Benchmark Capital invested at least $225 million in AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems' latest funding round, according to a source familiar with the deal, as the company raised $1 billion in fresh capital and reached a valuation of $23 billion. The investment, which was part of a larger round led by Tiger Global, represents a significant vote of confidence in Cerebras, a competitor to Nvidia.
The funding round valued Cerebras at nearly three times its valuation from six months prior, when it was valued at $8.1 billion, according to TechCrunch. Benchmark, a prominent Silicon Valley firm, initially backed Cerebras in 2016, leading its $27 million Series A. To accommodate the investment, Benchmark raised two separate vehicles, both named Benchmark Infrastructure, due to the firm's policy of keeping its funds under $450 million, according to regulatory filings.
In other tech news, Apple is reportedly preparing to launch the iPhone 17e, approximately one year after the iPhone 16e, according to Mark Gurman, as reported by The Verge. The iPhone 17e is expected to feature an upgraded A19 chip, along with MagSafe. An updated iPad and iPad Air are also expected to launch around the same time.
Meanwhile, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act turned 30 years old. The law, which protects online platforms from liability for user-generated content, has faced increasing scrutiny and challenges, according to The Verge. The law has survived the dot-com bubble and Supreme Court challenges, but is now facing potentially larger challenges.
In the streaming world, Netflix's merger with Warner Bros. is poised to reshape the industry, potentially forcing rivals like Paramount Plus, Disney Plus, Peacock, and Apple TV to adapt, according to The Verge. The $82.7 billion deal is expected to have significant implications for the competitive landscape.
Finally, Anthropic researchers demonstrated the capabilities of AI agents by tasking 16 instances of the company's Claude Opus 4.6 AI model with building a C compiler from scratch, according to Ars Technica. Over two weeks and nearly 2,000 Claude Code sessions, the AI agents produced a 10,000-line C compiler, costing approximately $20,000 in API fees.
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