Tech
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Jon Keegan

SoftBank is seeking a $16.5 billion loan for its huge AI plans

After announcing eye-popping investments in a bunch of huge AI projects, SoftBank is looking for a $16.5 billion bridge loan to help pay for it all, according to Bloomberg.

This would be the largest dollar-based loan that the company has taken on.

SoftBank is going all in on AI, but it may be spreading itself too thin. Two ratings agencies issued warnings for SoftBank that the company’s huge AI bets are putting the company at risk.

Here are some of the big AI plays that SoftBank’s CEO Masayoshi Son has placed:

  • 🇺🇸 SoftBank is the lead backer of the $500 billion “Stargate” project, which aims to build massive AI infrastructure in the US with OpenAI as a partner.

  • 💰OpenAI just announced that SoftBank led a record-breaking $40 billion investment round, staking $30 billion on the startup (contingent on OpenAI’s successful pivot to a for-profit company).

  • 🤖 SoftBank is making big investments in robotics, including a $500 million investment in robotics AI startup Skild AI.

SoftBank shares were down 2.2% in early trading.

SoftBank Seeks Record $16.5 Billion Loan for AI Projects in US

SoftBank Seeks Record $16.5 Billion Loan for AI Projects in US

SoftBank is going all in on AI, but it may be spreading itself too thin. Two ratings agencies issued warnings for SoftBank that the company’s huge AI bets are putting the company at risk.

Here are some of the big AI plays that SoftBank’s CEO Masayoshi Son has placed:

  • 🇺🇸 SoftBank is the lead backer of the $500 billion “Stargate” project, which aims to build massive AI infrastructure in the US with OpenAI as a partner.

  • 💰OpenAI just announced that SoftBank led a record-breaking $40 billion investment round, staking $30 billion on the startup (contingent on OpenAI’s successful pivot to a for-profit company).

  • 🤖 SoftBank is making big investments in robotics, including a $500 million investment in robotics AI startup Skild AI.

SoftBank shares were down 2.2% in early trading.

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Rani Molla

Google uses an AI-generated ad to sell AI search

Google is using AI video to tell consumers about its AI search tools, with a Veo 3-generated advertisement that will begin airing on TV today. In it, a cartoonish turkey uses Google’s AI Mode to plan a vacation from its farm before it’s eaten for Thanksgiving.

Like other AI ad campaigns that have opted to depict yetis or famous artworks rather than humans, Google chose a turkey as its protagonist to avoid the uncanny valley pitfall that happens when AI is used to generate human likenesses.

Google’s in-house marketing group, Google Creative Lab, developed the idea for the ad — not Google’s AI — but chose not to prominently label the ad as AI, telling The Wall Street Journal that consumers don’t actually care how the ad was made.

Exclusive | Google’s First AI Ad Avoids the Uncanny Valley by Casting a Turkey

Exclusive | Google’s First AI Ad Avoids the Uncanny Valley by Casting a Turkey

Google’s in-house marketing group, Google Creative Lab, developed the idea for the ad — not Google’s AI — but chose not to prominently label the ad as AI, telling The Wall Street Journal that consumers don’t actually care how the ad was made.

tech
Rani Molla

Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft combined spent nearly $100 billion on capex last quarter

The numbers are in and tech giants Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft spent a whopping $97 billion last quarter on purchases of property and equipment. That’s nearly double what it was a year earlier as AI infrastructure costs continue to balloon and show no sign of stopping. Amazon, which reported earnings and capital expenditure spending that beat analysts’ expectations yesterday, continued to lead the pack, spending more than $35 billion on capex in the quarter that ended in September.

Note that the data we’re using here is from FactSet, which strips out finance leases when calculating capital expenditures. If those expenses were included the total would be well over $100 billion last quarter.

Rani Molla
Slicing the Pie
5h
The best analyst questions from Apple’s earnings call

Apple even answered some of them!

The All-New Apple Ginza opens in Tokyo
Apple Store in China

Apple reports Q4 earnings and revenue slightly above Wall Street estimates

The iPhone maker reported its FY 25 fourth-quarter earnings Thursday.

Rani Molla22h
#10
Rani Molla

Tesla just recalled its beleaguered Cybertruck for the 10th time since the vehicle was introduced two years ago. This time the company recalled about 6,000 of the “apocalypse-proof” vehicles due to what the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says is an improperly installed “optional off-road light bar accessory” that could become disconnected from the windshield while driving, and could “create a road hazard for following motorists and increase their risk of a collision.”

CEO Elon Musk once said he could sell up to 500,000 of the stainless steel behemoths a year. In the first three quarters of this year, the company has sold only about 16,000.

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