Author: GT

Meta and Oracle are upgrading their AI data centres with NVIDIA’s Spectrum-X Ethernet networking switches — technology built to handle the growing demands of large-scale AI systems. Both companies are adopting Spectrum-X as part of an open networking framework designed to improve AI training efficiency and accelerate deployment across massive compute clusters.Jensen Huang, NVIDIA’s founder and CEO, said trillion-parameter models are transforming data centres into “giga-scale AI factories,” adding that Spectrum-X acts as the “nervous system” connecting millions of GPUs to train the largest models ever built.Oracle plans to use Spectrum-X Ethernet with its Vera Rubin architecture to build large-scale…

Sam Altman didn’t set out to compete with Nvidia. OpenAI began with a simple bet that better ideas, not better infrastructure, would unlock artificial general intelligence. But that view shifted years ago, as Altman realized that more compute, or processing power, meant more capability — and ultimately, more dominance. On Monday morning, he unveiled his latest blockbuster deal, one that moves OpenAI squarely into the chipmaking business and further into competition with the hyperscalers.OpenAI is partnering with Broadcom to co-develop racks of custom AI accelerators, purpose-built for its own models. It’s a big shift for a company that once believed intelligence…

Airbound, an Indian drone startup, has raised $8.65 million in seed funding led by Physical Intelligence co-founder Lachy Groom, as it begins a drone-delivery pilot with a private hospital and works toward one-cent delivery using its ultra-light, blended-wing-body aircraft. The seed round includes participation from Humba Ventures and Airbound’s existing investor Lightspeed Venture Partners, as well as senior leaders at Tesla, SpaceX, and Anduril. Founded in 2020 by Naman Pushp — who was 15 at the time and is now 20 — Airbound has developed an aircraft using a tail-sitter design (where the drone sits vertically and launches upright like…

Dorothy Kilroy has seen her company’s smart ring on some very famous fingers. Mark Zuckerberg wears one. So does Jack Dorsey. Prince Harry, too. But when Oura‘s chief commercial officer sat down at Toronto’s Elevate conference with this editor last week, she surprised me, saying the company’s fastest-growing user segment isn’t tech billionaires or wellness-obsessed execs. It’s women in their early twenties. It highlighted what an interesting moment this is for Oura. The 13-year-old Finnish health tech company essentially invented the smart ring category and turned it into a billion-dollar business. But now competitors are circling, including Samsung with its…

Grindr’s majority owners are scrambling to take the LGBTQ+ dating app private after a stock decline triggered a personal financial crisis, according to a report from Semafor. The owners in question are Raymond Zage, a former hedge fund manager and U.S. expat now based in Singapore, and James Lu, a Chinese-American entrepreneur and former Amazon and Baidu exec. Together they led the 2020 acquisition of Grindr from Chinese ownership for over $600 million, then took the app public in 2022 through a blank-check merger. Reportedly, Zage and Lu, who together control more than 60% of Grindr, pledged nearly all their…

Goldman Sachs has agreed to acquire Industry Ventures, a 25-year-old, San Francisco-based investment firm with $7 billion in assets under management, CNBC was first to report on Monday. The deal underscores the growing importance of secondary markets and buyouts as traditional venture exits remain sluggish. The investment bank is paying $665 million in cash and equity, with up to $300 million more tied to the firm’s performance through 2030, according to a release from Goldman. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of next year, and all 45 Industry Ventures employees are expected to join Goldman. We’ve…

WASHINGTON (AP) — For many years, American and Chinese scholars worked shoulder to shoulder on cutting-edge technologies through open research, where findings are freely shared and accessible to all. But that openness, a long-standing practice celebrated for advancing knowledge, is raising alarms among some U.S. lawmakers. They are worried that China — now considered the most formidable challenger to American military dominance — is taking advantage of open research to catch up with the U.S. on military technology and even gain an edge. And they are calling for action.“For far too long, our adversaries have exploited American colleges and universities…

The countdown is on! TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 kicks off in exactly two weeks — taking place October 27–29 at Moscone West in San Francisco — and this is your final chance to lock in up to $624 in savings before prices increase on Friday, October 17 at 11:59 p.m. PT. Join more than 10,000 founders, investors, and operators for three days of inspiration, connection, and dealmaking across 200+ sessions, 250+ tech leaders, and 300+ showcasing startups. Image Credits:TechCrunch Why attend Disrupt 2025 TechCrunch Disrupt is where the global startup ecosystem meets to shape what’s next — from AI and biotech…

SpaceX launched another of its mammoth Starship rockets on a test flight Monday, striving to make it halfway around the world while releasing mock satellites like last time.Starship — the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built — thundered into the evening sky from the southern tip of Texas. The booster was programmed to peel away and drop into the Gulf of Mexico, with the spacecraft skimming space before descending into the Indian Ocean. Nothing was being recovered.It was the 11th test flight for a full-scale Starship, which SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk intends to use to send people…

Get ready for one of TechCrunch Disrupt 2025’s most electrifying moments — literally. Chris Barman, CEO of Slate Auto, is rolling one of her company’s brand-new electric trucks onto the Disrupt Stage before anyone else in the world sees it on the road. Be in the room for this live EV unveiling on the main stage. Save up to $624 this week when you register before October 17. Bringing a team? Save an additional 15% to 30% on group passes. How Slate is reinventing the commercial EV market — live onstage Barman will give attendees an insider’s look at how…