SpaceX won't fully remove xAI's unpermitted turbines until 2027
SpaceX says it will remove the unpermitted gas turbines powering xAI's Memphis-area data centers, but the last of them won't be gone until July 2027.
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Compute & Cloud
192 storiesInvestors love AI — if you're the cloud host
Amazon's stock jumped nearly 10% after strong cloud growth, underscoring a pattern where investors reward AI infrastructure providers even as they stay skeptical of the AI labs and startups actually driving the spending.
Nscale buys Anyscale for $1.65B to expand its AI compute stack
British AI neocloud Nscale is reportedly paying $1.65 billion for Anyscale, the AI workload-scaling startup behind the open-source Ray framework, as it looks to capture more of its customers' AI spending.
PJM to cut power to large data centers to avert US grid blackouts
PJM, the largest US grid operator, will curtail power to data centers and other large users during shortages starting June 2027, after a capacity auction fell short.
Recursive Superintelligence signs $410M AWS compute deal
AI startup Recursive Superintelligence signed a $410 million, multiyear compute deal with Amazon Web Services to scale its self-improving AI systems, with no investment component.
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 adds a stage on AI's power demands
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, held October 13-15 in San Francisco, will dedicate a Smart Systems Stage to the energy and grid demands driving AI infrastructure.
A fallen power line exposed a growing AI data center risk
A downed power line near Washington, DC, triggered a nearly simultaneous drop of more than 3 gigawatts of data-center load from the PJM grid this week, and it took more than 10 minutes to stabilize.
Meta exits RE100 renewable pact amid natural gas buildout
Meta has left the RE100 renewable-energy initiative after a decade of membership, confirming the exit as it funds at least a dozen natural gas plants for its AI data centers.
OpenAI raises infrastructure spending to $750 billion through 2030
OpenAI said Wednesday it will spend $750 billion on infrastructure through 2030, some 25% more than its earlier estimate this year, even as its Stargate project appears stalled.
Data centers seen using four times more U.S. power by 2035
Data centers are expected to consume one-fifth of U.S.-generated electricity by 2035 — four times today's share — as AI compute demand pushes capacity toward nearly 200 gigawatts, according to a new BloombergNEF report.
Bluecore Energy raises $10M to build nuclear reactors on barges
Maritime nuclear startup Bluecore Energy raised a $10 million pre-seed round led by Slauson & Co. to build small modular reactors on floating barges that can deliver power directly to ports and nearby communities.
Infinity raises $15M to build CUDA alternative for AI chips
AI infrastructure startup Infinity raised $15 million at a $100 million valuation from Touring Capital, Principal VC, and researchers at OpenAI and Anthropic to build chip-agnostic kernel software for running AI models.
Valar Atomics in talks to raise funding at $6B valuation
Valar Atomics is in talks to raise $1 billion at about a $6 billion valuation, with Sequoia expected to lead the round.
Amazon fixes AWS billing bug that showed some customers owing billions
Amazon is working to fix a bug in its AWS billing portal that showed some cloud customers owing millions or billions of dollars for services they never used, including one estimate near $2.5 billion, though the company says the figures don't reflect actual usage or charges.
General Compute lands $400M loan backed by inference chips
General Compute, an AI inference cloud startup, secured a $400 million loan from Upper90 using inference-specific chips as collateral, in what may be the first such deal.
Google's biggest clean power project sits 40 miles from xAI's gas plant
Google's newest, largest-ever solar and battery purchase — a project expected to reach 1.8 gigawatts of solar capacity by 2029 — sits about 40 miles north of an unpermitted natural gas plant that powers Elon Musk's xAI data centers.
New York halts construction of all new data centers
New York became the first US state to halt data center construction, after Governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order blocking new permits for large projects.
SpaceX valuation rides on space data centers despite expert skepticism
Sam Altman and Elon Musk clashed over SpaceX's orbital data center plans, which drive the company's two-trillion-dollar valuation but face skepticism from industry experts.
Anthropic commits about $40 billion to SpaceX for compute
Anthropic committed about $40 billion in compute spend to Elon Musk's SpaceX, after which Musk promised never to cut Anthropic off in a way that hurt it badly.
Sequoia partner: AI must earn $3 trillion to justify spend
Sequoia partner David Cahn estimates the AI industry will have to earn $3 trillion to justify $1.5 trillion in projected infrastructure spending for 2026.