Also: OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle team up for AI infra
Wednesday, January 22, 2025 | | | Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we're looking at a major new AI infrastructure project in the U.S., Databricks's latest fundraise, and Truecaller's improvements for iOS. We've also got notes from the worlds of fintech, antitrust, clean data center power, game development, and more. Let's go! — Rebecca | | | Image Credits: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto / Getty Images | 1. AI bedfellows: OpenAI is teaming up with SoftBank and Oracle to build multiple data centers for AI in the U.S. The joint venture will be named the Stargate Project, and the companies are expected to commit up to $500 billion over the next four years. Read More 2. Raking it in: Databricks has closed a previously announced $10 billion Series J at a $62 billion valuation. Adding to that is $5.25 billion in debt financing from leading financial institutions. Read More 3. New iPhone, who dis? Caller ID app Truecaller is finally giving iPhone users caller information in real-time, a feature Android users have enjoyed for some time. It's a big deal for the company, since iOS subscriptions already make up a decent chunk of its bottom line. Read More | | | Image Credits: Dave Benett/Getty Images | 🇬🇧 Revamping regulation: The U.K.'s anticompetition authority has brought on a new interim chairman: former Amazon executive Doug Gurr. Confused? It's part of the country's broader push to position itself as a pro-growth, pro-tech nation that cuts red-tape and promotes AI. Read More 🏦 Banking on it: Corporate card and expense management startup Ramp looks like it's expanding into digital banking with the launch of its new product Ramp Treasury. That said, the fintech's CEO Eric Glyman says Ramp is partnering with banks, not becoming one. Read More 📧 Whoops: A Delaware judge has sanctioned Sheryl Sandberg, Meta's former COO, for allegedly deleting emails related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Plaintiffs claim there were important emails on Sandberg's personal account related to the 2018 political persuasion campaign. Read More 🔋 Say NO to fossil fueled data centers: Data centers are expected to consume 12% of all electricity produced in the U.S. by 2028, but that's a boon for sustainable energy startups. Amperesand is betting that its solid-state transformers can convert power from one format to another more efficiently. Read More 🎒 Fess up! The recent hack of edtech giant PowerSchool might be one of the biggest breaches of the year, but the company is holding back from providing meaningful information about the scale of the attack, which may have affected data of 60 million students across the country. Read More | | | 🐕 It's a DOGE eat DOGE world: The Washington Post reports that Vivek Ramaswamy didn't just leave DOGE to be run by Elon Musk so he could run for office in Ohio. The Post reports there was a deep philosophical rift between the two billionaires. The first of many ego-based spats to come, I'm sure. Read More ✊ Game developers want protections: One out of every 11 game developers lost their job in the past year, according to the 2025 GDC survey reported by GamesBeat. Many said they thought generative AI was having a negative impact on game development, and a majority feel game industry workers should unionize. Read More 🤑 Pay to win: OpenAI spent $1.76 million on government lobbying in 2024, of which $510,000 was spent in the last three months alone, reports MIT Technology Review. That's a huge jump from 2023, when OpenAI only spent $260,000 on the Hill. Read More | | | 😆 The memelord of sales: Startup 1up helps sales teams use AI to pull information from company resources, rather than bug an engineer every time they have a technical question. But it's 1up's unorthodox marketing practice that I find interesting: "One out of three of our leads comes from a meme," founder George Avetisov told TC. Read More | | | Featured jobs from CrunchBoard | | | Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. | | | Update your preferences here at any time | | Copyright © 2024 TechCrunch, All rights reserved.Yahoo Inc. 110 5th St,San Francisco,CA | | | | |
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