In recent weeks, a project called Jmail.world has quickly recreated the online life of Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender with myriad ties to the rich and powerful.
The effort started with a reproduction of the tranche of released emails in common Gmail style, searchable just like your own email app. Earlier this week, the team behind Jmail, software engineer Riley Walz and CEO of Kino Luke Igal, revealed JPhotos, which is inspired by Google Photos and is full of images that have been made public. The Jmail.world archive now includes sections imitating Google Drive, as well as JFlights, a section tracking Epsteins flight history, Jemini, an Epstein-inspired chatbot, and even Jotify. Together, they create an immersive facsimile of Epsteins digital world.
To engage Jmail.world, we must suspend our disbelief, at least in part. The emails, and other documents, include the redactions of government lawyers. Jeffrey Epstein did not have a virtual reality platform for exploring his old haunts (obviously). These pictures were not uploaded to a database in this format and no one actually tracks their flights like this.
Still, the endeavor feels not unlike the systems sometimes used by law enforcement to poke through the worlds of their subjects. They suck up records, and then recreate them on their own systems to mine through. In this case, the Jmail tool is available to everyone to examine. You, too, can sort through the digital refuse for evidence of one of the most odious scandals in U.S. history.
It is indeed horrifying, in a pick-your-poison sort of way. [A]t some point this stuff will come out — as long [Trump] continues to top polls, wrote a New York Times reporter to Epstein in one exchange, back in 2015. Epstein responded: would you like photso [sic] of donald and girls in bikinis in my kitchen.
There are the ever-flowing emails from his associates, including Ghislaine Maxwell and Steve Bannon. The back-and-forths over strategizing with reporters on the myriad allegations facing Epstein and his associates. There are the redacted images of his sometimes-naked victims. There are his critics, who email him: You are dead. And then, his morally disturbed fans. One anonymous emailer wrote to Epstein: I can’t believe they arrested you again, you are the only man on the planet who would never be bad with any women as you love them too much.
Whats surprisingly striking is how much of the stuff on first glance doesnt appear like much of anything, really. There is the endless supply of updates from Quora and the boomerist conversations on political-goings. There are lots of re-forwarded news stories, articles flagged by Flipboard, updates on the markets, and, sometimes, very strange Epstein wrote to himself.
In the photos, there are pictures of Epstein doing relatively normal things, like playing the piano and riding a horse. In his online orders, theres a device for mitigating back pain, Fruit of the Loom mens boxers, and CPAP machine replacement tubing. In a virtual recreation of his house, theres a reading nook, a laundry room, and storage areas. It can seem fairly benign, dull even.
One has to look through the email back-and-forths to find direct references to the worst of it, but its there, if you know what to look for. His Amazon orders show he orders reveal he bought Bitcoin for Dummies, but also several books about Vladimir Nabokov, the author of Lolita.
In the same database of pictures that include snapshots of a concert and pictures of a horse, and pictures of Epstein playing pingpong and petting a dog, are the pictures of horrifying crimes, including plenty of (redacted) images of victims. When he communicates with the other affluent accomplices, its often about nothing, in particular until it isn’t.
Social media and the news industry have carefully mined through these emails, looking for the most concerning to highlight. But Jmail asks us to work by ourselves, in a notably more disturbing exercise, and sift through the everyday doings and digital vestiges of a very evil man.
After the crystal ball drops on New Years Eve in New York City, it will rise again, sparkling in red, white, and blue to usher in 2026 and kick off months of celebrations for the nations upcoming 250th birthday.
The patriotic touches at this year’s Times Square gathering, including a second confetti drop, will offer an early glimpse of whats ahead: hundreds of events and programs, big and small, planned nationwide to mark the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
Im telling you right now, whatever youre imagining, its going to be much more than that, said America250 Chair Rosie Rios, who oversees the bipartisan commission created by Congress in 2016 to organize the semiquincentennial anniversary. Its going to be one for the ages, the most inspirational celebration this country and maybe the world has ever seen.
Rios and her group worked with the Times Square Alliance business district and One Times Square, the building from where the ball is dropped, to make the changes to this year’s ceremonies. They’re also planning a second ball drop event on July 3, the eve of the nation’s birthday, in the same beautiful style that Times Square knows how to do it,” Rios said.
It will mark the first time in 120 years there will be a ball drop in Times Square that doesn’t occur on New Year’s Eve, she said.
A New Years Eve ball was first dropped in Times Square in 1907. Built by a young immigrant metalworker named Jacob Starr, the 700-pound (318-kilogram), 5-foot- (1.5-meter-) diameter ball was made of iron and wood and featured 100 25-watt light bulbs. Last year, the Constellation Ball, the ninth and largest version, was unveiled. It measured about 12 feet (3.7 meters) in diameter and weighs nearly 12,000 pounds (5,400 kilograms).
The only years when no ball drop occurred were 1942 and 1943, when the city instituted a nightly dimout during World War II to protect itself from attacks. Crowds instead celebrated the new year with a moment of silence followed by chimes rung from the base of One Times Square.
This year, the stroke of midnight will also mark the official launch of America Gives, a national service initiative created by America250. Organizers hope to make 2026 the largest year of volunteer hours ever aggregated in the country.
On the following day, America250 will participate in the New Years Day Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, with a float themed Soaring Onward Together for 250 Years.” It will feature three larger-than-life bald eagles representing the countrys past, present and future.
We want to ring in this new year from sea to shining sea. What better way to think about it than going from New York to California, Rios said. This has to be community-driven, this has be grassroots. Were going from Guam to Alaska, from Fairbanks to Philadelphia, and everything in between.
President Donald Trump has also announced the Freedom 250 initiative to coordinate additional events for the 250th anniversary.
Rios said she sees the wide range of celebrations and programs planned for the coming months, from large fireworks displays and statewide potluck suppers to student contests and citizen oral histories, as an opportunity to unite a politically divided nation.
If we can find something for everyone … having those menus of options that people can pick and choose how they want to participate,” she said. Thats how were going to get to engaging 350 million Americans.
Susan Haigh, Associated Press
As cases of a new, highly contagious “super flu” surge across the nation this holiday season, more and more Americans are looking for ways to treat the symptoms, which include everything from fever and chills, to headaches and vomiting.
A variant of influenza A H3N2, called subclade K, which is being blamed for an early and severe flu season in the United Kingdom, has hit residents in New York, Rhode Island, Colorado and Louisiana the hardest, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
While flu vaccines usually have an efficacy rate of 40% to 60% an early report from the U.K. estimates this super flu strain has an efficacy rate of 32% to 39% in adults, and 72% to 75% in children, Northeastern University associate clinical professor, Brandon Dionne said.
Four antiviral drugs recommended by the CDC to treat the flu
There are four FDA-approved antiviral drugs recommended by CDC to treat flu this season: Tamiflu (oseltamivir); Xofluza (baloxavir); Relenza (zanamivir); and Rapivab (peramivir).
Tamiflu (oseltamivir) is most commonly prescribed in the U.S.
Xofluza (baloxavir) is a pill, given as a single dose by mouth, and is approved for early treatment of uncomplicated flu in people 5 years and older. (It is not recommended for treatment of flu during pregnancy, while breastfeeding, in those with progressive illness, or in hospitalized patients.)
Relenza (zanamivir) is a powdered medication that is inhaled and approved for early treatment of flu in people 7 years and older. It is not recommended for people with breathing problems like asthma or COPD. (Oseltamivir and zanamivir are given twice a day for five days.)
Rapivab (peramivir) is given once intravenously by a health care provider, and is approved for early treatment of flu in people 6 months and older.
CDC recommendations
Antiviral drugs work best when started within 1 to 2 days after flu symptoms begin; and the CDC recommends prompt treatment for people who have flu (or suspected flu) and are at increased risk of serious complications such as: pregnant women, people with asthma and chronic lung disease, diabetes (including gestational diabetes), or heart disease.
Graphite mines in the United States largely closed down seven decades ago. Mining the ubiquitous mineral found in everything from nuclear reactors to pencils seemed to make little sense when it could be imported inexpensively from other nations, especially China.
That view is changing now.
Demand for graphite, a key material in the lithium-ion batteries that power everything from phones to electric cars, is surging as trade tensions with China persist. With federal officials concerned about the steady supply of a number of critical minerals, several companies have plans to mine graphite.
In New York, Titan Mining Corp. has mined a limited amount of ore from a deposit in snowy woods about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the Canadian border, aiming for commercial sales by 2028. Company officials believe the geopolitical winds are at their backs to sell graphite concentrate for high-tech, industrial, and military uses. That could include heat-resistant coatings in factories, anodes in large lithium-ion batteries connected to electrical grids, and lubricants for military vehicles, according to the company.
We believe there is a real opportunity here, said company CEO Rita Adiani. We have the ability to supply a significant portion of U.S. needs. And thats largely because you cant see China now as a reliable supply-chain partner.
Trade tensions with China rose this year as President Donald Trump‘s administration imposed higher tariffs, though those tensions eased somewhat after Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in October during a regional economic summit in South Korea.
The northern New York deposit is in a rural region with a rich history of graphite, iron ore, and garnet mining. The iconic yellow Ticonderoga pencil was named for a town several hours east of this deposit, where graphite was mined long ago.
Titans Joel Rheault recently held up a rock from the newly mined area. It was an ordinary-looking flecked fragment of schist, glinting slightly in the sun. But it was comprised of roughly 3% graphite.
You can see how gray the rock is here, said Rheault, the companys vice president of operations. Thats because of that graphite.
A critical mineral
Graphite can conduct electricity and withstand high temperatures, making it useful for a host of commercial and military applications. As such, the Department of Energy has said the need for graphite is critical, and the Department of the Interior lists it as one of 60 critical minerals, along with more than a dozen rare earth elements.
Forecasters also expect global graphite demand to continue soaring in the next decade, alongside the battery boom. That includes both mined, or natural, graphite and manufactured, or synthetic, graphite, which tends to be purer but pricier. Lithium-ion batteries anodes can use a mix of both.
China dominance in supplying both of natural and synthetic graphite has worried U.S. policymakers for years. Concerns spiked recently when China placed new export controls on graphite and several other minerals, only to relax them for a year.
Federal officials trying to shore up supply chains for critical minerals like graphite included a tax credit for critical mineral production in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. More recently, the Trump administration struck critical mineral deals with other countries to diversify supplies. It also has emphasized critical minerals through government funding and streamlined reviews.
Whats happening now needs to happen, said Gregory Keoleian, co-director of the Center for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan. I think you just dont want to be completely reliant on other countries when you have resources that you could develop.
Multiple active projects
Most U.S. graphite mines were closed by the 1950s.
Right now, no U.S. graphite mines regularly produce a commercial product, according to the U.S. Geological Survey National Minerals Information Center.
But the center says the Titan mine is one of five active projects, including two in Alabama and one each in Montana and Alaska. Westwater Resources this fall announced it retained an engineering firm to lead the permitting process for mine development at the Coosa Deposit in Alabama. The Graphite One Inc. project in Alaska is at the site of what state officials say is the largest known large-flake graphite deposit in the United States.
When we are sitting with one of the largest graphite deposits in the entire world theres no reason why we need to rely on China for our graphite, said Anthony Huston, president and CEO of Graphite One.
Titan has an advantage because its New York graphite deposit was discovered several years ago at the site of its existing zinc mine. The company was able to start limited graphite mining under its current permits while seeking additional permits for full-scale mining.
The federal government this fall approved the New York mine for fast-tracked permitting, saying it would build a strategically significant domestic supply chain for graphite. The U.S. Export-Import Bank also said it would consider lending up to $120 million for construction and pledged $5.5 million for a feasibility study.
Titan expects to eventually produce about 40,000 metric tonnes (44,092 tons) of graphite concentrate a year, which the company says is roughly half the current U.S. demand for natural graphite.
We have indications, effectively, that 100% of the output from this facility could be sold, Adiani said.
Michael Hill, Associated Press
Artificial intelligence is transforming how we cure disease, defend nations, and deliver goods. But the same technology driving this surge of innovation is also testing the limits of the system that supports it. Innovation is moving faster than infrastructure, and our energy strategy has to catch up.Its time to manage energy as a strategic asset. While AI is fueling demand at historic levels, it also gives us the tools to use power more intelligently, stabilize the grid, and unlock capacity we already have. If we work together, AI can turn todays energy challenge into tomorrows competitive advantage.
INNOVATION IS OUTPACING THE GRID
AI is reshaping the global economy, but the grid powering it was not built for this reality. Much of Americas power infrastructure is aging, fragmented, and structurally behind modern digital demands. The result: interconnection queues, delayed projects, constrained communities, and a widening gap between the power we need and the power we can deliver.This isnt just a technology issue. Its a national security issue. Its a competitiveness issue. And, if we address it head-on, a generational opportunity.We need to shift the conversation from how much power we use to how well we use it. AI enables efficiencies we couldnt achieve before. But technology alone wont solve the problem. Progress requires new ways of working and collaboration among utilities, regulators, operators, and government to modernize the grid and use limited resources more intelligently.
TURN POWER INTO AN ADVANTAGE
In the AI economy, doing more with less is a competitive advantage. AI enables:
Accurate demand forecasting that prevents overbuilding and unused capacity
Predictive maintenance that avoids unplanned outages
Dynamic cooling and energy management that respond in real time to workloads and climate
Companies using these tools are building more resilient, cost-effective infrastructure that scales with demand, rather than chasing it.Across industries, leaders are proving that smarter systems improve both performance and efficiency.
Utilities use AI to balance real-time supply and demand.
Retailers optimize logistics to cut energy waste.
Hospitals coordinate equipment usage to reduce load.
Manufacturers automate energy management across active and idle systems.
We have the tools to build the grid we need. But tools alone wont meet the moment.
COLLABORATION IS THE POWER MULTIPLIER WERE MISSING
We can unlock years of trapped capacity if we break down the barriers between the organizations shaping the grid. Utilities, regulators, data center companies, and government all want the same outcome: reliable, resilient power that strengthens communities and supports economic growth. But historically we have worked in parallel instead of in partnership.We need transparent planning. Aligned incentives. Shared data. And the willingness to sit at the same table to problem solve together.We are entering an era where every kilowatt matters. AI gives us the tools to use energy smarter and to build a grid thats cleaner, faster, and more resilient than the one we rely on today.But technology cant do this alone. People and policies must enable it.If we break down silos between the public and private sectors, align around shared interests, and treat energy as a strategic asset, we can solve the power problem and build a strong foundation to support the next century of innovation.
The opportunity is right in front of us, if we choose to take it together.
Chris Crosby is CEO of Compass Datacenters.
The developers of a Virginia offshore wind project are asking a federal judge to block a Trump administration order that halted construction of their project, along with four others, over national security concerns.
Dominion Energy Virginia said in its lawsuit filed late Tuesday that the government’s order is arbitrary and capricious and unconstitutional. The Richmond-based company is developing Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, a project it says is essential to meet dramatically growing energy needs driven by dozens of new data centers.
The Interior Department did not detail the security concerns in blocking the five projects on Monday. In a letter to project developers, Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management set a 90-day period and possibly longer to determine whether the national security threats posed by this project can be adequately mitigated.
The other projects are the Vineyard Wind project under construction in Massachusetts, Revolution Wind in Rhode Island and Connecticut and two projects in New York: Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind. Democratic governors in those states have vowed to fight the order, the latest action by the Trump administration to hobble offshore wind in its push against renewable energy sources.
Dominion’s project has been under construction since early 2024 and was scheduled to come online early next year, providing enough energy to power about 660,000 homes. The company said the delay was costing it more than $5 million a day in losses solely for the ships used in round-the-clock construction, and that customers or the company would eventually bear the cost.
Dominion called this week’s order the latest in a series of irrational agency actions attacking offshore wind and then doubling down when those actions are found unlawful.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
U.S. District Judge Jamar Walker set a hearing for 2 p.m. Monday on Dominion’s request for a temporary restraining order.
___
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Associated Press
Stocks moved slightly lower in midday Friday trading as investors returned from the Christmas holiday. Trading is expected to be light.
The S&P 500 index was down 0.1% as of 12:15 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite was down less than 0.1%.
Institutional investors are largely closed out of their positions for the year. The S&P 500 has climbed nearly 18% this year, helped by the deregulatory policies of the Trump administration as well as investor optimism about the future of artificial intelligence.
Gold and silver prices continued to climb, with silver rising more than 7% to $76.88 an ounce. Gold was up 1.4%. Both precious metals have risen this year as investors have looked for safe havens outside of stocks and bonds, and silver has also risen sharply due supply constraints. Miners like Freeport-McMoRan were among the biggest gainers Friday.
Earlier surges in gold prices partly reflected worries during the U.S. government shutdown. Expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates further in the new year, weakening the dollar against other currencies, have also fueled buying of gold.
Shares of Target rose 2% after The Financial Times reported that an activist investor is taking a stake in the retail giant.
U.S. crude oil fell nearly 2% and Brent crude fell more than 1%.
Markets in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia were closed. Most European markets remained closed Friday.
A number of airlines are waiving change fees ahead of what is expected to be a major winter storm forecast to hit the Northeast on Friday afternoon, affecting millions of people traveling after Christmas, during one of the busiest times of the year.
A winter storm warning from the National Weather Service (NWS) is in effect for New York City, New Jersey, and Connecticut from Friday afternoon through Saturday, for up to 9 inches of snow and freezing temperatures, creating the potential hazardous travel conditions, flight delays, and cancellations. 1-6 inches of snow is expected from northeastern Pennsylvania up into New England; while freezing rain and sleet, are expected south into Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and West Virginia.
American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and JetBlue Airways have issued fee waivers for travelers flying into a number of airports including, New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport, New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport, and Philadelphia International Airport, according to CNBC.
The big three carriers, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and American Airlines, have issued travel alert for the following airports, and are allowing those whose plans may be affected, to rebook without change fees.
DELTA AIR LINES
Airports: New York, NY (JFK), New York, NY (LGA), Newark, NJ (EWR) , Philadelphia, PA (PHL), White Plains, NY (HPN)
Impacted travel dates: December 26-27, 2025
Ticket must be reissued on or before: December 30, 2025
Booked travel must begin no later than: December 30, 2025
UNITED
Airports: Allentown, PA (ABE), Albany, NY (ALB), Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PA (AVP), Hartford, CT (BDL), Boston, MA (BOS), Newark, NJ (EWR), Ithaca, NY (ITH), New York, NY (JFK), Johnstown, PA (JST), New York, NY (LGA), Harrisburg, PA (MDT), Philadelphia, PA (PHL), Providence, RI (PVD), Rochester, NY (ROC), State College, PA (SCE)
Syracuse, NY, US (SYR)
For tickets booked before or on: December 23, 2025
Impacted travel dates: December 26-27, 2025
Ticket must be reissued on or before: December 31, 2025
AMERICAN AIRLINES
Airports: Boston, MA (BOS), New York, NY (JFK), New York, NY (LGA), Newark, NJ (EWR) , Philadelphia, PA (PHL), White Plains, NY (HPN)
For tickets booked before or on: December 24, 2025
Impacted travel dates: December 26-27, 2025
Ticket must be reissued on or before: December 31, 2025
For the most up-to-the-minute information, travelers should check the status of their flights frequently.
For international travelers flying on Singapore Airlines, the airline has already announced multiple cancellations for flights between New York’s JFK and New Jersey’s Newark airports, and its Singapore and Frankfurt hubs.
High-speed rail systems are found all over the globe. Japans bullet train began operating in 1964. China will have 31,000 miles (50,000 kilometers) of high-speed track by the end of 2025. The fastest train in Europe goes almost 200 mph (320 kph). Yet high-speed rail remains absent from most of the U.S.
Stephen Mattingly, a civil engineering professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, explains why high-speed rail projects in much of the country so often go off track.
Dr. Stephen Mattingly discusses the problems that come with implementing high-speed rail in the U.S.
The Conversation has collaborated with SciLine to bring you highlights from the discussion, edited for brevity and clarity.
How is high-speed rail different from conventional trains?
Stephen Mattingly: With conventional rail, were usually looking at speeds of less than 80 mph (129 kph). Higher-speed rail is somewhere between 90, maybe up to 125 mph (144 to 201 kph). And high-speed rail is 150 mph (241 kph) or faster. Theres also a difference in the infrastructure for these different rail lines.
Is there anything in the U.S. thats considered high-speed rail?
Mattingly: The Acela train operates in the Northeast Corridor and serves Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. In some parts of the corridor, the Acela runs on infrastructure that accommodates the trains maximum 150 mph (241 kph) speed.
Why has the U.S. been slow to adopt this?
Mattingly: Except for some in the northeastern U.S., not many cities have enough travel between them and are at the correct distance to support an investment in high-speed rail, because its not necessarily going to take a huge number of cars off the road. Trains are not a replacement for auto travel; they compete more directly with air.
High-speed rail competes best with air when the trip is between one-and-a-half to three hours. Within that range, a trains door-to-door travel time is typically faster than air. Thats because of the additional security time required for air travel: sitting around in the airport, the time it takes to load and unload and all of that.
For longer distancesmore than three hoursthe trains travel time starts to get noncompetitive with air. Thats because for every three or four hours of high-speed rail travel, air travel only takes one hour.
Go lower than thata trip of less than an hour-and-a-halfand cars become the more attractive choice.
That said, what are the advantages of high-speed rail?
Mattingly: First, the environmental benefit is an advantage. High-speed rail has lower carbon emissions than air travel, especially on a per passenger basis. You can load more people onto a train than most planes.
Then, of course, its speed makes it a viable way to commute when compared with conventional rail. Our current Amtrak system, outside the Northeast Corridor, is really a leisure travel mode, as opposed to business travel mode.
What large-scale projects are in the works here in the U.S.?
Mattingly: Some higher-speed rail is in Florida, and Brightline, a private train company, is proposing to improve the existing line with more of a high-speed capability. Theres also a proposed line in Texas to run between Dallas and Houston.
The Texas project has a lot of challenges with eminent domain, which is the right of government to take private property for public use after providing compensation. A federal grant to help fund the line was recently terminated, and a strategic partner pulled out of the project. With delays, costs inevitably begin to increase.
Californias high-speed rail project for its Central Valley actually has about 120 miles (193 kilometers) of track laid down. And its working on slowly building that out. There are some other proposals in the Pacific Northwest, but those are more ideas than projects at this point.
When these systems are proposed, theyre often positioned as a replacement for auto travel. But Im incredibly skeptical that auto travel will significantly decrease with a new public transit mode that deposits you within a larger metropolitan destination, which may not even have the public transportation to take you to your final destination.
Regional networks of high-speed rail could connect more exurban or rural areas to hub airports and enhance economic development in these regions. In this case, a public high-speed rail system could receive public money, just like the federal government has done with the interstate highway system and all the other road investments that weve made over the past century and longer.
But Im not sure that high-speed rail will be a solution for congested freeways between cities for any place outside of the Northeast Corridor.
What is your central message about high-speed rail?
Mattingly: I love high-speed rail as a technology. For specific applications, its beneficial, especially from an environmental perspective. But thecountry has to be very careful in its choices on where those public investments in high-speed rail would actually make sense and be worthwhile investments. So Im hesitant to make large investments without really understanding what the outcomes are.
SciLine is a free service based at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a nonprofit that helps journalists include scientific evidence and experts in their news stories.
Stephen Mattingly is a professor of civil engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Nvidia has agreed to license technology from AI startup Groq for use in some of its artificial intelligence chips, marking the chipmaker’s largest deal and underscoring its push to strengthen competitiveness amid surging demand.
Here is a list of multi-billion-dollar AI, cloud and chip deals signed recently:
OPENAI DEALS
Amazon and OpenAI
Amazon is considering an investment of around $10 billion in OpenAI, though talks remain “very fluid,” according to a source who requested anonymity due to the private nature of their talks.
Disney and OpenAI
Walt Disney to invest $1 billion in OpenAI and will let the ChatGPT-parent use characters from Star Wars, Pixar and Marvel franchises in its Sora AI video generator – a move that could transform Hollywood content creation.
As part of the three-year licensing agreement, Sora and ChatGPT Images will begin generating videos featuring licensed Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse, Cinderella, and Mufasa early next year. The deal excludes any talent likeness or voices.
Broadcom and OpenAI
OpenAI has partnered with Broadcom to produce its first in-house artificial intelligence processors, the latest tie-up for the world’s most valuable startup for computing power amid surging demand for its services.
AMD and OpenAI
AMD agreed to supply artificial intelligence chips to OpenAI in a multi-year deal that would also give the ChatGPT creator the option to buy up to roughly 10% of the chipmaker.
Nvidia and OpenAI
Nvidia is set to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI and supply it with data center chips, in a deal giving the chipmaker a financial stake in OpenAI. OpenAI is already an important customer for Nvidia.
Oracle and OpenAI
Oracle is reported to have signed one of the biggest cloud deals ever with OpenAI, under which the ChatGPT maker is expected to buy $300 billion in computing power from the company for about five years.
CoreWeave and OpenAI
CoreWeave signed a five-year contract worth $11.9 billion with OpenAI in March, before the Nvidia-backed startup’s IPO.
Stargate Datacenter Project
Stargate is a joint venture between SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle to build data centers. The project was announced in January by U.S. President Donald Trump, who said that the companies would invest up to $500 billion to fund infrastructure for artificial intelligence.
META DEALS
Meta and CoreWeave
CoreWeave has signed a $14 billion agreement with Meta to supply computing power to the Facebook parent.
Meta and Oracle
Oracle is in talks with Meta for a multi-year cloud computing deal worth about $20 billion, underscoring the social media giant’s drive to secure faster access to computing power.
Meta and Google
Google struck a six-year cloud computing deal with Meta Platforms worth more than $10 billion, Reuters had reported in August.
Meta and Scale AI
Meta took a 49% stake for about $14.3 billion in Scale AI and brought in its 28-year-old CEO, Alexandr Wang, to play a prominent role in the tech giant’s artificial intelligence strategy.
NVIDIA DEALS
Nvidia and Groq
Nvidia has agreed to license chip technology from startup Groq and hire its CEO Jonathan Ross, who helped Google start its AI chip program, among other engineers at the company. CNBC reported that Nvidia had agreed to acquire Groq’s assets for $20 billion.
Microsoft, Nvidia, and Anthropic
Microsoft will invest up to $5 billion and Nvidia up to $10 billion in Anthropic, while the Claude maker will pledge $30 billion to run its workloads on Microsoft’s cloud.
Under the agreement, Anthropic will commit up to 1 gigawatt of compute, powered by Nvidia’s advanced Grace Blackwell and Vera Rubin hardware. The company will also team up with Nvidia to improve chips and AI models for better performance.
Nvidia-backed group and Aligned Data Centers
An investor group including BlackRock, Microsoft and Nvidia is buying U.S.-based Aligned Data Centers, one of the world’s biggest data center operators with nearly 80 facilities, in a deal worth $40 billion.
Nvidia and Intel
Nvidia will invest $5 billion in Intel, giving it roughly 4% of the company after new shares are issued.
CoreWeave and Nvidia
CoreWeave signed a $6.3 billion initial order with backer Nvidia, a deal that guarantees that the AI chipmaker will purchase any cloud capacity not sold to customers.
GOOGLE DEALS
Google and Texas
Google will invest $40 billion in three new data centers in Texas through 2027. One of the data centers will be in Armstrong County, in the Texas Panhandle, and the other two in Haskell County, a stretch of West Texas near Abilene.
The company is also continuing to invest in its existing Midlothian campus and Dallas cloud region, part of the company’s global network of 42 cloud regions.
Google and Windsurf
Google hired several key staff members from AI code generation startup Windsurf and will pay $2.4 billion in license fees as part of the deal to use some of Windsurf’s technology under non-exclusive terms.
OTHERS
Nebius Group and Microsoft
Nebius Group will provide Microsoft with GPU infrastructure capacity in a deal worth $17.4 billion over a five-year term.
Intel and Softbank Group
Intel is getting a $2 billion capital injection from SoftBank Group, making the Japanese tech investor one of the top-10 shareholders of the troubled U.S. chipmaker.
Tesla and Samsung
Tesla signed a $16.5 billion deal to source chips from Samsung Electronics, with the EV maker’s CEO Elon Musk saying that the South Korean tech giant’s new chip factory in Texas would make Tesla’s next-generation AI6 chip.
Amazon and Anthropic
Amazon.com pumped $4 billion into OpenAI competitor Anthropic, doubling its investment in the firm known for its GenAI chatbot Claude.
Juby Babu, Deborah Sophia, Arnav Mishra, Jaspreet Singh, and Zaheer Kachwala, Reuters
