News & Updates
The latest news and updates from companies in the WLTH portfolio.
Anthropic Launches Monthly AI Economic Impact Survey
Anthropic, the AI research firm, has announced the launch of its Economic Index Survey, a monthly initiative aimed at capturing how artificial intelligence is reshaping the economy in real time. The survey, which begins today, will collect qualitative insights from users of its AI model, Claude, focusing on the evolving role of AI in work, hiring, and productivity. This effort seeks to move beyond lagging indicators like employment rates to provide a forward-looking view of AI's economic effects. The need for such data is highlighted by recent findings from Anthropic's Economic Index. On April 22, the company revealed a 14% decline in job-finding rates for younger workers (ages 22-25) in roles heavily exposed to AI. While AI adoption promises productivity gains, it is also creating transitional challenges, particularly for those in certain entry-level positions. This underscores why Anthropic is prioritizing first-hand accounts to map how individuals experience and anticipate these changes. The survey will invite a rotating sample of Claude users each month, ensuring diverse participation. Respondents will answer questions about how AI is currently impacting their tasks, whether they see productivity gains, and what they expect for the future of work. Importantly, Anthropic will combine this qualitative data with anonymized usage metrics from its AI systems, such as task delegation patterns, to detect shifts before they appear in traditional labor market data. This approach builds on Anthropic's earlier Economic Index research, which uses millions of anonymized conversations to track AI-driven trends in automation, augmentation, and geographic adoption. For example, the March 2026 report explored how AI adoption varies across industries and regions, providing critical insights for policymakers and businesses navigating this transition. Anthropic's initiative comes as AI adoption accelerates across sectors, raising questions about long-term effects on employment and economic inequality. By releasing monthly insights based on survey data, the company aims to offer a dynamic view of these trends. Businesses and policymakers stand to benefit from this granular perspective as they strategize around workforce development and AI integration. The survey's findings will be made public through regular updates and research briefs. If you're a Claude user with an account active for at least two weeks, you might be among those randomly selected to participate. Invites will appear on the Claude platform or via email. For more details, visit the official announcement.
Tube strike chaos returns as drivers begin second 24-hour walkout | LBC
The first strike, which took place on Tuesday, led to widespread delays and disruption to Tube services across the capital. Some lines were wholly or partly suspended while others had fewer services than normal. Transport for London (TfL) continues to advise people to check before they travel for the rest of the week. More disruption is set to hit the city this summer, with further 24-hour strikes planned in May and June unless the row is resolved. Pubs and restaurants across the capital have said they fear losing trade this week because of the industrial action as fewer workers than normal have travelled to offices.
Polymarket Bettor Uses 'Hair Dryer' To Change The Weather In Paris, Prediction Market Manipulation Contro
In a bizarre incident in Paris, a Polymarket bettor reportedly used a hair dryer to manipulate the temperature at a sensor at the Charles-de-Gaulle airport in order to win a contract, and was able to do it not once, but twice. Rise In Temperature According to a report by Le Monde, a probe placed at the Charles-de-Gaulle airport in Paris recorded an abnormal increase in temperatures on April 6 and 15, prompting questions from climate data enthusiasts. Around 6:30 PM on April 6, the temperature recorded at the sensor rose by four degrees in a matter of 12 minutes and then dropped five minutes later, prompting questions. The same thing again on April 15. Polymarket Contract Reveals More The situation became clearer when users found the contracts on Polymarket and noticed that one user had bet on temperatures rising to 21 degrees Celsius on April 6 and won $14,000. Another user won $20,000 on a similar bet on April 15. People on the contract page have called out the event, alleging manipulation, stating that the data was manipulated to benefit certain bettors. Polymarket did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for a comment. Climate enthusiasts have also called out the incident, with some members saying that the sensor was manipulated using a "hair dryer." Meteo-France, the official meteorological department, which owns the probe, has filed a complaint for "alteration of the operation of an automated data processing system," according to the report. White House Warns Staff The White House, earlier this month, warned staff against insider trading in the prediction market after three newly created Polymarket accounts pocketed over $600,000 by betting on the Iran ceasefire. Photo courtesy: Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.
SpaceX targets in-house GPUs as it warns investors of chip supply, costs
NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - SpaceX may be tackling one of the biggest challenges in the chip business: manufacturing the keys to powering artificial intelligence called graphics processing units, or GPUs. Ahead of SpaceX's $1.75 trillion IPO expected this summer, the company has warned prospective investors of its big spending plans to develop AI and other technologies. It lists "manufacturing our own GPUs" among the "substantial capital expenditures" it is undertaking, according to excerpts of its S-1 registration reviewed by Reuters. Companies file this document to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to disclose their risks and finances before going public. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the size of the expected expenditure could not be determined. The ambition follows work by SpaceX, its xAI unit and Tesla to jointly develop the Terafab, an advanced AI chip manufacturing complex that CEO Elon Musk is planning in Austin, Texas. Though Musk has said the project would target chips for cars, humanoid robots and space-based data centers, many details - including the types of AI chips, such as GPUs, it would produce - have been unknown. There are a range of approaches for chips that power AI. For example, Nvidia largely makes GPUs, which are general purpose and good at performing a wide array of data crunching tasks. Alphabet's Google takes another approach with its tensor processing units (TPUs), which are tuned to perform specific functions, key to building AI models and running chatbots such as Anthropic's Claude. It was unclear when SpaceX plans to manufacture its own chip and which companies - the Terafab developers or their partner Intel - would handle the fabrication technologies inside the plant. Musk told Tesla analysts on Wednesday that by the time Terafab scales up, Intel's next-generation 14A manufacturing process "will be probably fairly mature or ready for prime time" and "seems like the right move." It was also unclear if SpaceX, in its filing, used the term GPU as shorthand for AI processors generally. Still, the previously unreported plans for GPU production come as SpaceX warned investors that it may not have enough chip supply to power its growth. SUPPLY CONCERNS "We do not have long-term contracts with many of our direct chip suppliers," SpaceX said in the S-1 registration. "We expect to continue sourcing a significant portion of our compute hardware from third-party suppliers, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to achieve our objectives with respect to TERAFAB within the expected timeframes, or at all." Manufacturing GPUs is not easy. Industry heavyweight Nvidia pioneered GPU design and, like much of the industry, outsources their manufacture to Taiwan's TSMC. TSMC has spent billions of dollars and years developing its most advanced manufacturing processes, which for cutting-edge chips require exotic materials and executing more than a thousand steps with atomic precision. Its years of manufacturing billions of Apple's iPhone chips have afforded it an enormous amount of the required hands-on experience to produce cutting-edge processors. The chip industry, as it is organized, now splits steps such as fabricating, packaging and testing among several discrete companies. Musk has said the Terafab will handle each step of chip production, including the design as well. (Reporting by Echo Wang in New York, Jeffrey Dastin and Max A. Cherney in San Francisco; Editing by Kenneth Li and Kim Coghill)
SpaceX Bets $60 Billion On Cursor AI. The Real Winner Is A Surprise.
SpaceX, the rocket company that now owns xAI and the Colossus supercomputer, has struck a deal giving it the option to acquire AI coding startup Cursor for $60 billion. The actual structure is a $10 billion collaboration to develop "coding and knowledge work" AI, pairing Cursor's expertise with SpaceX's Colossus infrastructure, with the right to acquire Cursor outright later this year according to the Guardian. The internet immediately erupted in two camps: believers calling it a genius power move and skeptics questioning whether any code editor is worth the GDP of a small nation. Both camps are missing the real story. Cursor, built by Anysphere, was founded in 2022 by four MIT students and has grown at a pace that has become a benchmark for AI-era startups. It was valued at $400 million in a Series A in mid-2024, climbed to $2.5 billion by January 2025, and closed a $2.3 billion Series D in November 2025 at $29.3 billion per Cursor. The company surpassed $1 billion in annualized recurring revenue with year-over-year growth exceeding 9,900%, and more than one million developers use the platform daily. That is what legitimate product-market fit looks like when compute meets demand at exactly the right moment. Cursor CEO Michael Truell confirmed he is focused on scaling the company's proprietary Composer model, and Colossus gives Anysphere training infrastructure it could never replicate independently. Here is the fact most coverage glosses over. While OpenAI's Codex has reached three million weekly users and Anthropic's Claude Code has become the most-used AI coding tool among professional engineers, xAI has no comparable product. SpaceX absorbed xAI in an all-stock deal in February 2026, inheriting a supercomputer in Memphis with no killer app to run through it. The Cursor partnership provides that application. The $60 billion figure grabs headlines, but the actual logic is more surgical. SpaceX is making three simultaneous bets with one transaction. First, compute without a killer app is just expensive real estate. Colossus, with the equivalent of one million Nvidia H100 GPUs, needs a world-class product routing traffic through it. Cursor, with over one million daily active developers and 150 million lines of enterprise code generated per day, is exactly that product. Second, distribution is the moat that actually holds. Cursor has achieved something remarkably hard: habitual daily use by elite engineers inside 67% of Fortune 500 companies. That kind of embedded workflow loyalty does not appear overnight and cannot be replicated by throwing compute at the problem. OpenAI and Anthropic are both chasing it. SpaceX just optioned it. Third, the people inside Anysphere are the asset no supercomputer can replicate. Four MIT co-founders who built the fastest B2B company to scale from zero to $2 billion in roughly three years did not do it by accident. They did it by understanding developer psychology at a depth that product managers at Big Tech consistently miss. The humans who understand what elite engineers actually need are the irreplaceable variable in this deal. SpaceX is preparing for what analysts expect could be one of the largest initial public offerings in history, with a potential listing as early as June 2026. A $60 billion AI coding asset on the balance sheet is extraordinary narrative fuel for that roadshow. Consider this factoid: SpaceX absorbed xAI in February 2026 in an all-stock transaction valuing the combined entity at approximately $1.25 trillion, making the $60 billion Cursor option less than 5% of that combined valuation. For a company of that scale, optioning the world's fastest-growing developer platform is a calculated asymmetric bet. Musk has made this move before: acquire the distribution, control the compute, and let the IPO narrative do the rest. And the compute ambitions do not stop at Memphis. SpaceX is already planning to expand Colossus into orbital data centers, meaning the same infrastructure training Cursor's models today could literally be running in space tomorrow. For SpaceX, the final frontier was never just space. It was always compute, capital, and control of the platforms that engineers live in every day. The real question is whether SpaceX can turn the world's best developer tool into the world's best developer platform before OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google gets there first. For the industry, SpaceX just made that race considerably more interesting.
SpaceX warns of chip risks, eyes own GPU production | News.az
SpaceX is preparing for one of its boldest moves yet -- building its own AI chips -- as it warns investors about rising costs and fragile supply chains ahead of its highly anticipated IPO. According to its pre-IPO filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, SpaceX flagged "substantial capital expenditures" tied to advanced technologies, including the potential in-house production of GPUs -- the powerful processors behind artificial intelligence, News.Az reports, citing Reuters. Why SpaceX wants its own chips? Graphics processing units (GPUs) are critical for training AI models, powering data centers, and enabling next-generation technologies. But they are also expensive and increasingly difficult to secure. SpaceX warned that it lacks long-term contracts with many chip suppliers, raising concerns about whether it can meet growing demand for computing power. Currently, much of the AI chip ecosystem depends on companies like Nvidia, which designs GPUs, and TSMC, which manufactures them using highly advanced processes. The company's ambitions go beyond design. SpaceX is working alongside its sister companies to develop "Terafab", a massive AI chip manufacturing complex planned in Austin, Texas. The project is tied to Elon Musk's broader ecosystem, including Tesla and xAI. The goal: create chips for everything from autonomous vehicles to humanoid robots -- and even space-based data centers. Musk has hinted that Intel's upcoming 14A manufacturing process could play a key role once the facility scales. Building GPUs is one of the most complex feats in modern manufacturing. Companies like TSMC have spent decades refining processes that involve thousands of precise steps and billions of dollars in investment. Unlike traditional chip development -- where design, fabrication, and testing are often split across multiple firms -- SpaceX aims to control the entire pipeline. That level of vertical integration could offer long-term advantages, but it also comes with significant risks: Massive upfront costs: Uncertain timelines Intense technical challenges What it means for investors The disclosure comes as SpaceX prepares for a potential $1.75 trillion IPO, putting its long-term strategy under intense scrutiny. While the company is still expected to rely heavily on third-party suppliers, its push toward in-house GPU production signals a broader shift: reducing dependence on external partners in a world where AI demand is exploding. With Big Tech projected to spend hundreds of billions on AI infrastructure this year, the race for chips is only accelerating -- and SpaceX clearly doesn't want to be left behind.
Exclusive-SpaceX targets in-house GPUs as it warns investors of chip supply, costs
NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - SpaceX may be tackling one of the biggest challenges in the chip business: manufacturing the keys to powering artificial intelligence called graphics processing units, or GPUs. Ahead of SpaceX's $1.75 trillion IPO expected this summer, the company has warned prospective investors of its big spending plans to develop AI and other technologies. It lists "manufacturing our own GPUs" among the "substantial capital expenditures" it is undertaking, according to excerpts of its S-1 registration reviewed by Reuters. Companies file this document to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to disclose their risks and finances before going public. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the size of the expected expenditure could not be determined. The ambition follows work by SpaceX, its xAI unit and Tesla to jointly develop the Terafab, an advanced AI chip manufacturing complex that CEO Elon Musk is planning in Austin, Texas. Though Musk has said the project would target chips for cars, humanoid robots and space-based data centers, many details - including the types of AI chips, such as GPUs, it would produce - have been unknown. There are a range of approaches for chips that power AI. For example, Nvidia largely makes GPUs, which are general purpose and good at performing a wide array of data crunching tasks. Alphabet's Google takes another approach with its tensor processing units (TPUs), which are tuned to perform specific functions, key to buildingAI models and running chatbots such as Anthropic's Claude. It was unclear when SpaceX plans to manufacture its own chip and which companies - the Terafab developers or their partner Intel - would handle the fabrication technologies inside the plant. Musk told Tesla analysts on Wednesday that by the time Terafab scales up, Intel's next-generation 14A manufacturing process "will be probably fairly mature or ready for prime time" and "seems like the right move." It was also unclear if SpaceX, in its filing, used the term GPU as shorthand for AI processors generally. Still, the previously unreportedplans for GPU production come as SpaceX warned investors that it may not have enough chip supply to power its growth. SUPPLY CONCERNS "We do not have long-term contracts with many of our direct chip suppliers," SpaceX said in the S-1 registration. "We expect to continue sourcing a significant portion of our compute hardware from third-party suppliers, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to achieve our objectives with respect to TERAFAB within the expected timeframes, or at all." Manufacturing GPUs is not easy. Industry heavyweight Nvidia pioneered GPU design and, like much of the industry, outsources their manufacture to Taiwan's TSMC. TSMC has spent billions of dollars and years developing its most advanced manufacturing processes, which for cutting-edge chips require exotic materials and executing more than a thousand steps with atomic precision. Its years of manufacturing billions of Apple's iPhone chips have afforded it an enormous amount of the required hands-on experience to produce cutting-edge processors. The chip industry, as it is organized, now splits steps such as fabricating, packaging and testing among several discrete companies. Musk has said the Terafab will handle each step of chip production, including the design as well. (Reporting by Echo Wang in New York, Jeffrey Dastin and Max A. Cherney in San Francisco; Editing by Kenneth Li and Kim Coghill)
Op-Ed: Anthropic Mythos - The monster that could be a saviour?
Anthropic's Mythos is causing a massive flurry of ridiculous levels of interest in AI as a security threat. This threat has been monotonously predicted by cybersecurity experts for years. The main difference is that it's now visible in a tangible form. A report that Mythos was accessed by unauthorized users hasn't helped. Anthropic has been very cautious and understandably reticent about Mythos. It seems that Mythos has a unique capacity for finding flaws in IT security. "Unauthorised access" is exactly what you don't want with this capability. There are other possible issues. If Mythos can be duplicated, or some kind of its flaw finding capabilities can be cloned, the possibilities are all too obvious. The IP damage alone could be catastrophic. The cybersecurity angle is much more dangerous. Anthropic aren't suffering from some sort of implied hypochondria. According to some reports, Mythos can crack smaller IT systems, which could be a direct lead into other larger systems. That's another major issue. This type of breach is a routine existing problem in cybersecurity. It's a backdoor way of getting into associated businesses and other systems. Even if the big systems are OK, these compromised systems are likely gateways. AI systems add a level of difficulty in their scope of operations, able to generate agents, and are infamous for their weird behaviors. Now add an AI that specializes in cybersecurity, going rogue. Put it this way: can anyone on Earth create a prompt for an AI dysfunctional rampage? Yes. You definitely do not need a cybersecurity specialist AI going on a bender in this environment. Even a relatively minor event can escalate into a market panic, with or without serious damage. It's a monster in too many ways. OK, this is where it gets interesting. Mythos seems to have a real major asset ready to go in plain sight. This expertise in finding flaws could be a huge plus for global cybersecurity. Try this for a bit of tenuous logic: AI can generate a sort of SSL, Secure Sockets Layer, a multilayered hard target like the SSL used by financial institutions. It can do this in seconds. Now the "saviour" bit. This is fascinating. AI can predict. This is where Mythos may have a huge advantage. If you've ever played against Stockfish, the super-chess computer, it can plot moves at least 40 moves in advance. Apply this to "breach theory" and apply an AI prediction of how a breach behaves, and the possible moves of a hack. Hacks have a weakness, too. Some things must be done to access and run anything. AI can monitor behaviors and predict next steps by bad actors long before they happen. It can block actions, redirect them, and/or simply stop them in real time. This is existing tech. Don't even need to look for the codes for move prediction and easy for an LLM to train as required. LEGO for cybersecurity, in effect. Mythos could easily outperform any hack, and at AI speeds. Mythos knows where the weaknesses are. It can predict how a hack has to behave to do anything. Disclaimer The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
SpaceX Plans In-House GPU Manufacturing Amid Chip Supply Challenges
SpaceX's S‑1 filing ahead of its expected summer 2026 IPO reveals plans to manufacture its own GPUs, spotlighting chip‑supply risks and major capital outlays tied to the Terafab joint venture in Austin with Tesla, xAI and Intel. SpaceX Eyes In-House GPU Production as It Warns of Chip Supply Risks SpaceX's Ambitious Plans for AI Chip Manufacturing By Echo Wang, Jeffrey Dastin and Max A. Cherney SpaceX's IPO and Capital Expenditures NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - SpaceX may be tackling one of the biggest challenges in the chip business: manufacturing the keys to powering artificial intelligence called graphics processing units, or GPUs. Ahead of SpaceX's $1.75 trillion IPO expected this summer, the company has warned prospective investors of its big spending plans to develop AI and other technologies. It lists "manufacturing our own GPUs" among the "substantial capital expenditures" it is undertaking, according to excerpts of its S-1 registration reviewed by Reuters. Companies file this document to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to disclose their risks and finances before going public. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the size of the expected expenditure could not be determined. The Terafab Project and AI Chip Development The ambition follows work by SpaceX, its xAI unit and Tesla to jointly develop the Terafab, an advanced AI chip manufacturing complex that CEO Elon Musk is planning in Austin, Texas. Though Musk has said the project would target chips for cars, humanoid robots and space-based data centers, many details - including the types of AI chips, such as GPUs, it would produce - have been unknown. Different Approaches to AI Chips There are a range of approaches for chips that power AI. For example, Nvidia largely makes GPUs, which are general purpose and good at performing a wide array of data crunching tasks. Alphabet's Google takes another approach with its tensor processing units (TPUs), which are tuned to perform specific functions, key to building AI models and running chatbots such as Anthropic's Claude. Uncertainties Around Manufacturing and Partnerships It was unclear when SpaceX plans to manufacture its own chip and which companies - the Terafab developers or their partner Intel - would handle the fabrication technologies inside the plant. Musk told Tesla analysts on Wednesday that by the time Terafab scales up, Intel's next-generation 14A manufacturing process "will be probably fairly mature or ready for prime time" and "seems like the right move." It was also unclear if SpaceX, in its filing, used the term GPU as shorthand for AI processors generally. Chip Supply Risks and Industry Challenges Still, the previously unreported plans for GPU production come as SpaceX warned investors that it may not have enough chip supply to power its growth. Supply Concerns SpaceX's S-1 Filing Statements SUPPLY CONCERNS "We do not have long-term contracts with many of our direct chip suppliers," SpaceX said in the S-1 registration. "We expect to continue sourcing a significant portion of our compute hardware from third-party suppliers, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to achieve our objectives with respect to TERAFAB within the expected timeframes, or at all." Manufacturing Complexity and Industry Landscape Manufacturing GPUs is not easy. Industry heavyweight Nvidia pioneered GPU design and, like much of the industry, outsources their manufacture to Taiwan's TSMC. TSMC has spent billions of dollars and years developing its most advanced manufacturing processes, which for cutting-edge chips require exotic materials and executing more than a thousand steps with atomic precision. Its years of manufacturing billions of Apple's iPhone chips have afforded it an enormous amount of the required hands-on experience to produce cutting-edge processors. The chip industry, as it is organized, now splits steps such as fabricating, packaging and testing among several discrete companies. Musk has said the Terafab will handle each step of chip production, including the design as well. (Reporting by Echo Wang in New York, Jeffrey Dastin and Max A. Cherney in San Francisco; Editing by Kenneth Li and Kim Coghill)
Google (GOOGL) Launches New AI Agent Tools to Take on Anthropic and OpenAI
Tech giant Google (GOOGL) is launching a new set of tools focused on AI agents, as it tries to compete more directly with OpenAI and Anthropic. These tools are designed to help businesses automate tasks by creating AI agents that can complete work and report back on progress. At a conference in Las Vegas, Google Cloud showed features like a dedicated inbox where these agents can post updates. In addition, the company explained how AI could change daily work by handling repetitive tasks and improving overall productivity. Claim 30% Off TipRanks * Unlock hedge fund-level data and powerful investing tools for smarter, sharper decisions * Discover top-performing stock ideas and upgrade to a portfolio of market leaders with Smart Investor Picks This move comes as competition for business customers continues to grow. Even though Google helped develop much of the technology behind today's AI boom, it is now racing to turn that into real revenue. At the same time, the company plans to spend heavily, with capital expenditures expected to reach up to $185 billion this year. As a result, investors want to see clear returns. To strengthen its position, Google is also working on new custom chips, including those built to run AI models, which puts it in more direct competition with Nvidia (NVDA). On top of that, Google is trying to improve its tools for developers, especially for AI coding, where it has been seen as lagging behind. To fix this, it introduced updates to its Gemini Enterprise platform, including features that help AI remember past interactions and test how it performs before launch. It also launched a new collaboration tool that connects data from services like Workspace and Microsoft's (MSFT) OneDrive, so AI agents can work with better context. In addition, Google introduced cybersecurity-focused agents to help protect systems, which is becoming more important as AI uncovers more software vulnerabilities. Are GOOGL Shares a Good Buy? Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on GOOGL stock based on 26 Buys and five Holds assigned in the past three months. Furthermore, the average GOOGL price target of $387.68 per share implies 14.8% upside potential.
Why Anthropic's Mythos is sparking global alarm
Anthropic PBC has said its new artificial intelligence tool, Mythos, is too powerful to release to the general public. The AI giant has described the model as so good at finding vulnerabilities in software and computer systems that it will only be released to a limited number of carefully chosen parties. If tools like Mythos fall into the wrong hands, Anthropic says, it could provide attackers with a powerful new weapon to steal data or disrupt critical infrastructure. That risk was underscored when a small group of unauthorised users in a private online forum gained access to Mythos, according to a person familiar with the matter and documentation viewed by Bloomberg News. The group gained access on the same day that Anthropic first announced its plan to release the model to a handful of companies for testing purposes. For the last several years, cybersecurity companies have promised that artificial intelligence will speed up and automate some of the work of preventing digital breaches. But hackers and cyberspies have discovered the advantages of AI too. The advent of Mythos and models like it that can exploit well-hidden flaws in popular software without human supervision points to a faster-moving, less predictable phase of the cyber arms race. Claude Mythos Preview is a general purpose AI model that Anthropic says significantly outperforms prior offerings on a range of benchmarks, including for coding and reasoning. The company explained that some AI models have reached a level of coding capability that allows them to beat all but the most skilled humans at finding and exploiting software vulnerabilities. According to Anthropic, Mythos Preview has already found thousands of "zero-day" vulnerabilities during testing, including in every major operating system and every major web browser. "Zero days" are flaws that were previously unknown to the software's developers - the name implying they have zero days to come up with a patch to resolve the problem. These often represent a gold mine for hackers because they offer a window of free rein inside vulnerable systems. Mythos was able to identify these with even less human intervention than past models, Anthropic said. "Mythos Preview demonstrates a leap in these cyber skills - the vulnerabilities it has spotted have in some cases survived decades of human review and millions of automated security tests," the company said. In the hands of a ransomware gang or hostile governments, such a tool could lead to more devastating and frequent cyberattacks. Researchers say they have not been given access to independently verify Anthropic's claims about Mythos's performance. Associate professor of computer science Gang Wang at the University of Illinois said it is hard to assess the significance of Mythos Preview without more hands-on testing. Anthropic is calling its plan to grant access to a limited group of vetted partners Project Glasswing, after a type of butterfly with transparent wings that allow it to hide in plain sight. The participants include Amazon, Apple, Alphabet's Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, Palo Alto Networks, CrowdStrike Holdings, Broadcom, Cisco Systems, JPMorganChase and the Linux Foundation, a nonprofit that supports open-source software projects. Anthropic described the project as "an urgent attempt to put these capabilities to work for defensive purposes". These organisations will use Mythos as part of their defensive security work, and Anthropic plans to share the findings of the project so others can benefit. Many companies already use so-called penetration exercises, in which they hire specialists to probe their systems for bugs so they can fix them before hackers get in. Mythos could allow companies to turbocharge that process, allowing them to find more flaws more quickly and narrow the opportunities for potential attacks. Anthropic described Mythos Preview as "a watershed moment for security." By their nature, zero-day vulnerabilities are difficult to find, and a small and murky industry has been built around finding them and selling them to government intelligence agencies, often for millions of dollars. According to Anthropic, the vulnerabilities Mythos Preview found were often "subtle and difficult to detect" and included a 27-year-old flaw in OpenBSD, an operating system that Anthropic says has a reputation as one of the most security-hardened in the world. Mythos was also allegedly able to turn vulnerabilities that are known but not widely patched into "exploits" that hackers could use to infiltrate computer networks. For instance, it found and chained together several flaws in the Linux kernel - the core of the operating system and software that runs most of the world's internet servers - to allow an attacker to take complete control of the machine. Non-experts also asked Mythos Preview to find ways to remotely take control of computers overnight and came back the next morning to a complete, working exploit, Anthropic said. Mythos is one of several new AI tools able to find zero days or build exploits. OpenAI's Codex Security and Google's "Big Sleep agent" have been developed to find vulnerabilities. OpenAI is also finalising a product with advanced cybersecurity capabilities that it intends to release to select partners, Axios reported. Researchers at an Israeli cybersecurity startup called Buzz, meanwhile, say they have built an autonomous tool combining five AI agents that has a 98 per cent success rate in exploiting known flaws. The safeguards are a work in progress, according to Anthropic. "We have seen it reach unprecedented levels of reliability and alignment," Anthropic wrote, meaning it aligns with what humans want. "However, on rare occasions when it does fail or act strangely, we have seen it take actions that we find quite concerning." In one instance, a researcher urged an early version of Mythos to try to escape a secured, isolated "sandbox" computer and then find a way to send a message to that person. The tool succeeded but then continued to take "additional, more concerning actions", developing a multistep exploit to gain internet access. Anthropic said it does not plan to make Mythos Preview generally available, given its potential for misuse. Still, the company ultimately hopes to enable users to deploy "Mythos-class models" at scale for cybersecurity purposes and other uses. "To do so, we need to make progress in developing cybersecurity (and other) safeguards that detect and block the model's most dangerous outputs," it said. For the highest severity bugs found by Mythos, humans are involved: Specialists validate those discoveries before sending the information on to the people who maintain the code, according to Anthropic. It is a necessary but time-consuming process, but one that may eventually be eliminated as the model improves, the University of Illinois' Dr Wang said. Maybe, but it might take a while. Anthropic's process for disclosing flaws to the people who maintain the software or computer systems can be lengthy. So far, less than 1 per cent of the potential vulnerabilities Mythos Preview has uncovered have been fully patched, the company said. At the same time, hackers are using AI to dramatically speed up how quickly they find and exploit vulnerabilities once they are disclosed. Vendors are encouraged, and in some cases required, to publicly disclose vulnerabilities once they are discovered, and ideally provide a fix. This gives cyber professionals less and less time to patch their networks. In a March 30 blog post, Palo Alto Networks Chief Executive Officer Nikesh Arora warned that the barrier for sophisticated attacks will continue to diminish over the next six months. "A single bad actor will now be able to run campaigns that required entire teams," he wrote. Buzz's chief executive officer Yair Saban, a veteran of Israel's Unit 8200 cyber unit, said it took six engineers three weeks to build their AI-powered hacking tool. Others, including nation-state cyber spies and criminal hackers, can surely do the same, he said. Anthropic maintains that Mythos Preview and other AI tools like it will ultimately favour defenders. "In the long run, we expect that defence capabilities will dominate: That the world will emerge more secure, with software better hardened - in large part by code written by these models," the company's Frontier Red Team said in an April 7 blog. "But the transitional period will be fraught." BLOOMBERG
Exclusive-SpaceX targets in-house GPUs as it warns investors of chip supply, costs
NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - SpaceX may be tackling one of the biggest challenges in the chip business: manufacturing the keys to powering artificial intelligence called graphics processing units, or GPUs. Ahead of SpaceX's $1.75 trillion IPO expected this summer, the company has warned prospective investors of its big spending plans to develop AI and other technologies. It lists "manufacturing our own GPUs" among the "substantial capital expenditures" it is undertaking, according to excerpts of its S-1 registration reviewed by Reuters. Companies file this document to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to disclose their risks and finances before going public. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the size of the expected expenditure could not be determined. The ambition follows work by SpaceX, its xAI unit and Tesla to jointly develop the Terafab, an advanced AI chip manufacturing complex that CEO Elon Musk is planning in Austin, Texas. Though Musk has said the project would target chips for cars, humanoid robots and space-based data centers, many details - including the types of AI chips, such as GPUs, it would produce - have been unknown. There are a range of approaches for chips that power AI. For example, Nvidia largely makes GPUs, which are general purpose and good at performing a wide array of data crunching tasks. Alphabet's Google takes another approach with its tensor processing units (TPUs), which are tuned to perform specific functions, key to building AI models and running chatbots such as Anthropic's Claude. It was unclear when SpaceX plans to manufacture its own chip and which companies - the Terafab developers or their partner Intel - would handle the fabrication technologies inside the plant. Musk told Tesla analysts on Wednesday that by the time Terafab scales up, Intel's next-generation 14A manufacturing process "will be probably fairly mature or ready for prime time" and "seems like the right move." It was also unclear if SpaceX, in its filing, used the term GPU as shorthand for AI processors generally. Still, the previously unreported plans for GPU production come as SpaceX warned investors that it may not have enough chip supply to power its growth. SUPPLY CONCERNS "We do not have long-term contracts with many of our direct chip suppliers," SpaceX said in the S-1 registration. "We expect to continue sourcing a significant portion of our compute hardware from third-party suppliers, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to achieve our objectives with respect to TERAFAB within the expected timeframes, or at all."
Exclusive: SpaceX targets in-house GPUs as it warns investors of chip supply, costs
NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - SpaceX may be tackling one of the biggest challenges in the chip business: manufacturing the keys to powering artificial intelligence called graphics processing units, or GPUs. Ahead of SpaceX's $1.75 trillion IPO expected this summer, the company has warned prospective investors of its big spending plans to develop AI and other technologies. It lists "manufacturing our own GPUs" among the "substantial capital expenditures" it is undertaking, according to excerpts of its S-1 registration reviewed by Reuters. Companies file this document to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to disclose their risks and finances before going public. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the size of the expected expenditure could not be determined. The ambition follows work by SpaceX, its xAI unit and Tesla to jointly develop the Terafab, an advanced AI chip manufacturing complex that CEO Elon Musk is planning in Austin, Texas. Though Musk has said the project would target chips for cars, humanoid robots and space-based data centers, many details - including the types of AI chips, such as GPUs, it would produce - have been unknown. There are a range of approaches for chips that power AI. For example, Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab largely makes GPUs, which are general purpose and good at performing a wide array of data crunching tasks. Alphabet's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab Google takes another approach with its tensor processing units (TPUs), which are tuned to perform specific functions, key to building AI models and running chatbots such as Anthropic's Claude. It was unclear when SpaceX plans to manufacture its own chip and which companies - the Terafab developers or their partner Intel - would handle the fabrication technologies inside the plant. Musk told Tesla analysts on Wednesday that by the time Terafab scales up, Intel's next-generation 14A manufacturing process "will be probably fairly mature or ready for prime time" and "seems like the right move." It was also unclear if SpaceX, in its filing, used the term GPU as shorthand for AI processors generally. Still, the previously unreported plans for GPU production come as SpaceX warned investors that it may not have enough chip supply to power its growth. SUPPLY CONCERNS "We do not have long-term contracts with many of our direct chip suppliers," SpaceX said in the S-1 registration. "We expect to continue sourcing a significant portion of our compute hardware from third-party suppliers, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to achieve our objectives with respect to TERAFAB within the expected timeframes, or at all." Manufacturing GPUs is not easy. Industry heavyweight Nvidia pioneered GPU design and, like much of the industry, outsources their manufacture to Taiwan's TSMC (2330.TW), opens new tab. TSMC has spent billions of dollars and years developing its most advanced manufacturing processes, which for cutting-edge chips require exotic materials and executing more than a thousand steps with atomic precision. Its years of manufacturing billions of Apple's iPhone chips have afforded it an enormous amount of the required hands-on experience to produce cutting-edge processors. The chip industry, as it is organized, now splits steps such as fabricating, packaging and testing among several discrete companies. Musk has said the Terafab will handle each step of chip production, including the design as well. Reporting by Echo Wang in New York, Jeffrey Dastin and Max A. Cherney in San Francisco; Editing by Kenneth Li and Kim Coghill Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab * Suggested Topics: * Artificial Intelligence * ADAS, AV & Safety * Sustainable & EV Supply Chain * EV Strategy Echo Wang Thomson Reuters Echo Wang is a correspondent at Reuters covering U.S. equity capital markets, and the intersection of Chinese business in the U.S, breaking news from U.S. crackdown on TikTok and Grindr, to restrictions Chinese companies face in listing in New York. She was the Reuters' Reporter of the Year in 2020. Jeffrey Dastin Thomson Reuters Jeffrey Dastin is a correspondent for Reuters based in San Francisco, where he reports on the technology industry and artificial intelligence. He joined Reuters in 2014, originally writing about airlines and travel from the New York bureau. Dastin graduated from Yale University with a degree in history. He was part of a team that examined lobbying by Amazon.com around the world, for which he won a SOPA Award in 2022. Max A. Cherney Thomson Reuters Max A. Cherney is a correspondent for Reuters based in San Francisco, where he reports on the semiconductor industry and artificial intelligence. He joined Reuters in 2023 and has previously worked for Barron's magazine and its sister publication, MarketWatch. Cherney graduated from Trent University with a degree in history.
Exclusive-SpaceX targets in-house GPUs as it warns investors of chip supply, costs
By Echo Wang, Jeffrey Dastin and Max A. Cherney NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - SpaceX may be tackling one of the biggest challenges in the chip business: manufacturing the keys to powering artificial intelligence called graphics processing units, or GPUs. Ahead of SpaceX's $1.75 trillion IPO expected this summer, the company has warned prospective investors of its big spending plans to develop AI and other technologies. It lists "manufacturing our own GPUs" among the "substantial capital expenditures" it is undertaking, according to excerpts of its S-1 registration reviewed by Reuters. Companies file this document to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to disclose their risks and finances before going public. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the size of the expected expenditure could not be determined. The ambition follows work by SpaceX, its xAI unit and Tesla to jointly develop the Terafab, an advanced AI chip manufacturing complex that CEO Elon Musk is planning in Austin, Texas. Though Musk has said the project would target chips for cars, humanoid robots and space-based data centers, many details - including the types of AI chips, such as GPUs, it would produce - have been unknown. There are a range of approaches for chips that power AI. For example, Nvidia largely makes GPUs, which are general purpose and good at performing a wide array of data crunching tasks. Alphabet's Google takes another approach with its tensor processing units (TPUs), which are tuned to perform specific functions, key to building AI models and running chatbots such as Anthropic's Claude. It was unclear when SpaceX plans to manufacture its own chip and which companies - the Terafab developers or their partner Intel - would handle the fabrication technologies inside the plant. Musk told Tesla analysts on Wednesday that by the time Terafab scales up, Intel's next-generation 14A manufacturing process "will be probably fairly mature or ready for prime time" and "seems like the right move." It was also unclear if SpaceX, in its filing, used the term GPU as shorthand for AI processors generally. Still, the previously unreported plans for GPU production come as SpaceX warned investors that it may not have enough chip supply to power its growth. SUPPLY CONCERNS "We do not have long-term contracts with many of our direct chip suppliers," SpaceX said in the S-1 registration. "We expect to continue sourcing a significant portion of our compute hardware from third-party suppliers, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to achieve our objectives with respect to TERAFAB within the expected timeframes, or at all."
Exclusive-SpaceX targets in-house GPUs as it warns investors of chip supply, costs
NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - SpaceX may be tackling one of the biggest challenges in the chip business: manufacturing the keys to powering artificial intelligence called graphics processing units, or GPUs. Ahead of SpaceX's $1.75 trillion IPO expected this summer, the company has warned prospective investors of its big spending plans to develop AI and other technologies. It lists "manufacturing our own GPUs" among the "substantial capital expenditures" it is undertaking, according to excerpts of its S-1 registration reviewed by Reuters. Companies file this document to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to disclose their risks and finances before going public. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the size of the expected expenditure could not be determined. The ambition follows work by SpaceX, its xAI unit and Tesla to jointly develop the Terafab, an advanced AI chip manufacturing complex that CEO Elon Musk is planning in Austin, Texas. Though Musk has said the project would target chips for cars, humanoid robots and space-based data centers, many details - including the types of AI chips, such as GPUs, it would produce - have been unknown. There are a range of approaches for chips that power AI. For example, Nvidia largely makes GPUs, which are general purpose and good at performing a wide array of data crunching tasks. Alphabet's Google takes another approach with its tensor processing units (TPUs), which are tuned to perform specific functions, key to building AI models and running chatbots such as Anthropic's Claude. It was unclear when SpaceX plans to manufacture its own chip and which companies - the Terafab developers or their partner Intel - would handle the fabrication technologies inside the plant. Musk told Tesla analysts on Wednesday that by the time Terafab scales up, Intel's next-generation 14A manufacturing process "will be probably fairly mature or ready for prime time" and "seems like the right move." It was also unclear if SpaceX, in its filing, used the term GPU as shorthand for AI processors generally. Still, the previously unreported plans for GPU production come as SpaceX warned investors that it may not have enough chip supply to power its growth. SUPPLY CONCERNS "We do not have long-term contracts with many of our direct chip suppliers," SpaceX said in the S-1 registration. "We expect to continue sourcing a significant portion of our compute hardware from third-party suppliers, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to achieve our objectives with respect to TERAFAB within the expected timeframes, or at all."
Exclusive-SpaceX targets in-house GPUs as it warns investors of chip supply, costs
NEW YORK, April 23 : SpaceX may be tackling one of the biggest challenges in the chip business: manufacturing the keys to powering artificial intelligence called graphics processing units, or GPUs. Ahead of SpaceX's $1.75 trillion IPO expected this summer, the company has warned prospective investors of its big spending plans to develop AI and other technologies. It lists "manufacturing our own GPUs" among the "substantial capital expenditures" it is undertaking, according to excerpts of its S-1 registration reviewed by Reuters. Companies file this document to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to disclose their risks and finances before going public. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the size of the expected expenditure could not be determined. The ambition follows work by SpaceX, its xAI unit and Tesla to jointly develop the Terafab, an advanced AI chip manufacturing complex that CEO Elon Musk is planning in Austin, Texas. Though Musk has said the project would target chips for cars, humanoid robots and space-based data centers, many details - including the types of AI chips, such as GPUs, it would produce - have been unknown. There are a range of approaches for chips that power AI. For example, Nvidia largely makes GPUs, which are general purpose and good at performing a wide array of data crunching tasks. Alphabet's Google takes another approach with its tensor processing units (TPUs), which are tuned to perform specific functions, key to building AI models and running chatbots such as Anthropic's Claude. It was unclear when SpaceX plans to manufacture its own chip and which companies - the Terafab developers or their partner Intel - would handle the fabrication technologies inside the plant. Musk told Tesla analysts on Wednesday that by the time Terafab scales up, Intel's next-generation 14A manufacturing process "will be probably fairly mature or ready for prime time" and "seems like the right move." It was also unclear if SpaceX, in its filing, used the term GPU as shorthand for AI processors generally. Still, the previously unreported plans for GPU production come as SpaceX warned investors that it may not have enough chip supply to power its growth. SUPPLY CONCERNS "We do not have long-term contracts with many of our direct chip suppliers," SpaceX said in the S-1 registration. "We expect to continue sourcing a significant portion of our compute hardware from third-party suppliers, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to achieve our objectives with respect to TERAFAB within the expected timeframes, or at all." Manufacturing GPUs is not easy. Industry heavyweight Nvidia pioneered GPU design and, like much of the industry, outsources their manufacture to Taiwan's TSMC. TSMC has spent billions of dollars and years developing its most advanced manufacturing processes, which for cutting-edge chips require exotic materials and executing more than a thousand steps with atomic precision. Its years of manufacturing billions of Apple's iPhone chips have afforded it an enormous amount of the required hands-on experience to produce cutting-edge processors. The chip industry, as it is organized, now splits steps such as fabricating, packaging and testing among several discrete companies. Musk has said the Terafab will handle each step of chip production, including the design as well.
Tamil Nadu elections: TVK chief Vijay urges ECI to extend voting hours amid transport chaos
CHENNAI: TVK president C Joseph Vijay on polling day urged the ECI to extend voting hours by two hours, citing transport disruptions and slow polling that left voters stranded and queues moving slowly across parts of Tamil Nadu.In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, Vijay said thousands of voters were unable to reach polling booths due to a lack of buses at key terminals in Chennai and other parts of the state. He pointed to crowding at Koyambedu, Kilambakkam and Madhavaram bus stands, stating that voters travelling from within the state, other states and abroad were left without transport after buses were diverted for poll duty.Flagging what he called administrative lapses, he alleged that the situation "seems an intentional attempt at misplanning by the State Transport Corporation and administration, which is an outright assault on the fundamental right to vote guaranteed under the Constitution of India."The "systemic failure has the potential to effectively disenfranchise a large section of the electorate," he said, adding that it undermines the conduct of free and fair elections under Article 324.Seeking immediate intervention, Vijay asked the poll body to deploy emergency public transport, including additional government buses and shuttles, to ferry voters from terminals to polling stations. He said such services should be coordinated through on-ground announcements, media and official communication channels.He also raised concerns over long queues at polling stations, saying "voters waiting in long queues to cast their votes" were facing delays due to a slow voting process. He called for supervisory officers to monitor booths and ensure that polling is conducted without delays.On extending voting time, Vijay said polling should continue till 8pm in affected constituencies to accommodate delayed voters. "This extension is well within the Commission's powers and has been exercised in the past for far lesser disruptions," he wrote."The Election Commission cannot remain a mute spectator while thousands are denied their constitutional right on polling day," he added, warning that inaction could suppress turnout and affect public faith in the electoral process.
SpaceX Secures $60B Buyout Offer, Preempts $2B Fundraise
SpaceX has made headlines with its $60 billion offer to acquire Cursor, a company known for its AI-powered coding software. This announcement comes as Cursor was about to close a separate $2 billion funding round, which would have valued the startup at $50 billion. Details of the Acquisition Offer SpaceX's acquisition strategy includes an option to either purchase Cursor later this year or invest $10 billion for a collaborative effort in AI development. This move appears to be part of SpaceX's broader initiative to enhance its AI capabilities, particularly in the competitive field of AI coding. * Acquisition Amount: $60 billion * Potential Collaboration Payment: $10 billion * Funding Round Amount: $2 billion * Valuation of Cursor: $50 billion Negotiations Amidst Funding Challenges Cursor has been negotiating its potential acquisition by SpaceX while simultaneously preparing for its funding round with notable investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive, Nvidia, and Battery Ventures. This pattern of dual negotiations is not uncommon among startups seeking to capitalize on different funding opportunities while ensuring their independence. Despite rapid revenue growth, Cursor faces intense competition from players like Anthropic and OpenAI. Consequently, without the sufficient capital from the $2 billion funding round, Cursor might struggle to achieve cash-flow breakeven, which could necessitate further funding in the future. Strategic Implications for SpaceX Acquiring Cursor would serve multiple strategic purposes for SpaceX. Currently, SpaceX is considered to have a limited AI workforce. It aims to strengthen its presence in the AI sector to compete effectively with established companies. Furthermore, the acquisition could alter market perceptions, allowing SpaceX to be valued beyond its space operations. SpaceX's vast computing resources in Mississippi and Tennessee may also play a key role in this deal. These resources could serve as part of the promised collaboration payment to Cursor, enhancing its operational capabilities. Timeline and IPO Considerations Although SpaceX is keen on acquiring Cursor, the deal may be postponed until after its anticipated IPO. This delay is primarily intended to avoid complications with confidential financial filings leading up to the public listing. Financing the acquisition through publicly traded stock would likely ease the transaction process. In summary, whether SpaceX proceeds with the acquisition or merely invests in Cursor, both companies stand to gain significantly from this strategic interaction. Such moves not only position SpaceX as a participant in the booming AI sector but also provide Cursor with much-needed financial support.
Anthropic's Mythos Launch Overlooks U.S. Cybersecurity Agency
Anthropic's new cybersecurity model, Mythos Preview, is currently being utilized by several federal agencies in the U.S. However, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is notably absent from this initiative. Reports indicate that CISA, which is central to national cybersecurity efforts, lacks access to this critical tool. Overview of Mythos Preview Mythos Preview is designed to identify and address security vulnerabilities across various platforms. It has garnered attention for its effectiveness in detecting issues within major operating systems and web browsers. CISA's Role in Cybersecurity CISA is a key agency under the Department of Homeland Security, responsible for coordinating cybersecurity measures across federal, state, and local levels. It plays a vital role in safeguarding elections and public utilities. Exclusion from Anthropic's Initiative While agencies like the Commerce Department and the National Security Agency (NSA) are reportedly utilizing Mythos Preview, CISA is left out. This exclusion raises concerns about the prioritization of CISA's operations. * CISA serves as the central body for cybersecurity information. * The agency helps local officials manage vulnerabilities and respond to cyberattacks. * CISA's exclusion from Mythos Preview limits its resources in the current cybersecurity landscape. Implications of the Trump Administration's Actions The Trump administration's approach has resulted in a tightening of CISA's budget and staffing. Limitations implemented during previous administrations have restricted its capabilities. Since the agency declared the 2020 election as "the most secure in American history," it has faced considerable political opposition, further complicating its operational effectiveness. This has included leadership changes and ongoing budget reductions. Future Considerations The lack of access to Mythos Preview poses significant questions. Why is CISA, the entity charged with protecting critical infrastructure, unable to test a proven security tool? As cybersecurity threats continue to evolve, equipping CISA with the necessary tools is essential for national security. As discussions continue, the focus will likely remain on whether the government can enhance CISA's capabilities. The integration of advanced technology like Mythos Preview should be a priority to improve the country's digital defenses moving forward.
Amazon (AMZN) Stock Closes at All-Time High of $255.28,Anthropic Partnership and AWS Momentum Reshape Growth
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) shares closed at $255.28 on April 22, marking an all-time high closing price for the stock and reflecting a market capitalisation sitting above $2.74 trillion as investors continued to absorb the implications of the company's expanded commitment to Anthropic and the ongoing acceleration of Amazon Web Services. The Anthropic partnership, which Amazon formalised with a commitment of up to $25 billion on top of its prior $8 billion investment, has been interpreted by analysts as confirmation that AWS is winning a disproportionate share of the AI infrastructure spending cycle, with Anthropic simultaneously pledging to spend more than $100 billion on AWS technologies over the coming decade. Amazon's custom Trainium chip business has doubled its annualised revenue run rate to over $20 billion, a figure that gives the company growing independence from NVIDIA silicon in AI training workloads and represents a strategic asset whose value is only beginning to be fully recognised in the stock's valuation. Truist Securities and several other research firms have cited the Anthropic arrangement as a signal that Trainium is being adopted not as a hedge but as a genuine primary compute platform for frontier AI training, which would position AWS to extract significantly more margin from AI workloads than a pure commodity cloud infrastructure provider would achieve. Amazon also disclosed this week that CEO Andrew Jassy sold approximately 31,000 shares on April 17 in a transaction valued at around $7.9 million, a routine insider sale that attracted attention given the stock's record levels but is widely understood as part of a pre-arranged trading plan rather than a directional signal. A separate but notable headline involved Amazon entering the weight-loss drug market with a new GLP-1 programme, a move that sent shares of rivals including Hims and Hers Health lower as the market priced in the competitive threat of Amazon's distribution scale entering the pharmacy and telehealth adjacency. Amazon also announced its acquisition of Globalstar for $11.6 billion, a deal that extends the company's satellite connectivity ambitions and adds a component to its logistics and remote commerce infrastructure that could become increasingly relevant as the company expands beyond its traditional geographic footprints. Q1 2026 earnings are scheduled for April 29, and the market is positioning for a report that will need to show continued Azure-competitive growth from AWS alongside evidence that margin expansion can be sustained even as capital expenditure on AI data centres runs at historically elevated levels. The stock's 52-week range of $169.35 to $258.60 illustrates how dramatically the recovery from the Iran war's initial market shock has compressed into a short window, with AMZN now sitting at the upper extreme of that band and carrying significant earnings execution expectations heading into the report. Trading volume on April 22 came in at approximately 43 million shares, below the 50.82 million daily average, suggesting the record close was achieved on relatively subdued participation, which analysts often interpret as a more durable move than those driven by elevated speculative volume.
