Hyperscalers are gobbling up land for AI data centers and now Google is mapping out property in space. Known as Project Suncatcher, the plan is to launch solar-powered networks of orbiting Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) — Google’s custom-developed machine learning accelerator chips — connected by free-space optical links. Apparently, Google feels that deploying high-performance TPUs in space would not be that different from the satellites that relay Internet communications from orbit. A big advantage over Earth-based AI factories is proximity to the sun, which emits “more power than 100 trillion times humanity’s total electricity production,” per Google. Continue reading Google Shares Moonshot Plan to Build Data Center in Space

OpenAI has entered into a $38 billion cloud computing deal with AWS in a deal set to extend at least seven years, the hyperscaler says. The Monday news propelled Amazon stock to an all-time high of $254 per share, up 4 percent at close. After initially working exclusively with investor Microsoft for cloud services, OpenAI has negotiated expansively to meet increased demand. This year, the startup has signed with Oracle, Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom for storage and processing power as well as funding for data center construction plans of its own, here and abroad. The strategic alliance with AWS marks OpenAI’s first such arrangement with Amazon. Continue reading OpenAI Sets $38 Billion AWS Deal for Training and Inference

Canva has retooled the pricing of its Affinity image-editing and publishing apps to better compete with Adobe. The company announced a new offering that bundles Affinity’s Photo, Publisher and Designer apps into a software package called “Affinity by Canva” that is free for users with a Canva account but requires a paid subscription to access generative AI features. Canva’s paid subscription plans start at $120 a year for individuals. Previously, Affinity software was available by perpetual license, a pricing option that Canva — which purchased Affinity late last year — is retiring. Canva also had to reconcile its acquisition’s anti-AI stance, something it seems to have accomplished. Continue reading Affinity by Canva Is a Free Photo, Design and Layout Bundle

OpenAI’s new Aardvark agentic security researcher powered by GPT‑5 is an autonomous agent that aims to help developers and security teams find and fix security vulnerabilities at scale. Aardvark is now in private beta as the company refines its capabilities in the field. “Each year, tens of thousands of new vulnerabilities are discovered across enterprise and open-source codebases,” making software security one of the most critical aspects of doing business, says OpenAI, explaining that Aardvark “continuously monitors and analyzes source code to identify and prioritize vulnerabilities and propose fixes.” Continue reading OpenAI Aardvark Agentic GPT-5 Security Tool in Private Beta

Nvidia has struck a series of deals with South Korea’s tech leaders that will result in more than 250,000 of its chips deployed across that country. Included in the frenzy of activity are Samsung Electronics, which is teaming with Nvidia to build an AI “megafactory” that will use more than 50,000 Nvidia GPUs for an intelligent manufacturing facility that will produce state-of-the-art processors that will be used in mobile devices, and robotics, among other things. Nvidia also has South Korean AI factories in the works with Hyundai and manufacturing conglomerate SK Group. The announcements were made as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings. Continue reading Nvidia Talks Up Robotics and AI Megafactory with Samsung

Amazon Q3 revenue was up 13 percent to $180.2 billion in the third quarter, compared with $158.9 billion in 2024. The AWS group that includes AI saw sales increase 20 percent year-over-year to $33 billion. The company reported that gross profit increased 38 percent to $21.2 billion for the quarter, due largely to consumer spending online and the demand for cloud computing. Amazon is the dominant player in the cloud space with about 30 percent of global share. However, investors have been cautious about AWS, which accounted for 65 percent of the company’s total operating income in Q3. Since 2022, competition has heated up with OpenAI’s ChatGPT signing on with Microsoft Azure. Continue reading AWS, Cloud and AI Help Drive Impressive Quarter for Amazon

Apple had its first $100 billion quarter thanks to the new iPhone 17 series and a strong performance by services, up 15 percent from 2024. Revenue for fiscal Q4, ended September 27, totaled $102.5 billion, up 8 percent year-over-year. Profit surged 86 percent to $27.5 billion (due mainly to a 2024 tax hit). Q4 results capped a record fiscal year with revenue of $416 billion. Sales of the iPhone 17s brought in $49 billion for the three months. The company sold 100 million more units than last year during the same period despite “supply constraints” on some 2025 models. Design changes drove iPhone sales up 6 percent from Q4 of last year. Continue reading Apple Reports a Strong Quarter Propelled by iPhone 17 Sales

Every scientific supercomputer powered by Nvidia GPUs will soon be a hybrid quantum computer, CEO Jensen Huang said during last week’s Nvidia GTC conference as he unveiled a quantum compute accelerator called NVQLink that connects “quantum and classical supercomputers — uniting them into a single, coherent system that marks the onset of the quantum-GPU computing era.” Accessible through Nvidia’s CUDA-Q software, NVQLink can create and test applications that draw on CPUs and GPUs alongside QPUs, “helping ready the industry for the hybrid quantum-classical supercomputers of the future.” At the conference, Huang also announced a Nokia partnership that will deliver AI-native 6G using new Nvidia tech. Continue reading Nvidia Unveils Quantum Accelerator, $1 Billion Nokia 6G Deal

Alphabet has notched its first $100 billion-plus quarter, with revenue of $102.35 billion, a 16 percent increase for the period ending September 30. The result exceeded analyst estimates of $99.89 billion. CEO Sundar Pichai noted the results marked a 100 percent increase in Q3 revenue since 2020, when it was $50 billion. “We’re firmly in the generative AI era,” Nadella said, noting diversification “with successful businesses in Cloud, YouTube and subscriptions.” The company was onboard with the trend in increased spending, upping its capital expenditure range from $85 billion to $91 billion – $93 billion for 2025. Continue reading Cloud and AI Drive Alphabet to First $100 Billion-Plus Quarter

Increased demand for cloud computing and AI services has propelled revenue growth of 18 percent to $77.7 billion for Microsoft for its fiscal Q1, ending September 30. Net income was $27.7 billion for the quarter, an increase of 12 percent year-over-year. “Our planet-scale cloud and AI factory, together with Copilots across high value domains, is driving broad diffusion and real-world impact,” said Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella, noting “It’s why we continue to increase our investments in AI across both capital and talent to meet the massive opportunity ahead.” The news coincides with OpenAI’s next steps in becoming a for-profit company and an update in Microsoft’s stake in the AI startup. Continue reading Microsoft Market Cap Passes $4 Trillion Propelled by OpenAI

Meta Platforms shares fell by more than 7 percent despite record revenue of $51.2 billion in an adverse reaction to accelerated AI spending. Sales were up 26 percent year-over-year, but net income of $2.7 billion was far below analysts’ expectations. The company attributed the net income miss to accounting changes resulting from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act even as it advised analysts of “aggressive” capital expenditure increases to come. Meta’s 2025 capital expenditure forecast grew from the existing estimate of $66 billion to $72 billion. Most of that will be spent on data centers and researchers, Meta said, indicating 2026 capex would be “notably larger” and could reach as high as $100 billion. Continue reading Meta Reports Sales Increase, Record Revenue of $51.2 Billion

To coincide with Adobe MAX 2025 in Los Angeles, Adobe has released a new version of its generative AI tool Firefly, calling it “your all-in-one creative AI studio.” Firefly now offers under one subscription a collection of models that include not only Firefly Image Model 5 (in public beta) but those from partners including Google, OpenAI, Luma AI, ElevenLabs, Topaz Labs, and more. From concept to final product, Firefly is attempting to support every phase of the workflow with AI to generate music, narration and video clips, while supporting areas such as ideation and editing, Adobe says. Continue reading Adobe Firefly Adds Third-Party Models to Generative AI Suite

Three major North American music performing rights organizations, or PROs, have decided to allow registration of musical compositions that are “partially generated using artificial intelligence tools.” ASCAP, BMI and the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) have agreed to accept direct registration within their individual societies. For registration purposes, all three PROs define a partially AI-generated musical work as “one that combines elements of AI-generated musical content with elements of human authorship.” Musical compositions that are entirely created using AI continue to be ineligible for registration in these groups. Continue reading Music Groups Will Register Music ‘Partially’ Generated by AI

Qualcomm, which has established itself as a leading supplier of AI chips for edge devices with its Snapdragon line, is now making a major push into the data center space to challenge industry leaders such as Nvidia and AMD. The AI200 and AI250 accelerator chips are aimed at rack-scale inference systems as the debut entries in what Qualcomm describes as a multi-generation roadmap of AI inference equipment that will be updated annually. At Monday’s market close, Qualcomm stock was up by 11 percent on the news as investors saw promise of the San Diego-based firm’s expansion beyond its core mobile market. Continue reading Qualcomm Articulates Its Expansion into AI Data Center Chips

Amazon wants to save customers time shopping by helping them reach an informed decision more quickly using AI. The new “Help Me Decide” feature aims to pair people with the right product “with the tap of a button” that produces “one clear recommendation.” This includes an explanation of why the product is right for you “based on your specific needs and preferences,” ascertained via analysis of your browsing history. If you’ve been perusing similar products but haven’t yet purchased, the “Help Me Decide” button will appear at the top of the product detail page. It can also be accessed by tapping “Keep shopping for” on the homepage if you want to pick up where you left off in a previous browsing session. Continue reading Amazon: ‘Help Me Decide’ Uses AI to Help Shoppers Choose