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Tech News
Nscale, a UK-based AI data center company, has named Fidji Simo, who recently departed OpenAI's No. 2 role, to its board of directors. She joins other prominent tech figures including Sheryl Sandberg, Susan Decker and Nick Clegg as the company prepares for a possible public listing this fall.
AI training campuses can swing 70% of their electrical load within milliseconds and disconnect just as abruptly to protect expensive compute hardware, a pattern conventional grid infrastructure was never designed to handle. Analysis of the setup shows the standard power stack—medium-voltage feeds, transformers, and uninterruptible power supplies—fails at three points: undersized battery buffers, converters run in bypass mode that let raw swings and grid transients pass unfiltered, and protection logic built for far smaller loads that trips offline at the worst possible moment. The 2024 Virginia grid disturbance was traced largely to this outdated protection logic disconnecting under stress.
Verdant, an economic think tank pushing for stricter data center regulation, says techUK's widely cited job creation figures are inflated. It estimates existing UK data centers support about 4,400 direct jobs versus techUK's 24,300, and projects only 10,400 permanent jobs by 2035 for planned sites versus techUK's forecast of 40,200.
Corning shares jumped 8% after announcing a multibillion-dollar partnership with Verizon to build fiber-optic cables for AI data centers, extending its 2025 gain to 90%. Qualcomm also rose after disclosing it issued Amazon warrants worth up to $4 billion in stock as part of a deal where AWS will buy up to $60 billion in Qualcomm server chips, with revenue starting in the December quarter. The news lifted other AI infrastructure stocks including Intel, AMD, HPE and Coherent.
A group called Build American AI, backed by venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz and OpenAI president Greg Brockman, is launching a multimillion-dollar advertising push in states like Ohio, Wisconsin and Kansas to counter growing public opposition to AI data centers. Brockman's $100 million super PAC, Leading the Future, is reportedly financing the campaign, which frames pushback against data centers as a threat to jobs and American competitiveness.
As AI data centers rise across the country, the trucking industry is quietly benefiting from hauling the materials needed to build them—HVAC systems, wiring, tubing and semiconductors. Industry executives say this equipment-heavy freight, especially flatbed and heavy-haul segments, has seen multiyear-high spot rates and tighter capacity even as broader freight demand remains uneven amid tariffs and record diesel prices.
Jacob Stokes, a former Obama national security official now at the Center for a New American Security, published a report titled 'Superpowers and AGI' urging the US to prepare drastic responses if China reaches artificial general intelligence first. His proposed options range from cyberattacks to sabotage AI systems up to kinetic military strikes on physical data centers, which he acknowledges carries the highest risk of escalation.
An executive order signed by President Trump declares a national emergency over foreign-made bulk-power equipment, giving the Energy Department authority to block or restrict transactions involving certain grid and data center components. Analysts say Chinese suppliers provide significant portions of the transformers, switchgear, batteries and optical technology that power U.S. data centers, exposing a vulnerability in America's AI infrastructure buildout even as U.S. firms lead in chips and compute hardware.
As Trump publicly warned communities against opposing AI data centers, a group called Build American AI—backed by the PAC Leading the Future—is rolling out a large ad campaign in battleground states like Kansas, Ohio and Wisconsin to build public support for new AI infrastructure. The push comes as an Annenberg Public Policy Center study found 61% of US adults now oppose new data centers near their homes, driven by concerns over rising utility costs, environmental impact and general distrust of AI.
GoPro announced a merger with optical-photonics company Starman Optical, a deal valued at $285 million that will pay off GoPro's roughly $92 million in outstanding debt. Existing GoPro shareholders will retain about 10 percent ownership of the combined, still publicly traded company, which expects the deal to close by the end of 2026 pending shareholder and regulatory approval. Beyond its camera and subscription business, GoPro plans to expand into optical transceivers for AI infrastructure, along with defense, government, robotics and aerospace markets.
Startups like Prenuvo and Neko Health are selling elective full-body MRI diagnostics to wealthy clients, with prices ranging from $2,500 to $4,000 per scan promising detection of hundreds of conditions. This luxury health trend is expanding even as a growing share of Americans, now 36 percent according to a KFF survey, report skipping doctor visits due to cost.
Apple has increased its Apple TV subscription price for the fourth time in four years, moving monthly fees from $12.99 to $14.99 and annual plans from $99 to $119. The Apple One bundle, which combines TV, Music, Arcade and iCloud+, also rises from $19.95 to $21.95 per month.