SoftBank expands its AI footprint with $6.5 billion purchase of Ampere Computing

SoftBank Group Corp. announced late Wednesday it is acquiring semiconductor designer Ampere Computing in a $6.5 billion deal that will expand its investments in AI infrastructure.

MarketWatch - 21h

SoftBank to acquire chip designer Ampere in $6.5 billion deal

SoftBank Group said Wednesday that it will acquire Ampere Computing, a startup that designed an Arm-based server chip, for $6.5 billion.

CNBC - 4h

SoftBank to Buy Silicon Valley Chip Start-Up Ampere for $6.5 Billion

The move is a bet that Ampere’s chips can begin playing a significant role in data centers for creating artificial intelligence.

The New York Times - 1d

SoftBank expands AI portfolio with $6.5bn Ampere deal

Japanese tech group acquires US chip start-up specialising in data centre servers for artificial intelligence applications

Financial Times - 21h

Alibaba’s new open source model QwQ-32B matches DeepSeek-R1 with way smaller compute requirements

While DeepSeek-R1 operates with 671 billion parameters, QwQ-32B achieves comparable performance with a much smaller footprint.

VentureBeat - Mar. 5

ServiceNow expands AI offerings with pre-built agents, targeting broader enterprise adoption

ServiceNow has upgraded its AI agent offerings as it seeks it sto double down on investing in AI for enterprises.

VentureBeat - Mar. 12

‘A computer’s joke, on us’: writers respond to the short story written by AI

Sam Altman, the OpenAI boss, has declared its new model ‘good at creative writing’. We asked writers including Tracy Chevalier, Kamila Shamsie and David Baddiel if they agree. This week has seen ...

The Guardian - 6d

Perplexity AI in talks to double valuation to $18 billion, raise up to $1 billion in new funding

Perplexity AI is in early talks to raise between $500 million and $1 billion in funding at an $18 billion post-money valuation, a source told CNBC.

CNBC - 3h

GPUs go biological: BBB unveils Bionode, lab-grown, living neuron compute for AI applications

BBB is already working with ethicists and regulatory experts to ensure its technology is developed responsibly.

VentureBeat - 2d

Manslaughter probe at Lucy Letby hospital expanded

Cheshire Police expands its investigation into what happened at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

BBC News - 6d

Waymo expands its robotaxi service again, this time to parts of Silicon Valley

Waymo on Tuesday announced it is expanding its service to include another 27 square miles of coverage around the San Francisco Bay Area.

NBC News - Mar. 11

Celtics sold for record $6.1 billion, sources say

Bill Chisholm has agreed to purchase the Boston Celtics from the Grousbeck family for a valuation for $6.1 billion, sources told ESPN.

ESPN - 1h

Synchron’s Brain-Computer Interface Now Has Nvidia’s AI

The company has partnered with Nvidia to develop “cognitive AI,” which it says will allow people with severe physical disabilities to have more natural interactions with the world around them.

Wired - 1d

This Softbank-Backed Startup Wants to Put a Professional Economist in Your Pocket

Labelbox recruits finance and economics experts to make AI platforms even better at analyzing the economy.

Inc. - Mar. 11

Human Computer raises $5.7M in seed funding to build indie portfolio

Indie studio Human Computer raises $5.7M in funding to build its games, which take place in a shared universe.

VentureBeat - Mar. 13

iRobot’s Future in Doubt as Board Explores Options, Including a Potential Sale

A year after Amazon abandoned its plan to purchase iRobot for $1.4 billion, the Roomba-maker warns it may not be able to continue to operate.

Inc. - Mar. 12

OpenAI to pay CoreWeave $11.9 billion over five years for AI data centers, services

Ahead of CoreWeave's upcoming IPO, the provider of data centers for AI has signed a five-year deal with OpenAI worth almost $12 billion.

CNBC - Mar. 10

'Pokémon Go' sells to Saudi-backed Scopely in $3.5-billion deal

Scopely, a mobile game company, will purchase 'Pokémon Go' and other games from developer Niantic in a deal worth $3.5 billion, the companies announced Wednesday.

Los Angeles Times - Mar. 12

Netflix Games loses its vice-president of generative AI

After embracing generative AI as a core part of its gaming strategy, Netflix's vice president of generative AI has left the company.

VentureBeat - Mar. 12

GM and Nvidia collaborate on AI for self-driving cars and vehicle manufacturing

GM, the largest U.S. automaker, has extended its collaboration with Nvidia to develop self-driving cars and enhance vehicle manufacturing through simulation and accelerated computing. At GTC 2025, ...

VentureBeat - 2d

Abu Dhabi's ADQ and American private equity firm ECP make $25 billion bet on powering U.S. data centers

The UAE has worked to strengthen ties with the U.S. on AI, and is seeking greater access to American technology in order to build its own infrastructure.

CNBC - 4h

Celtics to be sold to private equity co-founder for $6 billion, reports say

William Chisholm, a Massachusetts native and lifelong fan, will purchase the historic NBA franchise.

NBC News - 9h

Yarnhub military history animator expands into gaming with community crowdfunding

Yarnhub Animation Studios gets 35 million views a month on YouTube for its military history animated videos. Now it's expanding into gaming.

VentureBeat - Mar. 10

Comcast expands partnership with Olympics, extends media rights through 2036

Comcast and the International Olympic Committee have agreed on a new deal that expands the company’s broadcast reach and extends its media rights for the Olympic Games through 2036.

NBC News - Mar. 13

The UK is cutting welfare spending to urge people to work. Critics say it will hurt the vulnerable

Britain’s Labour Party government has announced an overhaul of the welfare system it says will save the cash-strapped administration 5 billion pounds, or $6.5 billion

ABC News - 2d

Baidu, once China’s generative AI leader, is battling to regain its position

Baidu has released two new open-source AI models, including a reasoning model, as it vies to regain a leading position in China’s AI space.

CNBC - 2d

AI weather forecast project eyes access through desktop computers

Aardvark prediction model developers hope system will ‘democratise’ the powerful technology for developing nations

Financial Times - 7h

Inside Zoom’s AI evolution: From basic meeting tools to agentic productivity platform powered by LLMs and SLMs

Zoom's CTO explains how the web conferencing vendor’s technology has evolved and expanded into agentic AI capabilities.

VentureBeat - 3d

Salesforce pledges to invest $1 billion in Singapore over five years in AI push

Salesforce on Wednesday announced plans to invest $1 billion in Singapore over the next five years.

CNBC - Mar. 12

NBA champion Boston Celtics to be sold for a record $6.1 billion, AP source says

A group led by Symphony Technology Group managing partner William Chisholm has agreed to purchase the Boston Celtics for at least $6.1 billion, which would make the sale the richest in U.S. major ...

Yahoo Sports - 9h

SpaceX rocket carrying NASA's newest space telescope launches from California

The $488 million Spherex mission aims to explain how galaxies formed and evolved over billions of years, and how the universe expanded so fast in its first moments.

CBS News - Mar. 11

Arizona Supreme Court Taps AI Avatars to Deliver Its News

Daniel and Victoria are AI avatars that will bring the court’s news releases to life, even if they’re not real people.

Inc. - 1d

OpenAI Just Released Its Latest Voice AI Tech, and It’s Highly Customizable

In one example, an AI voice with the persona of a medieval knight gave driving directions to a bakery.

Inc. - 6h

Google Says Its New AI Mode Will Help You Find Better, Deeper Information

The move to make search more efficient with generative AI is a clear shot at OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine.

Inc. - Mar. 10

CoreWeave aims to raise up to $2.7 billion in IPO

In its updated IPO prospectus on Thursday, CoreWeave said it plans to sell shares at $47 to $55 each, raising a total of up to $2.7 billion.

CNBC - 3h

Investigation Into Scale AI Also Targets Its HR Partners HireArt and Upwork

According to former contract workers, HireArt, Scale AI’s employer of record, altered language in job offer letters to retroactively change their employment status.

Inc. - Mar. 11

Mark Cuban: Companies can either be 'great at AI' or risk being 'put out of business'

Mark Cuban says AI is already dominating the business world, just like personal computers once did — and companies that don't understand it will be left behind.

CNBC - 5d

Comcast expands partnership with Olympics, extends media rights through 2036

Comcast gained the rights to broadcast the Olympic Games through 2036 as part of a new $3 billion agreement with the International Olympic Committee.

CNBC - Mar. 13

Waymo expands its robotaxi service again, this time to parts of Silicon Valley

With the expansion, Waymo will now take passengers around Mountain View, Los Altos, Palo Alto and parts of Sunnyvale, California.

CNBC - Mar. 11

London expands CCTV network in ‘tech race against crime’

Councils rush to tool up with AI cameras as police grapple with surge in street crime

Financial Times - 2d

Latest in SoftBank expands its AI footprint with $6.5 billion purchase of Ampere Computing

Topics