News & Updates
The latest news and updates from companies in the WLTH portfolio.
Amazon Adds $5B in Anthropic
Amazon is deepening its bet on Anthropic, committing another $5 billion to the AI startup in a deal that tightens their business ties across cloud computing and chips. The new investment, announced Monday, is part of a broader deal that could bring Amazon's total outlay to as much as $25 billion if certain performance goals are met, the Wall Street Journal reports. In return, Anthropic has agreed to buy more than $100 billion in cloud services from Amazon Web Services over time and will use 5 gigawatts of Amazon's AI chip capacity, including its Trainium hardware.
Anthropic CEO, White House chief of staff convene on Claude Mythos
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei have met to tackle partnership opportunities and attain both innovation and safety in the wake of the announcement of Such a meeting, which involved discussions on cybersecurity and the U.S.'s lead in AI technology, follows the Trump administration's decision to prohibit the use of Anthropic's Claude AI chatbot across the federal government due to the firm's refusal to allow the Defense Department to use its technology in surveillance and fully autonomous weaponry. While Anthropic's claims regarding the capabilities of Claude Mythos have raised skepticism, former White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks emphasized the legitimacy of the firm's assertions. "It just makes sense that as the coding models become more and more capable, they are more capable at finding bugs. That means theyre more capable at finding vulnerabilities. That means theyre more capable at stringing together multiple vulnerabilities and creating an exploit," said Sacks.
Amazon invests another $5 bn in Anthropic
As Amazon invests billions of dollars in Anthropic, the AI startup commits to spending heavily on the tech titan's AWS cloud computing technology - Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP Noah Berger Amazon on Monday said it pumped another $5 billion into Anthropic as it ramps up its collaboration with the startup behind Claude artificial intelligence. The e-commerce and cloud computing colossus noted that the investment builds on $8 billion it had already invested in Anthropic, according to the companies. Amazon added that it could invest $20 billion more in Anthropic, provided the startup meets certain performance goals. For its part, San Francisco-based Anthropic said it has committed to spending more than $100 billion on Amazon Web Services (AWS) technology to power AI in the coming decade. "We need to build the infrastructure to keep pace with rapidly growing demand," Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei said in a release. "Our collaboration with Amazon will allow us to continue advancing AI research while delivering Claude to our customers." Anthropic said in early April that it had tripled its annualized revenues quarter-on-quarter to over $30 billion -- outpacing OpenAI for the first time. Amodei visited US officials last week at the White House, where they struck a different tone from the dispute that erupted in February, when the AI startup infuriated Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth by insisting its technology should not be used for mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons systems. "We discussed opportunities for collaboration, as well as shared approaches and protocols to address the challenges associated with scaling this technology," a White House spokesperson told AFP. The rhetoric marks a departure from months earlier, when President Donald Trump instructed the US government to "immediately cease" using Anthropic's technology after the company refused to allow the Pentagon unconditional use of its Claude AI models. Anthropic has challenged the Trump administration in court, as well as Hegseth's move to add the company to a list of firms that pose a "supply chain risk." Earlier this month, Anthropic announced its newest AI model Mythos, withholding it from public release due to its potential cybersecurity risks.
Amazon invests another $5 bn in Anthropic
Amazon on Monday said it pumped another $5 billion into Anthropic as it ramps up its collaboration with the startup behind Claude artificial intelligence. The e-commerce and cloud computing colossus noted that the investment builds on $8 billion it had already invested in Anthropic, according to the companies. Amazon added that it could invest $20 billion more in Anthropic, provided the startup meets certain performance goals. For its part, San Francisco-based Anthropic said it has committed to spending more than $100 billion on Amazon Web Services (AWS) technology to power AI in the coming decade. "We need to build the infrastructure to keep pace with rapidly growing demand," Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei said in a release. "Our collaboration with Amazon will allow us to continue advancing AI research while delivering Claude to our customers." Anthropic said in early April that it had tripled its annualized revenues quarter-on-quarter to over $30 billion -- outpacing OpenAI for the first time. Amodei visited US officials last week at the White House, where they struck a different tone from the dispute that erupted in February, when the AI startup infuriated Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth by insisting its technology should not be used for mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons systems. "We discussed opportunities for collaboration, as well as shared approaches and protocols to address the challenges associated with scaling this technology," a White House spokesperson told AFP. The rhetoric marks a departure from months earlier, when President Donald Trump instructed the US government to "immediately cease" using Anthropic's technology after the company refused to allow the Pentagon unconditional use of its Claude AI models. Anthropic has challenged the Trump administration in court, as well as Hegseth's move to add the company to a list of firms that pose a "supply chain risk." Earlier this month, Anthropic announced its newest AI model Mythos, withholding it from public release due to its potential cybersecurity risks.
Anthropic bites back in the compute wars with Amazon partnership
Why it matters: Compute capacity is the currency of the AI race and is most likely to define who wins. Driving the news: Anthropic agreed to spend $100 billion to secure up to 5 gigawatts of compute from Amazon to train and run its Claude models. * Amazon will invest $5 billion now, with the option for up to $20 billion more -- deepening its stake in Anthropic. Between the lines: Anthropic is signaling it's ready to spend heavily on the same infrastructure edge that its biggest competitor, OpenAI, has been touting. * OpenAI sent a letter to investors last week pitching its compute capacity as its competitive advantage over Anthropic. * Anthropic, for its part, has pointed to a wave of partnerships aimed at expanding access, now including this latest Amazon announcement. Catch up quick: Compute is finite, and needs to be used to both service customers and train upcoming models, so it both determines how well your current model runs and shapes upcoming model performance. * When demand spikes, as it has for Anthropic's Claude Code, that capacity is strained. * Anthropic changed its enterprise pricing in response, charging more for super users. Some consumers have reported worse experiences using Claude, which they attribute to compute constraints. What we're watching: How long the AI labs rely on partners that are also competitors for access to compute. * Amazon has its own AI race to win. * That may become a problem for Anthropic over time, potentially forcing it to spend even more money on its own compute. The bottom line: To monitor the AI race, watch compute capacity.
Moonshot AI's Kimi K2.6 launch challenges Anthropic's AI dominance
Moonshot AI launched its Kimi K2.6 model, and Anthropic's chance of having the #1 AI model by the end of April 2026 has dropped by 15%. Kimi K2.6 can handle 12-hour coding sessions and run 300 agents in parallel. It's open-source and cost-efficient. With only 10 days until resolution, the launch directly threatens Anthropic's position as the market evaluates model performance against set benchmarks. The effects reach past April. The May 2026 market shows a 19.5% YES for Google having the best AI model, up from 18% yesterday. The market remains skeptical about Google's ability to hold off competitive threats from China's AI sector, Kimi K2.6 included. Google's ranking by June 2026 will likely shift further as new benchmark results come in. Trading volume adds context. Face value for May 2026 AI model rankings is $1,029/day, but actual USDC traded is $193/day, meaning relatively small capital can move this market. The order book requires just $169 to shift the price by 5 percentage points, a thin market where strategic trades can create outsized moves. Kimi K2.6's cost advantages and open-source availability put direct pressure on proprietary Western systems. Buying YES at 19.5¢ would pay if Google's AI tops the rankings by May 2026, but that bet requires confidence Google can keep pace with rapid Chinese competition. Watch for Demis Hassabis announcements and any Google response to Moonshot AI, whether through new model releases or strategic partnerships. Either could move these odds quickly.
Live coverage: SpaceX to launch final GPS III satellite for the U.S. Space Force
The U.S. Space Force is set to launch its final Global Positioning System (GPS) III satellite into medium Earth orbit in the predawn hours of Tuesday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for 2:53:25 a.m. EDT (0653:25 UTC), during a 15-minute launch window. Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about an hour prior to liftoff. The mission was delayed a day due to poor weather in the recovery zone for the first stage. For Tuesday's launch window, recovery weather was not expected to be a problem and meteorologists predicted a 90 percent chance for favorable weather at the launch site, citing a small chance for interference from cumulus clouds or thick clouds. The satellite for the GPS III-8 mission is officially designated Space Vehicle 10 (SV10) satellite but is also named 'Hedy Lamar' after the Austrian-American actress and inventor whose frequency-hopping research led to the development of technologies, like GPS satellites, WiFi, and Bluetooth. "Today marks an important milestone for our unit and for the entire GPS enterprise. As we prepare to launch the final satellite in the GPS III block, we're closing out a chapter that has defined the last several years of work for this team," said USSF Col. Stephen Hobbs, the Mission Delta 31 (MD 31) commander within Combat Forces Command. "Closing out the GPS III block is not the end of the story, but rather it's a foundation for what comes next. We're excited to turn the page and continue advancing our mission with the GPS IIIF generation, bringing even greater capability to the joint force and to the global users who rely on this system every single day." SpaceX will launch the mission using the Falcon 9 first stage booster B1095, which is flying for the seventh time after launching six batches of SpaceX's Starlink satellites. The GPS III SV10 satellite is encapsulated in two halves of the payload fairing, one of which is new and the other is flying for a second time, having been used on the GPS III-9 mission back in January. "So that was a huge benefit for us and for the Space Force team to take advantage of that from a mission assurance perspective," said Anne Mason, SpaceX's director of its National Security Space Launch (NSSL) division. A little more than 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1095 will target a landing on the drone ship, 'Just Read the Instructions.' Both halves of the payload fairing will also be recovered after splashing down a little further downrange than the booster. If all goes well, this will be the 158th landing on that vessel and the 601st booster landing to date for SpaceX. The mission also represents the fourth time that SpaceX will carry to orbit a GPS satellite that was originally assigned to United Launch Alliance as part of the NSSL Phase 2 contract with the U.S. Space Force. Previous GPS satellites were moved from ULA's Vulcan rocket to SpaceX's Falcon 9 because of development delays with that rocket. Vulcan didn't receive certification to fly NSSL payloads until the spring of 2025. During its most recent launch, USSF-87, the rocket suffered a problem with one of its Northrop Grumman-built solid rocket boosters. The payload was able to be delivered to the intended orbit, but the launch vehicle is grounded in its most powerful configurations until an investigation is completed. "One of the things we really pride ourselves on here on the NSSL program, is our flexibility and responsiveness, and a lot of that goes to our our contracts, the way they're set up, that allow for swaps like this," said USSF Col. Ryan Hiserote. "For any of these swaps, we have to have both launch providers agree to it. So both SpaceX and ULA have agreed to all of these swaps. So just that process and teamwork has gotten a little bit faster and tighter each time." In exchange for putting the GPS III SV10 satellite on a Falcon 9 rocket, ULA in turn will fly the USSF-70 mission on a Vulcan rocket in 2028. That mission with an undisclosed payload was originally set to fly on a Falcon Heavy rocket. The GPS III-8 SV10 satellite will join a fleet of 38 spacecraft in medium Earth orbit, of which 32 are active. The others are held in reserve in case of a problem with the operational spacecraft. Following the GPS III-8's deployment, about an hour and a half after liftoff, the satellite will raise its orbit over a period of 10 days to achieve its operational position, said Fang Qian, Lockheed Martin's vice president of its Global Positioning System program. That will be followed by two to three days of on-orbit testing before satellite operations are handed over to the Space Force. "And on this particular launch, because we have the optical cross-link demo, we will likely be doing a little more testing to ring out what capability that has to feed in future blocks of the IIIF satellites," Hobbs said. The optical cross-link demonstration is a laser communications system that is being tested on this mission before it's integrated on the next-generation GPS IIIF satellites. The SV10 satellite also carries with it a new digital atomic clock for better precision as another technology demonstration.
Dow Jones Top Company Headlines at 7 PM ET: Apple Names New CEO as Tim Cook Steps Aside | Anthropic, ...
The longtime Apple insider is succeeding Tim Cook, who will become executive chairman. ---- Anthropic, Amazon Tighten Bond in $5 Billion Investment and Computing Deal Amazon will invest as much as $25 billion in the AI company, which will secure up to 5 gigawatts in badly needed computing power in the pact. ---- Spirit Airlines in Talks With Trump Administration on Government Investment Florida-based Spirit has been working to sell some planes and refocus operations on core cities. ---- Bipartisan Senators Warn United and American Airlines on Potential Merger Though American has rejected a deal, lawmakers asked both carriers to share how it could affect routes and fares. ---- Honeywell to Sell Productivity Unit for $1.4 Billion Brady Corp. agreed to acquire Honeywell International's productivity solutions and services business for $1.4 billion. ---- USA Rare Earth to Acquire Serra Verde in $2.8 Billion Deal USA Rare Earth has agreed to acquire the owner of a rare-earth mine and processing plant in Brazil, a move that would strengthen its mine-to-magnets supply chain amid geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China. ---- Alaska Air Group Suspends Guidance, Citing Fuel Cost Uncertainty "Until conditions stabilize and we have better sight to earnings beyond the current quarter, we have suspended full-year guidance," the company said. ---- Steel Dynamics Posts Higher First-Quarter Profit, Sales Amid Growth in Steel Shipments The steel producer posted a profit of $403.4 million amid increased steel prices and a rise in demand for steel. ---- Zions Bancorp Reports Higher First-Quarter Profit The Salt Lake City-based regional bank posted a quarterly profit of $232 million, up from $169 million a year earlier. ---- Red Lobster's Endless Shrimp Is Back-With a Few Strings Attached The seafood chain is bringing back the promotion for the first time since bankruptcy, with some limits. Under terms of the deal, certain affiliates of Blue Owl Real Estate Capital will buy all outstanding shares of Sila's common stock for $30.38 apiece, the company said. The deal for Kelonia Therapeutics is valued at $3.25 billion upfront. ---- AST SpaceMobile's stock falls after failure of Jeff Bezos-backed satellite launch Blue Origin successfully launched AST SpaceMobile's satellite to orbit, but it was at the wrong altitude. ---- Cleveland-Cliffs Earnings Boosted by Trump Trade Enforcement. The Stock Is Still Down. The steel maker reported first-quarter Ebitda of $95 million, including an $80 million oneâ'time energy cost impact. Wall Street was looking for Ebitda of about $92 million. ---- Blackstone-Backed Jersey Mike's Subs Files Confidentially for IPO Jersey Mike's said the number of shares it plans to offer and the price range for the proposed offering haven't yet been determined. The Italian bank, which is Commerzbank's largest shareholder, said the Frankfurt-based group's current trajectory is one of operating underperformance. ---- McKesson to Sell Stake of Medical-Surgical Unit to Apollo McKesson said Apollo affiliates agreed to buy a minority ownership interest in its medical-surgical solutions business ahead of the unit's planned spinoff.
Amazon Bets Even Bigger on Anthropic With $25 Billion Investment - Techstrong.ai
Amazon.com Inc. said it will invest another $25 billion in Anthropic, expanding a thriving partnership in which Anthropic has committed to spending more than $100 billion on AWS over the next decade. The deal, announced Monday, includes an immediate $5 billion cash infusion, with the remaining $20 billion contingent upon meeting specific commercial milestones. The latest investment round values Anthropic at $380 billion, reflecting intense investor appetite for generative artificial intelligence (AI) leaders. Amazon has already poured $8 billion into the startup in recent years. Central to the agreement is Anthropic's commitment to Amazon's custom silicon. The startup will utilize current and future generations of Trainium chips to train and deploy its large language models. To facilitate this, Anthropic has secured up to 5 gigawatts of power capacity -- roughly enough to power millions of homes -- specifically for its AI operations. The move addresses a sharp rise in consumer and enterprise demand that has recently strained Anthropic's infrastructure. "Our users tell us Claude is increasingly essential to how they work, and we need to build the infrastructure to keep pace," said Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. By the end of this year, the company expects to bring nearly 1 gigawatt of Trainium2 and Trainium3 capacity online to bolster reliability and performance. Amazon's aggressive maneuver comes just two months after it pledged $50 billion to OpenAI, Anthropic's primary rival. In backing both horses, Amazon is positioning itself as the indispensable backbone of the AI industry. "Amazon is trying to invest in all majored AI companies to make sure they can have a say in what runs on their platforms," tech analyst Jack Gold said in an email. "Customers want choice and AWS needs to offer options. If you own a piece of the company, it's much easier to get them to give you what you need." Amazon CEO Andy Jassy noted that the decade-long commitment to Trainium validates the company's progress in custom silicon, a key differentiator against rivals like Microsoft Corp. and Google. Amazon expects to spend approximately $200 billion this year alone on capital expenditures, the vast majority dedicated to AI infrastructure. Meanwhile, Anthropic, which was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI executives, is seeing its own meteoric rise, with annualized revenue now topping $30 billion. While AWS remains Anthropic's primary cloud partner, the startup continues to diversify its dependencies. It recently secured a $5 billion investment from Microsoft and expanded its partnerships with Google and Broadcom Inc. However, this latest $25 billion pact ensures that for the foreseeable future, the path to the most advanced AI models runs directly through Amazon's data centers.
'God of chaos' asteroid to pass close to Earth in 2029
A rare asteroid will soon be visible to the naked eye in a rare celestial event, according to astronomers. Asteroid 99942 Apophis - named after the Egyptian deity of chaos, darkness and fire - is expected to safely pass close to Earth on April 13, 2029, according to NASA. The asteroid will pass within roughly 20,000 miles of Earth - nearly 12 times closer than the moon's average distance from Earth, and closer than many satellites in geosynchronous orbit - making it one of the closest approaches ever recorded for an object of its size and a "very rare event," according to NASA. The approach will be visible to observers on the ground in the Eastern Hemisphere, weather permitting, according to NASA. It will be close enough that sky-watchers won't need a telescope or binoculars to see it, astronomers say. When Apophis was first discovered in 2004, it was labeled a potentially hazardous asteroid because of the possibility that it could impact Earth in 2029, 2036 or 2068, according to NASA. After closely tracking the asteroid and its orbit using optical telescopes and ground-based radar, astronomers are now confident that there is no risk of Apophis impacting Earth for at least 100 years.
Anthropic to spend over $100 billion over a decade on Amazon's cloud tech
April 20 (Reuters) - Amazon said on Monday that Anthropic will spend more than $100 billion over the next 10 years on its cloud technologies, deepening their relationship as the AI startup rushes to secure capacity to bolster its models. Amazon will also invest $5 billion in Anthropic now, and an additional $20 billion in the future, subject to certain commercial milestones. This is in addition to the $8 billion Amazon has previously invested in the company. Anthropic is aiming to pull ahead in the AI race with a slew of model releases focusing on coding and design, while Amazon seeks customers for its custom silicon chips built for artificial intelligence training and inference. Amazon shares rose around 2.5% in extended trading. (Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
Asia regulators monitor Anthropic's Mythos for potential banking risks
Some Asian financial regulators said on Monday they were taking measures to address the risks posed by Anthropic's artificial intelligence model Mythos, whose vast capabilities to code at a high level have given it a potentially unprecedented ability to identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said it has engaged with major banks and is highly vigilant to the evolving AI-driven cyber threats - such as Mythos - and is about to bring forward a new framework to address the challenge. The city's de facto central bank and banking regulator told Reuters it will introduce a Cyber Resilience Testing Framework focused on augmenting banks' response and recovery capabilities, which will help ensure a robust data system for the sector. HKMA will also form a new dedicated public-private sector taskforce to examine, monitor and respond to AI-driven cyber risks. "Some banks are also assessing additional mitigation measures in response to these evolving threats," the regulator said in a statement. A spokesperson for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said it was closely monitoring the usage of Mythos along with other regulators to assess possible market implications. "ASIC engages closely with other regulators, government agencies and the financial sector to understand and respond to changing technologies," the spokesperson said, adding that it expects financial services licensees to "be on the front foot" to safeguard customers and clients. Meanwhile, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), the country's banking regulator, said it would "continue to assess the implications of these technological advancements to ensure the ongoing safety and resilience of the financial system". South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said it held a meeting with information security officials from financial firms last week to review Mythos-related risks. South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported the Financial Services Commission (FSC) held an emergency meeting on Wednesday with chief information security officers from the FSS, banks and insurers to review the risks, citing unnamed industry sources. The FSC was not immediately available for comment. Separately, Singapore's central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), said that advances in AI could speed up the discovery and exploitation of software vulnerabilities in IT systems. "Financial institutions need to redouble efforts to strengthen their security defences, proactively identify and close vulnerabilities, and raise vigilance on cyber hygiene, including timely security patching," it said, adding that it was coordinating with the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore to support critical infrastructure operators.
Amazon Plans to Invest Up to $25 Billion in Anthropic
Amazon has agreed to invest as much as $25 billion more in Anthropic, the artificial intelligence start-up that created the Claude chatbot, the companies said on Monday, the latest in a series of massive deals between tech giants and A.I. start-ups. Amazon, which previously invested $8 billion in Anthropic, is already one of the start-up's largest investors. In the latest deal, Amazon plans to invest $5 billion to start, with the potential to add another $20 billion if Anthropic hits certain milestones. Anthropic, in turn, committed to spend $100 billion on computing power and other services from Amazon's cloud computing business over the next decade. The start-up will also continue to use specialized computer chips that Amazon has designed as an alternative to high-priced chips from Nvidia, the Silicon Valley chipmaker that dominates the A.I. market. The largest tech companies are continuing to pour billions of dollars into A.I. despite worries by some investors that the costs are too high. Over the past few years, spending on A.I. has climbed to record heights, raising questions about whether the boom can be sustained. The agreements between Amazon and Anthropic are also the latest example of the circular deal making at the heart of the A.I. surge. Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Nvidia have invested huge sums in companies like Anthropic and OpenAI. In exchange, these start-ups purchase massive amounts of computing power from the same investors. Amazon and Anthropic are betting that they can deliver leading A.I. technologies using alternatives to Nvidia's powerful but expensive chips. Over the past year, Anthropic has become one of the largest users of Amazon's latest chip, known as Trainium. "Our users tell us Claude is increasingly essential to how they work, and we need to build the infrastructure to keep pace with rapidly growing demand," Dario Amodei, Anthropic's chief executive, said in a statement. Andy Jassy, Amazon's chief executive, said in a statement that Anthropic's bet to run its models on Amazon's chips over the next decade "reflects the progress we've made together on custom silicon." In February, Anthropic completed a funding round that brought $30 billion into its coffers, valuing the young company at $380 billion, which was more than double its valuation from the previous September. The new deal with Amazon does not affect Anthropic's valuation. Amazon in February also said it was investing $50 billion in OpenAI, the start-up behind ChatGPT that has said it would spend more than $100 billion on Amazon's services. Amazon has told investors that it expects to spend $200 billion this year on capital expenditures, primarily to build data centers and fill them with chips used to power A.I. Mr. Jassy wrote in a shareholder letter earlier this month that the investments were not made "on a hunch," but reflected commitments from OpenAI and other unannounced deals. (The Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft in 2023 for copyright infringement of news content related to A.I. systems. The two companies have denied those claims.) Cade Metz is a Times reporter who writes about artificial intelligence, driverless cars, robotics, virtual reality and other emerging areas of technology.
AI and finance: banks' rush towards Anthropic's "Mythos" worries regulators - Interview
Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing stated that "everyone" in the banking sector was seeking access to Mythos, a system developed by Anthropic. This statement comes as regulators intensify their scrutiny of the potential risks associated with the technology. According to Christian Sewing, financial institutions are in close contact with European regulators to assess the implications of this tool, particularly regarding cybersecurity and the stability of the financial system. The massive interest in Mythos reflects the growing importance of artificial intelligence in banking activities. At this stage, access to Mythos remains very limited. Only the American bank JPMorgan is reported to have obtained confirmed access to this technology, further fueling competition among major financial institutions seeking to benefit from it. International regulators are closely examining the risks associated with integrating such solutions, particularly regarding the protection of sensitive data, IT vulnerabilities, and the potential impact on financial markets. This vigilance reflects growing concerns about the rapid adoption of advanced technologies in critical sectors. For banks, the challenge is twofold: remaining competitive by integrating the latest innovations while ensuring security and regulatory compliance. The appeal of Mythos illustrates this tension between technological innovation and risk management. As discussions continue between financial institutions and supervisory authorities, the rise of artificial intelligence in finance could redefine the balance of the sector, while imposing new challenges in terms of regulation and governance.
Anthropic Takes $5b From Amazon And Pledges $100b In Cloud Spending In Return
BERITAJA is a International-focused news website dedicated to reporting current events and trending stories from across the country. We publish news coverage on local and national issues, politics, business, technology, and community developments. Content is curated and edited to ensure clarity and relevance for our readers. Anthropic announced connected Monday that Amazon has agreed to put a caller $5 billion, bringing Amazon's full finance successful the institution to $13 billion. Anthropic, for its part, has agreed to walk complete $100 cardinal crossed the adjacent 10 years connected AWS, obtaining up to 5GW of caller computing capacity to train and tally Claude. The woody echoes an statement Amazon struck pinch OpenAI conscionable 2 months ago, erstwhile it joined a $110 cardinal backing round -- contributing $50 cardinal -- that weighted the ChatGPT shaper astatine a $730 cardinal pre-money valuation. That deal, too, was system partially arsenic unreality infrastructure services alternatively than consecutive cash. At the bosom of this woody is Amazon's civilization chips: Graviton (a low-power CPU), and Trainium (an Nvidia competitor and AI accelerator chip). The Anthropic woody specifically covers Trainium2 done Trainium4 chips, moreover though Trainium4 chips are not presently available. The latest chip, Trainium3, was released successful December. On apical of that, Anthropic has secured the action to bargain capacity connected early Amazon chips arsenic they go available. We'll spot if this news is simply a teaser to Anthropic announcing a caller backing round. VCs person reportedly been offering the AI institution superior successful a woody that would value it astatine $800 billion aliases more.
Morningstar considers revamping index construction ahead of SpaceX IPO
PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island, April 20 (Reuters) - Investment research and analysis provider Morningstar Inc. is the latest index provider to consider revising its approach to designing its market indexes in light of SpaceX's outsize pending initial public offering. Elon Musk's space transportation and exploration business is on track to issue as much as $75 billion of stock in an initial public offering that could value the company at $1.75 trillion, making it by far the largest IPO ever recorded and raising unprecedented challenges for investors about how and whether to add it to their portfolios. Morningstar, eyeing not only the pending SpaceX launch but also other similarly mammoth deals from companies like Anthropic and OpenAI later this year, said it will introduce what it refers to as an alternative way to gauge liquidity of these "unicorns" immediately following their debuts. This would address what is known as the free float requirement, or the requirement that a new public company have a minimum number of shares publicly available for trading. Morningstar said its CRSP Market Indexes will "undergo enhancements to introduce an alternative liquidity screen", making it possible to add SpaceX and other giant IPOs to these benchmarks more rapidly. The funds that use the CRSP indexes as a portfolio benchmark include Vanguard's $607 billion Total Stock Market ETF. "Index providers must evolve eligibility rules to keep their benchmarks relevant to new market realities," a company spokesman said in an e-mail to Reuters. Morningstar is the latest firm to wrestle with how to deal with this year's crop of pending IPOs from market giants like SpaceX. Current guidelines were established when U.S. IPOs tended to be of smaller companies, often still unprofitable, with limited track records and revenue. Companies like SpaceX, however, are waiting until they are older or much larger to go public, and index and exchange executives say that requires a new approach on their part. Nasdaq plans to alter the rules governing the makeup of its Nasdaq-100 Index to allow companies meeting certain criteria to be added to the mix in a fast-track process. That would cut any delay in adding newly listed companies from several months to only 15 days, Nasdaq told Reuters. Separately, S&P Dow Jones Global Indices is contemplating adjusting its own rules regarding the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index and other products, according to a report from Bloomberg in mid-March. The current S&P rules require 10% of a company's stock to trade freely. A spokesperson for S&P Dow Jones Global Indices declined further comment. Not all investors welcome these moves, however. "The fact that some of these indexes may be lowering their standards in order to include exposure to the explosion of big growth IPOs that nobody wants to miss out on owning, is concerning," said Mark Malek, chief investment officer at Siebert Financial. "Size isn't everything. I look to these index providers to make sure that the stocks they include meet some kind of standard, and I'm not sure that some of the proposed changes will allow for that." (Reporting by Suzanne McGee in Providence, Rhode Island; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
Amazon to put up to USD25b in Anthropic as Claude maker pledges USD100b on AWS
The news: Amazon has expanded its "strategic collaboration" with AI lab Anthropic, which will see Jeff Bezos' company invest USD5 billion ($7 billion) into Anthropic "today", plus up to USD20 billion in the future. In return, Anthropic has committed to spending more than USD100 billion on Amazon Web Services technologies over the next decade. The numbers: Anthropic, the maker of AI assistant Claude, will secure up to 5 gigawatts of current and future generations of Amazon's Trainium chips to train and power its advanced AI models. Amazon has invested USD8 billion in Anthropic to date. Anthropic's USD100 billion commitment will include current and future generations of Amazon's custom silicon chip Trainium, as well as "tens of millions" of Amazon's CPU chip Graviton, Amazon said in a statement.
Amazon to invest up to $25 billion in Anthropic as part of $100 billion cloud deal
April 20 (Reuters) - Amazon said on Monday that it will invest up to $25 billion in Anthropic, as the AI startup commits to spending more than $100 billion over the next 10 years on Amazon's cloud technologies. The deal deepens the two firms' relationship as Anthropic rushes to secure capacity to bolster its models. Seattle-based Amazon will invest $5 billion in Anthropic now, and an additional $20 billion in the future, subject to certain commercial milestones. This is in addition to the $8 billion Amazon previously invested in the company. Amazon has struggled to generate buzz around its own AI models, such as Nova, while continuing to be a leader in providing critical infrastructure for the AI boom, such as cloud computing power. Amazon said it anticipates around $200 billion this year on capital expenditures, largely for AI development. Amazon is also making big bets on the largest AI startups. The new investment in Anthropic, the creator of Claude, follows Amazon's announcement earlier this year it would invest up to $50 billion in OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. In a statement, Anthropic said it expected to bring roughly 1 gigawatt of capacity via Trainium2 and Trainium3 chips by year-end. Anthropic ultimately expects to secure up to 5 gigawatts of such capacity. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in a statement that Anthropic's use of Trainium chips "reflects the progress we've made together on custom silicon." Anthropic is aiming to pull ahead in the AI race with model releases focusing on coding and design, while Amazon seeks customers for its custom silicon chips built for artificial intelligence training and inference. Amazon shares rose around 2.7% in extended trading. (Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Lisa Shumaker)
Peak-hour chaos after car rollover shuts major Perth highway
A major highway has been shut after a vehicle rollover sparked traffic chaos in Perth's south. Emergency services are on the scene at Canning Highway near South Terrace following the crash. Westbound lanes have been closed as crews work to secure the area, with motorists seen outside their vehicles. Peak-hour traffic is building, with delays expected for commuters heading through Como. Drivers are urged to avoid the area and find an alternate route.
Crypto Market Update: Kraken Parent Payward to Acquire Derivatives Exchange Bitnomial
Here's a quick recap of the crypto landscape for Friday (April 17) as of 9:00 p.m. UTC. Bitcoin spiked to a two month high of roughly US$77,400 on Friday, jumping 5 percent after Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi announced the immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels. Traditional markets mirrored the crypto surge, with the S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) and Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) hitting records, while West Texas Intermediate futures dropped 11 percent to US$84 per barrel. US President Donald Trump celebrated the news on Truth Social, declaring the strait "open for business," though he maintained that Iranian ships will face a continued blockade until broader terms are fully realized. Ether (ETH) was priced at US$2,430.74, up by 3 percent over the last 24 hours. Kraken's parent company, Payward, has agreed to acquire Cheyenne-based derivatives exchange Bitnomial for up to US$550 million. The cash-and-stock deal pins Payward's overall equity valuation at US$20 billion. The strategic purchase gives Kraken immediate access to Bitnomial's infrastructure, which features natively built crypto settlement, collateral management and continuous 24/7 trading markets. This acquisition is the latest move in an aggressive growth spree for the exchange, which recently snapped up futures platform NinjaTrader for US$1.5 billion, alongside several tokenization and proprietary trading firms. The firm is also in the process of maintaining its confidential initial public offering filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ahead of an anticipated public listing. Asset manager Canary Capital has formally submitted an S-1 registration statement to the SEC to launch a spot PEPE exchange-traded fund (ETF). If approved, the fund would hold the popular frog-themed token directly, maintaining only a fractional Ether balance to cover associated network and transaction fees. Sitting as the 45th largest digital asset with a market capitalization hovering around US$1.48 billion, PEPE boasts enough liquidity to justify an institutional wrapper in the eyes of Canary's leadership. Stablecoin giant Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL) is in legal crosshairs after disgruntled Drift Protocol investors filed a class-action lawsuit regarding a devastating US$285 million hack. The controversy stems from an April 1 exploit on the Solana-based DeFi platform, during which attackers drained massive amounts of capital using weaponized administrative transfers. The lawsuit specifically targets an eight hour window where the hackers successfully bridged US$232 million in USDC from Solana to Ethereum via Circle's cross-chain transfer protocol. Plaintiffs argue that Circle was negligent in failing to freeze the stolen funds while the cross-chain transfers were executing. Circle has fiercely defended its position, with executives including CEO Jeremy Allaire arguing that unilaterally freezing assets without a formal law enforcement or court order creates a dangerous moral hazard. HIVE Digital Technologies (TSXV:HIVE,NASDAQ:HIVE) announced the upsizing and pricing of a private offering of unsecured notes. The company is now selling US$100 million in 0 percent exchangeable senior notes due in 2031, up from an initial US$75 million, with an option for an additional US$15 million. The deal is set to close on April 21. Net proceeds are set to land between US$95 million and US$109.5 million, with the cash earmarked for general corporate uses, capital investment and data center development. On the dilution front, HIVE is hedging with about US$17.2 million in cash‑settled capped calls, intended to soften the impact on the share count if the notes ultimately convert. Additionally, HIVE announced conditional approval from the TSX to list its common shares, with trading on the main board expected to start around April 30 while the stock exits the TSX Venture Exchange. Don't forget to follow us @INN_Technology for real-time news updates! Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article. Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
