Pulse

Anthropic has issued a warning to investors regarding unauthorized secondary platforms that are offering access to its shares. The AI company explicitly named several platforms, stating that any transactions facilitated by them are void and will not be recognized. This action comes as demand for shares in AI companies surges, with Anthropic being a particularly sought-after stock on secondary markets. The company is reinforcing its transfer restrictions, making it clear that any share sales or transfers not approved by its board are invalid. AI

China's total debt-to-GDP ratio, excluding the financial sector, has surpassed 300%, doubling since 2010 and significantly outpacing the U.S. and other major economies. This surge is driven by corporate and government borrowing, despite a slowdown in household debt due to the real estate crisis. While China is aware of its debt risks, particularly concerning local government financing vehicles that support industries like AI, it is also pursuing AI independence through semiconductor advancements, potentially diminishing leverage for entities like the U.S. in geopolitical discussions. AI

Anthropic is experiencing unprecedented growth, with revenue and usage increasing 80-fold in a single quarter, leading to infrastructure challenges. To meet demand, the company has secured a significant compute deal with Elon Musk's xAI, renting the entire Colossus 1 data center which provides 220,000 NVIDIA GPUs. This partnership aims to alleviate usage limits for its Claude Code and API services, despite past public criticisms from Musk towards Anthropic. AI

Anthropic's valuation has reportedly surged past OpenAI's, reaching nearly $1 trillion in secondary market deals. This significant increase is attributed to high demand for its Claude AI models and strong investor confidence in its enterprise applications. Meanwhile, a separate report highlights issues with age verification systems, including those used by OpenAI, which are failing adults by imposing childlike restrictions. AI

Rongxin Zhiyuan, an AI infrastructure company founded by Tsinghua University alumni, has secured hundreds of millions of yuan in an angel funding round. The company is developing its novel AGC architecture, which positions GPUs as the core processing units and CPUs as peripheral controllers. This shift aims to significantly increase the GPU-to-CPU ratio, enhance memory consistency, and enable hot-swappable GPU fault tolerance for improved efficiency and reduced downtime in AI computing systems. AI

Pit, a new AI startup founded by the co-founders of the European scooter company Voi, has secured $16 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). The Stockholm-based company aims to provide an "AI product team as a service" for enterprises, developing custom software to automate internal business processes. Pit differentiates itself with its Pit Studio and Pit Cloud offerings, focusing on governance, certifications, and auditability for enterprise clients. AI

SpaceX has leased its massive Colossus 1 data center, equipped with 220,000 Nvidia GPUs, to Anthropic for an estimated $3-4 billion annually. This deal, which includes a clause allowing SpaceX to reclaim compute if Anthropic's AI harms humanity, strategically positions SpaceX as a major AI infrastructure provider ahead of its IPO. The agreement highlights compute capacity as a critical bottleneck in the AI industry, forcing even AI safety leaders like Anthropic to secure necessary resources from any available vendor, regardless of past public criticism. AI

Moonshot AI, the developer of the Kimi chatbot, has secured approximately $2 billion in a new funding round, elevating its valuation to over $20 billion. This significant investment, led by Meituan's venture arm and China Mobile, brings the company's total funding in the last six months to $3.9 billion. The Beijing-based startup's annual recurring revenue surpassed $200 million in April, and it is now navigating China's new IPO regulations for overseas listings. AI

Samsung semiconductor workers are demanding annual bonuses comparable to those received by SK hynix employees, rejecting a one-time payout offer of $340,000. The union seeks a guaranteed annual share of profits, citing the significant windfalls generated by the AI infrastructure boom. A potential 18-day strike could cost Samsung billions and damage its reputation as a key supplier of high-bandwidth memory chips. AI

OpenAI has significantly increased the pricing for its GPT-5.5 model, with real-world costs rising by 49% to 92% depending on input length, despite claims of shorter responses offsetting the hike. This price increase, mirroring Anthropic's earlier adjustments to Claude Opus 4.7, is attributed to both companies preparing for potential IPOs. In response, developers are exploring multi-model routing strategies to manage costs by directing simpler tasks to cheaper models like Kimi K2.6 or DeepSeek V4-Pro, while reserving premium models for complex or critical operations. AI

Apple is significantly increasing production targets for its MacBook Neo to 10 million units in 2026, up from an initial goal of 5-6 million, to meet high market demand. This surge in production comes with increased costs, as Apple is reportedly paying a premium to TSMC for A18 Pro chips and facing higher prices for DRAM. To manage these rising expenses, Apple may consider discontinuing the base $599 configuration of the MacBook Neo. AI

SemiAnalysis reported that Anthropic has secured an additional 200 megawatts of power capacity. This significant infrastructure expansion was noted on a Wednesday, suggesting a substantial increase in the company's operational needs. The move indicates a major investment in supporting its AI development and deployment. AI

Demand for AGI infrastructure has seen a massive surge, reportedly increasing thousands of times. This growth is accompanied by over $2.2 billion in speculative capital flowing into decentralized AI platforms. The trend is attributed to increasing institutional interest and novel assetization models within the AI sector. AI

K Wave Media is pivoting from cryptocurrency to AI infrastructure, planning to raise $485 million and rebranding as Talivar Technologies, a move that caused a 25% stock drop. Meanwhile, OpenAI, in collaboration with NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel, is introducing a new MRC protocol designed to enhance supercomputer network architecture for stable AI model training. AI

DeepSeek has reportedly secured a $45 billion valuation in a new funding round, a significant increase from its previous $10 billion valuation, indicating strong investor confidence and state backing. Meanwhile, SAP is investing over €1 billion to establish Prior Labs as a leading European AI research hub focused on tabular data and enterprise spreadsheets. Separately, Sam Altman has voiced concerns about advanced AI models exhibiting unusual behaviors, such as requesting favors, raising questions about their developing complexities and ethical implications. AI

Google's DeepMind has acquired a minority stake in CCP Games, now known as Fenris Creations, the developer behind the long-running space simulation game Eve Online. This partnership will allow DeepMind to train its AI models on the game's extensive player behavior data, aiming to advance AI capabilities in areas like long-term planning and continuous learning. The collaboration also intends to explore new gameplay experiences enabled by AI, building on DeepMind's previous work training AI on games like StarCraft II. AI

Chinese AI lab DeepSeek is reportedly in talks to secure its first venture capital funding round, with its valuation soaring from $20 billion to potentially $45 billion in just a few weeks. The company, founded by billionaire Liang Wenfeng, has previously eschewed outside investment but is now seeking funds to offer employees equity and retain talent amidst competition. The round is expected to be led by the China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, with participation from tech giants like Huawei Technologies, Tencent, and Alibaba, aiming to bolster China's domestic AI capabilities. AI

AMD has surpassed Intel in Q1 data center revenue, driven by demand for AI hardware. This surge in AI infrastructure is also prompting major tech companies to consider funding SK Hynix's memory expansion to alleviate scarcity. Meanwhile, OpenAI's significant AI chip deal with Broadcom is reportedly facing financing challenges, and China's AI fund is in talks to lead a substantial $44 billion funding round for DeepSeek. AI

Silicon Valley investors, including Peter Thiel, have reportedly committed over $200 million to a venture focused on deploying AI data centers that float on the ocean. This initiative aims to leverage offshore locations for AI infrastructure, potentially addressing challenges related to land use and energy demands. AI

Ethos, a startup aiming to improve expert networks, has secured $22.75 million in Series A funding led by a16z. The company utilizes AI-powered voice onboarding to gather more comprehensive data on experts' knowledge beyond traditional job titles. This allows Ethos to better match clients with specialized talent for complex queries, serving clients like hedge funds and AI labs. AI