SpaceX acquired Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup, xAI, to build data centers in space, the spaceflight company announced Monday. The merger aims to address the growing electricity demands of AI by creating space-based data centers, according to a memo posted on SpaceX's website by Musk, who is also the CEO of SpaceX and xAI.
Musk stated that current advances in AI are dependent on large terrestrial data centers, which require immense amounts of power and cooling. "Global electricity demand for AI simply cannot be met with terrestrial solutions, even in the near term, without imposing hardship on communities and the environment," he wrote. xAI has faced accusations of imposing hardship on communities near its data centers in Memphis, Tennessee.
In other news, Waymo, the Alphabet-owned autonomous vehicle company, raised $16 billion to scale its robotaxi fleet internationally. The funding round, led by Dragoneer Investment Group, DST Global, and Sequoia Capital, values Waymo at $126 billion, according to a blog post by the company on Monday. Parent company Alphabet supported the round and maintained its position as majority investor. Waymo plans to expand its fleet of driverless taxicabs to more than a dozen new cities internationally this year, including London and Tokyo. The round also included significant investments from Andreessen Horowitz and Mubadala Capital, as well as Bessemer Venture Partners, Silver Lake, Tiger Global, and T. Rowe Price. Additional investors included BDT MSD Partners, CapitalG, Fidelity Management Research Company, GV, Kleiner Perkins, Perry Creek Capital, and Temasek.
Meanwhile, Vema Hydrogen is exploring alternative energy solutions by producing hydrogen deep underground. The startup drills wells in regions with specific types of iron-rich rock that release hydrogen gas when treated with water, heat, pressure, and some catalysts. Vema then draws the hydrogen to the surface and sells it to industrial users. Pierre Levin, CEO of Vema, told TechCrunch that to supply the Quebec local market, which is about 100,000 tons per year, "you would need 3 square kilometers, which is nothing." Vema's first pilot well will produce several tons of hydrogen per day. Vema Hydrogen inked a deal in December to supply California data centers, and now it has completed a pilot project in Quebec to power industry with hydrogen that it produces deep underground.
Avalanche is also working on alternative energy solutions, focusing on nuclear fusion. Avalanche co-founder and CEO Robin Langtry stated that they are working on a "desktop version of nuclear fusion." "We're using the small size to learn quickly and iterate quickly," Langtry told TechCrunch. Fusion power promises to supply the world with large amounts of clean heat and electricity, if researchers and engineers can solve some vexing challenges.
In the fintech world, Gökçe Güven, a 26-year-old Turkish national and the founder and CEO of fintech startup Kalder, was charged last week with alleged securities fraud, wire fraud, visa fraud, and aggravated identity theft. Güven is also an alum of the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, which has become "more than a little notorious for the amount of entrants who go on to be charged with fraud," according to TechCrunch. Kalder, a New York-based fintech startup, says it can help companies create and monetize individual rewards programs.
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