra-light wearable NotePin device
TikTok told it must face lawsuit over deadly viral challenge, despite Section 230 protections
Bezos-led funding round values Swiss robot maker at $100M (per Bloomberg)
Quai raises $5M to build a proof-of-work stablecoin that uses energy to generate value
And check out more news onemerging tech,blockchain and crypto andpolicy
Comings and goings
Luca Maestri to step down as Apple CFO next year
IBM reportedly shuttering its R&D hub in China
Brave lays off 27 employees (per TechCrunch)
Two years after selling his company Lockstep to The Sage Group, Peter Horadan has joined Seattle identity verification startup Vouched as CEO.
Former Lacework and Twitter Chief Information Security Officer Lea Kissner is now CISO at LinkedIn, replacing Geoff Belknap.
Shopify hired Mikhail Parakhin, who led Microsoft’s AI advancement with products such as Copilot, as its new chief technology officer.
What’s next
Events: Looking ahead
Sept. 17-18: CrowdStrike Fal.con, Las Vegas: TheCUBE will be there with interviews and analysis.
Sept. 18-19: mWISE, the Mandiant Worldwide Information Security Exchange, Denver: TheCUBE will be there with interviews and analysis.
Earnings
Tuesday, Sept. 3: Zscaler, PagerDuty and Asana
Wednesday, Sept. 4: HPE, C3 AI and Couchbase
Thursday, Sept. 5: Broadcom, UiPath, SecureWorks, DocuSign, Smartsheet and Samsara