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Chipmaker Nvidia will invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI and provide it with data center chips, the companies said on Monday, a tie-up between two of the highest-profile leaders in the global artificial intelligence race. The deal, which will see Nvidia start delivering chips as soon as late 2026, will involve two separate but intertwined transactions, according to a person close to OpenAI. The startup will pay Nvidia in cash for chips, and Nvidia will invest in OpenAI for non-controlling shares, the person said. The first $10 billion of Nvidia’s investment in OpenAI, which was most recently valued at $500 billion, will begin when the two companies reach a definitive agreement for OpenAI to purchase Nvidia chips Nvidia did not respond to immediate requests for clarification about the deal. The pact is among a spate of agreements between major technology players that includes years of investment in OpenAI from Microsoft and a deal last week between Nvidia and Intel to collaborate on AI chips. The two companies signed a letter of intent for a landmark strategic partnership to deploy at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia chips for OpenAI’s AI infrastructure. They aim to finalize partnership details in the coming weeks, with the first deployment phase targeted to come online in the second half of 2026. “Everything starts with compute,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a statement. “Compute infrastructure will be the basis for the economy of the future, and we will utilize what we’re building with Nvidia to both create new AI breakthroughs and empower people and businesses with them at scale.” Nvidia shares were up 4.4% while shares of Oracle, which partners with OpenAI, SoftBank, and Microsoft on the $500 billion Stargate AI data center project, gained nearly 5%. Nvidia’s investment comes days after it committed $5 billion to struggling chipmaker Intel. OpenAI and its backer, Microsoft, also announced earlier this month that they have signed a non-binding deal for new relationship terms that would allow for OpenAI’s restructuring into a for-profit company. Nvidia also backed OpenAI in a $6.6 billion funding round in October 2024. However, the world’s most valuable firm making another sizeable investment in OpenAI could lead to antitrust scrutiny. The Trump administration has taken a much lighter touch on competition issues compared with former President Joe Biden’s antitrust enforcers. In June 2024, the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission reached a deal that cleared the way for potential antitrust investigations into the dominant roles that Microsoft, OpenAI, and Nvidia play in the artificial intelligence industry. Arsheeya Bajwa, Deepa Seetharaman, and Stephen Nellis, Reuters
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E-Commerce
Spirit Airlines said on Monday it is preparing to furlough one-third of its flight attendants after filing for its second bankruptcy in a year, as the carrier grapples with dwindling cash and mounting losses. The low-budget airline will temporarily lay off about 1,800 flight attendants from its total strength of approximately 5,200, effective December 1. Spirit filed for bankruptcy again last month after a previous reorganization failed to put it on firmer financial footing. The company forewarned job cuts in a memo sent to employees last Wednesday, adding that it also plans to slash flight capacity 25% year-over-year by November. “We need to shift our focus to a complete rightsizing of the airline, which means volume-based adjustments to our flight attendant group,” the airline said in an email to employees seen by Reuters on Monday. The Association of Flight Attendants, in a separate memo also seen by Reuters, said: “The problem is that the significant reduction of aircraft and flight hours requires a much higher reduction in force and the company is clear that a furlough is necessary.” The airline, with more than 800 staff voluntarily absent now, has so far relied only on voluntary furloughs rather than imposing mandatory ones. It will continue offering voluntary furloughs, even as it moves forward with additional staffing reductions. According to the union, voluntary furloughs are being offered for six months to one year time periods and are set to begin on November 1. The union also said in its memo that it is coordinating to arrange preferential interviews for its members at other airlines. Spirit’s financial difficulties, combined with U.S. carriers competing for premium travelers, have raised concerns that the era of ultra-low fares may be ending for budget-conscious passengers. Last week, United Airlines said it would not pursue Spirit’s assets if they become available as part of the carrier’s restructuring. Doyinsola Oladipo, Aishwarya Jain, and Aatreyee Dasgupta, Reuters
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E-Commerce
President Donald Trump’s appointee to the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors said Monday that the central bank’s key interest rate should be much lower than its current 4.1% level, staking out a position far different than his colleagues. Stephen Miran, who is also a top economic adviser to Trump, said in remarks to the Economic Club of New York that sharp declines in immigration, rising tariff revenue, and an aging population all suggest that the Fed’s rate should be closer to 2.5% instead. According to projections released last week, that’s almost a full percentage point lower than any of his 18 colleagues on the Fed’s rate-setting committee, an unusually high divergence. Miran’s comments underscore the different perspective he brings to the Fed’s deliberations over interest rate policy. His appointment has been controversial because he has kept his position as the head of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers while taking unpaid leave, raising concerns about the Fed’s traditional independence from day-to-day politics. His term on the Fed’s board expires in January, and Miran has suggested he would return to the White House after that, though he could remain on the board until a successor is appointed. It should be clear that my view of appropriate monetary policy diverges from those of other . . . members of the committee, Miran said in written remarks. I view policy as very restrictive, he added, meaning that it is holding back the economy and poses material risks to the Fed’s congressional mandate of seeking maximum employment. Miran said that fewer immigrants should free up more housing and lower rental costs, reducing inflationary pressures. And tariff revenueswhich may top $300 billion a year, according to Congressional Budget Office estimatesshould reduce the deficit, he added. Over time, that would mean the Fed doesn’t have to keep its benchmark interest rate as high as it is now to bring inflation down. By Christopher Rugaber, AP economics writer
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E-Commerce
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