 | Dec 13, 2024 | | | | Supported by  | | | | | TGIF! Broadcom is predicting explosive growth in its AI chip and networking business. Google announces a new operating system for augmented and virtual reality devices. Amazon donates $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration fund.
| | | | Broadcom CEO Hock Tan said Thursday the company's artificial intelligence chip and networking business, which includes designing chips for companies including Google, OpenAI and Apple, could generate tens of billions of dollars in revenue in the fiscal year that ends in November 2027. That means that conservatively, Broadcom leaders believe revenue from that part of its business will rise at least several times from the $12.2 billion it generated in the fiscal year that ended Nov. 3 of this year. For comparison, Nvidia generated $80 billion from data center chip sales in the three quarters that ended Oct. 27 this year. Google and other companies that develop their own AI server chips, including Amazon and Microsoft, have placed giant orders for Nvidia's next-generation Blackwell chips in addition to continuing to invest in developing their own alternatives. Three of Broadcom's customers plan to launch clusters of more than 1 million chips each by fiscal 2027, Hock said, driving the $60 billion to $90 billion in what he called a "serviceable addressable market." He added that revenue growth from the AI chip business will be lumpy in the coming quarters as Broadcom tries to capture as much of that market as possible. The Information on Wednesday reported that Apple was working with Broadcom on a new chip for handling AI computing, and Broadcom is also working with OpenAI on AI chips. The upbeat projection helped push up shares of the company more than 11% in after hours trading. Before the report, Broadcom shares had risen 66% so far this year, giving the company a market capitalization of $843 billion. The company said its fiscal year revenue grew 11%, excluding its acquisition of VMWare. The company also said it would increase its quarterly dividend 11% in the first quarter of its fiscal 2025 compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024. | | | | Google has unveiled a new operating system for augmented and virtual reality devices, along with a new headset it has developed with Samsung, as it accelerates its efforts to get into the AR and VR market. Google's strategy with XR, as the collective technologies are known, is to focus on creating a software platform that powers such devices, while leaving it to partner companies to build the hardware components. Google hopes Android XR will give it an edge against rival Meta Platforms, which has also developed an XR operating system. Both companies want to create the dominant "open" system for XR, which would sit alongside Apple's closed system—a dynamic similar to smartphones. The companies have also both been searching for partners to adopt their systems. In late 2023, Google pitched Meta on using Android XR, but Meta executives rebuffed the proposal. The first device to use Android XR will be the Samsung headset, which is slated for release next year. | | | | Amazon donated $1 million in cash to President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration fund, a spokesperson for the company confirmed. Amazon also plans to make an in-kind donation, which will go toward streaming the ceremony on Amazon Prime. The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the company's donations. Jeff Bezos, the founder and chairman of the company, is expected to meet Trump next week. Bezos' donation and meeting are the latest moves in a string of efforts by technology companies to get closer to the new administration. The Information reported Thursday that Google CEO Sundar Pichai was expected to fly to the Mar-a-Lago Club that day to meet with Trump. Earlier this week, the Journal reported that Mark Zuckerberg asked Meta to make a $1 million donation to Trump's inaugural fund. A spokesperson for Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. | | | | ServiceTitan, which sells software to plumbers, roofers and other tradespeople, ended its first day of trading as a public company with a 42% lift in its stock price to $101, compared with its IPO price of $71. The robust opening day reflected both a recent rally in small software firms and an overall bullish stock market lately. The software firm priced its offering on Wednesday night, after raising the pricing range from an initial $55 a share. The successful IPO followed a rollercoaster ride for ServiceTitan over the past three years. It was one of a crop of firms that raised money at generous valuations during the boomtime 2021 era and then struggled to raise money the following year as venture funding dried up amid rising interest rates. ServiceTitan is using about half the money raised from the offering to pay back costly preferred stock it had issued in 2022. | | | | Runway, which develops artificial intelligence to enable customers to generate and edit video, expects to reach $84 million in annualized revenue this month, up from $28 million in June, according to a person who has seen the startup's financial information. It expects annualized revenue to triple to $265 million by the end of next year, this person said. The company sells tiered subscriptions, for up to $76 per month, for credits to generate images and videos using its software. Through its enterprise plan, Runway provides business customers with customized features and increased security. Runway's latest revenue projections haven't been previously reported. A Runway spokesperson declined to comment. Runway is projected to grow at a faster rate next year than larger AI startup Perplexity. The search engine operator estimates ending next year at $127 million in annualized revenue, up from $55 million for this year, The Information reported Thursday. Runway was in talks to raise $450 million at about a $4 billion valuation in June. Annualized revenue refers to the last month's revenue multiplied by 12. | | | | Brian Quintenz, the head of policy at Andreessen Horowitz's digital asset arm a16z crypto, has emerged as a top contender to be Commodity Futures Trading Commission chair under President-elect Donald Trump, Bloomberg reported. Quintenz, a former CFTC commissioner, has been interviewed for the position, and an announcement of the selection may come in the coming days, the outlet said. Other contenders include current Republican CFTC Commissioners Summer Mersinger and Caroline Pham, as well as former CFTC officials Joshua Sterling and Neal Kumar, the outlet reported previously. The crypto industry has been pushing for legislation that would empower CFTC to be its key regulator, curbing the influence of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong endorsed Quintenz as CFTC chair on X. | | | | The U.S. Department of Justice late Wednesday asked a federal appeals court to reject TikTok's request for an injunction to halt a law that would ban the U.S. version of the app if it doesn't find a buyer. The Justice Department argued that the Supreme Court should review the request, not the district court that already ruled against TikTok. Last Friday, a federal court upheld the law set to ban TikTok by January 19. On Monday, TikTok requested a temporary injunction to the law while it appeals the decision to the Supreme Court. TikTok asked the court to decide on the injunction by December 16. | | | | BuzzFeed has sold First We Feast, the maker of the popular food and interview video series "Hot Ones," to an affiliate of Soros Fund Management for $82.5 million. The all-cash deal, combined with cash BuzzFeed already has on hand, will give it enough money to cover the nearly $124 million it owes to the holders of convertible notes, the company said. BuzzFeed acquired First We Feast as part of its Dec. 2021 deal to buy Complex Networks, which previously owned the food outlet, for nearly $300 million, of which $198 million was in cash. It had raised $150 million in convertible notes to finance the Complex acquisition, with repayment due beginning in December of this year. In February, BuzzFeed sold most of the Complex Networks assets it had acquired, excluding First We Feast, to live video streaming startup Ntwrk for $108.6 million in cash. The company used a portion of the cash it received from the Complex sale to pay down the loan. BuzzFeed said the sale of First We Feast completes its shift away from lower-margin content business as the company continues to invest in areas such as driving more people to its own websites, automated advertising, affiliate commerce and artificial intelligence products. | | | | YouTube TV is hiking its prices up by $10 per month, demonstrating that even for customers of newer, streaming-based cable TV-like services, paying for cable remains an expensive option. YouTube said the price of the base plan for YouTube TV will go up to $82.99 per month, effective immediately for new subscribers (with the changes going into effect for most existing subscribers next month). It attributed the price increase to "the rising cost of content." Like traditional cable TV services from Comcast and Charter, YouTube TV pays owners of TV channels a fee to carry their channels—those costs continue to go up, which are then passed onto customers. The current price hike comes after YouTube TV's cost went from $64.99 to $72.99 in March 2023. Six years ago, YouTube TV cost $35 per month, though it had fewer channels back then. | | | | Walmart-backed fintech One is nearing a deal for more than $300 million in fresh funding from the retail giant and the investment firm Ribbit Capital, according to a person with knowledge of the plans. The funding round will value One at $2.5 billion before the new capital, the person said. One launched in 2021 as a joint venture between Walmart and Ribbit, which has invested in other fintech companies including Robinhood and Coinbase. The company, which initially offered debit cards and banking, has steadily added new services including installment loans. Its run-rate revenue has grown to more than $200 million, the person said, and the company has more than 3 million monthly active users. One also plans to work with Walmart to relaunch the commerce giant's branded credit card next year, the person said. Walmart and Capital One, the card's previous issuer, ended their exclusive agreement in May after a legal battle where Capital One alleged Walmart wanted out of the deal early, in part to issue cards through One. Bloomberg previously reported news of the funding round and the company's finances. | | | | | Popular articles By Wayne Ma and Qianer Liu
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