Tech
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Jon Keegan

Google, xAI, Anthropic, and OpenAI each receive $200 million contracts from Department of Defense

The Department of Defense is spending $800 million on “agentic AI workflows” and most of the big players are getting a slice of the pie. Google, OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI all received awards capping out at $200 million each to help deploy AI in national security applications.

The xAI award comes less than a week after an embarrassing episode where xAI’s chabot, Grok, spewed antisemitic posts praising Hitler after it was given instructions to not shy away from “politically incorrect claims.”

This is just another big bucket of government AI contracts, and there will be many more.

President Trump’s new tax bill carves out over $6 billion for border technologies (and a nice AI tower monopoly for Anduril), OpenAI received an earlier $200 million contract from the DOD, Anthropic is teaming up with Palantir to deploy AI in the battlefield, and Anduril is teaming up with both Meta and Microsoft for various VR headsets for the military.

Meta, OpenAI, and Palantir even have executives who have received commissions from the Army to help further develop a new AI-powered military industrial complex.

In a press release announcing the contracts, Chief Digital and AI Officer Dr. Doug Matty wrote:

“The adoption of AI is transforming the Department’s ability to support our warfighters and maintain strategic advantage over our adversaries.”

CDAO Announces Partnerships with Frontier AI Companies to Address National Security Missio

The xAI award comes less than a week after an embarrassing episode where xAI’s chabot, Grok, spewed antisemitic posts praising Hitler after it was given instructions to not shy away from “politically incorrect claims.”

This is just another big bucket of government AI contracts, and there will be many more.

President Trump’s new tax bill carves out over $6 billion for border technologies (and a nice AI tower monopoly for Anduril), OpenAI received an earlier $200 million contract from the DOD, Anthropic is teaming up with Palantir to deploy AI in the battlefield, and Anduril is teaming up with both Meta and Microsoft for various VR headsets for the military.

Meta, OpenAI, and Palantir even have executives who have received commissions from the Army to help further develop a new AI-powered military industrial complex.

In a press release announcing the contracts, Chief Digital and AI Officer Dr. Doug Matty wrote:

“The adoption of AI is transforming the Department’s ability to support our warfighters and maintain strategic advantage over our adversaries.”

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Rani Molla
4h
Meta posts an earnings and revenue beat — and a huge capex bill

The social media giant reported earnings after the bell Wednesday.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg visits U.S. Capitol for Senate meetings
Rani Molla, Nate Becker
4h
Alphabet jumps as Q1 earnings and revenue blow past expectations

The search giant also boosted its capex forecast for the year and said it expects 2027 capex to be “significantly” higher than 2026.

INDIA-TECHNOLOGY-AI
tech
Rani Molla

SpaceX filings reportedly show no one can fire Elon Musk except Elon Musk

The only thing stopping Elon Musk from being chairman and CEO of SpaceX is Elon Musk, according to Reuters, which viewed an excerpt of the company’s IPO filing.

The document outlines a dual-class share structure giving Musk control via super-voting stock. The filing says he “can only be removed from our board or these positions by the vote of Class B holders” — shares he’ll control after the listing. It adds that if he keeps those shares, he could “continue to control the election and removal of a majority of our board.”

At a typical public company — even founder-led ones with dual-class structures — a CEO can be fired by the board of directors, which represents shareholders and can vote to remove them over issues such as corporate performance, strategy, or misconduct.

The unusual SpaceX setup means Musk is unlikely to face the kind of CEO succession pressure he’s dealt with at Tesla. Musk, of course, is not a typical CEO, and the value of his companies has long been closely tied to his presence.

To be sure, SpaceX’s confidential IPO filing isn’t in its final form yet — while the filing is still in the confidential phase, the company will be going back and forth with the SEC, which will review it and suggest or require changes.

Exclusive: Only Elon Musk can fire Elon Musk from SpaceX, filing shows

Exclusive: Only Elon Musk can fire Elon Musk from SpaceX, filing shows

At a typical public company — even founder-led ones with dual-class structures — a CEO can be fired by the board of directors, which represents shareholders and can vote to remove them over issues such as corporate performance, strategy, or misconduct.

The unusual SpaceX setup means Musk is unlikely to face the kind of CEO succession pressure he’s dealt with at Tesla. Musk, of course, is not a typical CEO, and the value of his companies has long been closely tied to his presence.

To be sure, SpaceX’s confidential IPO filing isn’t in its final form yet — while the filing is still in the confidential phase, the company will be going back and forth with the SEC, which will review it and suggest or require changes.

tech
Rani Molla

OpenAI’s models are officially coming to Amazon

Amazon is finally getting in on the hottest ticket in tech.

After Microsoft announced yesterday that it has agreed to give up its exclusive rights to sell OpenAI’s models, Amazon, as expected, will start offering them to customers — something Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman says users have been asking for “for a really long time.” Some models are available now in preview, and the most powerful GPT versions will show up “in the coming weeks.”

This is a big shift in the AI cloud wars. Microsoft’s early bet on OpenAI gave Azure an edge by locking up the most in-demand models. Now that exclusivity is gone, Amazon and other competitors can finally offer them too, closing a key gap and competing more directly for AI customers.

Amazon Set to Sell OpenAI Tech After Microsoft Cedes Exclusivity

Amazon Set to Sell OpenAI Tech After Microsoft Cedes Exclusivity

This is a big shift in the AI cloud wars. Microsoft’s early bet on OpenAI gave Azure an edge by locking up the most in-demand models. Now that exclusivity is gone, Amazon and other competitors can finally offer them too, closing a key gap and competing more directly for AI customers.

tech
Claire Yubin Oh

Ship-tracking app surges as Iran war continues

As Middle East peace talks stretch on, with Tehran reportedly offering to reopen the Strait of Hormuz if the US lifts its blockade and the war ends, the owner of shipping intelligence platform MarineTraffic revealed that the app has gained millions of new users since the conflict began.

MarineTraffic’s user count jumped to 8.5 million this April, up from 3.5 million a year ago, the cofounder of its parent company, Kpler, said in an interview with the Financial Times. Paid subscribers, often workers within companies and governments looking for more data on supply chains and commodities trading, rose 11,000 in the same period.

Kpler, which also owns shipping intelligence platform FleetMon, draws its data from a range of sources, including the Automatic Identification System, satellites, and more than 500 people on-site, like port terminal operators.

Per Appfigures data, MarineTraffic is estimated to have raked in almost $1 million across March and April in app revenue (through April 27), more than double the ~$346,500 from the same months last year. Across the full year, Kpler expects to earn between $300 million and $400 million in annual recurring revenues.

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