Meta In Talks To Raise $35 Billion For Data Center With Financing Led By Apollo Global
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had said in January the company would spend as much as $65 billion this year to expand its AI infrastructure.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, and other leading social media platforms, is looking to raise as much as $35 Billion to build data centers in the US.
Apollo Global Management Inc., an alternative asset manager has discussed providing a major part of the financing, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. KKR & Co. is also a part of the investor group, one of the people said.
The funding conversations are at an early stage and there’s no guarantee a deal will be completed. The Facebook-parent did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while Apollo Global Management declined to comment when contacted.
Meta also plans to invest $10 Billion to set up an AI data center, it said in December. The company plans to bring a gigawatt of compute online this year, and is building a $10 Billion data center in Louisiana that could grow to two gigawatts. The amount of electricity used by the Meta data center in Louisiana will be matched by renewable energy, for which the tech firm will be working with utility Entergy.
Earlier this week, it was reported that Meta has visited potential sites for a $200 Billion AI data center campus, built out over a number of years. The potential $35 Billion financial partnership is still in an early stage, and is not guaranteed. The proposal comes despite Meta sitting on a cash pile of $77.81 Billion, as of December.
Apollo has funded a number of data center and tech projects, including backing an Intel manufacturing plant, last month the company acquired the owner of TierPoint.
This year, Microsoft plans to spend $80 Billion on AI data centers, Stargate some $100 Billion, and Google $75 Billion. Amazon's larger capex is expected to hit $100 Billion.
More on Meta’s AI Data Center aspirations on DCD
Maximize AI Potential with an Ensemble of Artificial Intelligence Models | IBM
Ever wondered how to enhance your AI performance? IBM’s Susan Eickhoff shows how to boost AI performance using an ensemble of models, combining traditional AI and large language models. Learn structured data analysis and dynamic prediction methods to get the most from your AI toolbox.
DBC Technologies | AI Voice Agent & Web Chatbot | Inbound & Outbound
I’ve partnered with DBC Technologies, a provider of AI Voice Agents, Chatbots and more. DBC provides agents trained to work directly with customers via the phone or web. Product knowledge, company information, industry expertise and much more.
For more information on getting started with AI for your Enterprise contact me today.
Archipelo Comes Out Of Stealth With $12 Million In Funding To Secure Human, And Artificial Intelligence-Driven Code
When it comes to AI software, you can build something clever, but that’s not always the same as building something that is secure. With so much software now getting written by AI, having a window into its security can be a challenge. That’s the premise of Archipelo, a San Francisco-based cybersecurity startup that is today emerging from stealth with $12 million in funding.
Archipelo’s pitch is that it has a platform for “Developer Security Posture Management” (DevSPM). “We discovered that there is no developer security posture tool, and that’s what we built,” said Matthew Wise, CEO and co-founder of Archipelo, over a call. “What we found is that every enterprise has this problem. You can have a Fortune 500 bank that understands the productivity gains when developers use AI for coding, and they also understand the risks. But they don’t have a solution that enables them to observe and monitor all instances of AI coding usage [to identify that risk].”
Human error is estimated to be responsible for over 74% of security breaches (Verizon DBIR 2023). However, with AI-generated code, the issue is now vastly more complex. Archipelo’s platform is aimed at enterprises proactively securing both human and AI-driven code creation before security vulnerabilities reach production.
The funding — which Archipelo will use for product expansion and go-to-market efforts — includes both an unannounced $4 million pre-seed and an $8 million seed round led by Dell Technologies Capital. Archipelo’s competitors in the “cloud-to-code security” space include Palo Alto Networks (Prisma Cloud), Wiz, MSFT (Defender), GitHub , GitLab, Snyk, Checkmarx, and Veracode. Veracode has so far raised $114.3 million, according to Crunchbase.
More on Archipelo coming out of stealth on TechCrunch
Introducing Project Aria Gen 2 | Meta AI
Since its launch in 2020, Project Aria has propelled research across the world to advance the state of the art in machine perception and AI, through access to cutting-edge research hardware and open-source datasets, models, and tooling.
Today, we're excited to announce the next step in this journey: the introduction of Aria Gen 2 glasses. This next generation of hardware will unlock new possibilities across a wide range of research areas including machine perception, egocentric and contextual AI, and robotics.
Read the blog post to learn more about Aria Gen 2: Click Here
Learn more about Project Aria: https://www.projectaria.com/
Learn more about the Project Aria datasets: Click Here
Wayne Rasanen’s Award Winning DecaTxt 3 | A One-Handed Keyboard
Use Discount Code NEURAL for a $15 Savings on DecaTxt 3, with FREE Shipping!
The DecaTxt 3 uses a unique "chord" system, similar to a piano. By pressing different combinations of the two keys at each fingertip, you can generate any letter or symbol.
Plus, with a single key press or a combination with the thumb keys, you can access the entire alphabet. This makes learning, using, and mastering the DecaTxt 3 a breeze.
Click here to read more about Wayne Rasanen’s DecaTxt 3, one-handed BLE keyboard
The DecaTxt 3 is a perfect solution for people with hand tremors, poor motor skills, conditions like MS, limb loss, or even vision impairment. It connects via Bluetooth and can be strapped to either hand, making it comfortable and versatile for everyone.
The new 55th Annual R&D Award Winner, DecaTxt 3 will be featured in an upcoming issue of the Florida Alliance for Assistive Services & Technology (FAAST) Newsletter.
Contact Wayne Rasanen, Founder of IN10DID, for more information on the DecaTxt 3
Amazon Partners With AI Music Company Suno For Alexa+ Integration
The new partnership will allow Alexa+ users to generate an Artificial Intelligence song in seconds using just a simple voice prompt.
Amazon has partnered with AI music company Suno for a new integration with its voice assistant Alexa, allowing users to generate AI songs on command using voice prompts. This is part of a much larger rollout of new features for a "next generation" Alexa, dubbed Alexa+, powered by AI technology.
"Using Alexa's integration with Suno, you can turn simple, creative requests into complete songs, including vocals, lyrics, and instrumentation. Looking to delight your partner with a personalized song for their birthday based on their love of cats, or surprise your kid by creating a rap using their favorite cartoon characters? Alexa+ has you covered," says an Amazon blog post, posted Wednesday (Feb. 26).
Other new Alexa+ features include new voice filters, image generation, smart home operation, Uber booking and more. It also includes an integration with Ticketmaster to "find you the best tickets to an upcoming basketball game or to the concert you've been dying to go to," according to the blog post.
Suno is known to be one of the most powerful AI music models on the market, able to generate realistic lyrics, vocals and instrumentals at the click of a button. However, the company has come under scrutiny by the music business establishment for its training practices. Spearheaded by the RIAA, Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music Group came together last summer to sue Suno and its rival Udio, accusing the AI music company of copyright infringement "on an almost unimaginable scale." At the time, neither AI company had admitted to training on copyrighted material.
More on Suno partnering with Amazon for Alexa+ on Billboard
Positive-Sum Automation And Artificial Intelligence: Dr. Ben Armstrong | MIT
Join Dr. Ben Armstrong Executive Director, MIT Industrial Performance Center at the 2025 MIT Bangkok Symposium for an insightful session entitled Positive-Sum Automation & Artificial Intelligence.
MIT’s working group on Generative AI and the Work of the Future is studying how dozens of large companies are adopting generative AI to improve productivity, decision-making, and innovation.
This presentation, from one of the working group’s co-leads, will summarize early research findings, including how generative AI has been augmenting jobs in human resources, marketing, customer support, and engineering.
Although there has been justified enthusiasm about the potential for generative AI to deliver productivity and improved job quality, there are large gaps in our knowledge.
One open question is how generative AI tools may negatively affect skill development and collaboration among teams. The research presented will propose ways that generative AI can be deployed to minimize skill atrophy and organizational silos.
ADVERTISE WITH NEURAL NEWS NETWORK - PROMOTE YOUR AI BRAND
Contact Bruce Burke for additional details on promoting your AI Startup
Stripe Says AI Startups Are Growing Faster Than SaaS Ever Did, And Calling Them Wrappers ‘Misses The Point’
In its annual letter released Thursday, payments giant Stripe declared that it was “seeing an AI boom” with its data, revealing that artificial intelligence startups are growing more rapidly than traditional SaaS companies have historically.
In a chart, Stripe showed that the top 100 AI companies (by revenue) were able to achieve $5 million in annualized revenue in 24 months in 2024 compared to the top 100 SaaS companies taking 37 months in 2018 to reach the same milestone. “Our 2024 data shows these startups are building businesses at record pace,” wrote Stripe CEO and co-founders Patrick and John Collison.
Specifically, the co-founders pointed to AI-powered coding assistant Cursor exceeding $100 million in revenue, Lovable hitting $17 million in ARR “in just 3 months,” and Bolt achieving $20 million in ARR in two months’ time as examples of this AI boom. “Much as SaaS started horizontal and then went vertical (first Salesforce and then Toast), we’re seeing a similar dynamic playing out in AI: We started with ChatGPT but are now seeing a proliferation of industry specific tools,” they wrote. “Some people have called these startups ‘LLM wrappers’; those people are missing the point.”
Stripe said that new industry-specific AI tools are helping those players “properly realize the economic impact of LLMs and that the contextual, data, and workflow integration will prove enduringly valuable.” As evidence of that, the co-founders pointed to startups such as Abridge, Nabla, and DeepScribe as helping to revamp patient and medical care as well as architects using SketchPro.
More on Stripe’s annual letter about AI growth on TechCrunch
OpenAI's Chief Research Officer On GPT 4.5's Debut, Scaling Laws, And Teaching EQ To Models | Big Technology Podcast
Mark Chen is the chief research officer at OpenAI. Mark joins host, Alex Kantrowitz for the Big Technology Podcast to discuss the debut of GPT 4.5, the company's largest model to date.
In this bonus episode, Chen speaks about what the new model says about the AI scaling wall, how scaling traditional GPT models compares to reasoning models like OpenAI's o1, how important EQ is for AI models today, whether product matters more than models, and how OpenAI's talent bench looks after last year's departures.
Tune in for an inside look at what it took to build OpenAI's newest and biggest large language model, and why OpenAI is committed to pushing the frontier forward.
Thats all for today, but AI is moving fast - like, comment, and subscribe for more AI news! Thank you for supporting my partners and I — it’s how I keep Neural News free.