Google has been very busy, making a flurry of announcements this week that placed it credibly near the top in the artificial intelligence race.
It made a good one-two-three AI punch with new Gemini models, a new AI agent platform and the general availability of its Trillium chips and cloud instances. That’s after announcing a quantum chip breakthrough and before introducing a VR/AR version of Android. So much for all that antitrust stuff slowing it down.
But OpenAI has been no slouch either, in the middle of a 12-day run of product and feature introductions, including the general availability of its video generation model Sora this week.
ServiceTitan completed the first tech IPO since Rubrik in April, but that’s still a pretty slow year. Will 2025 be any better? If you know where the economy’s going as Trump returns, well, I don’t believe you.
Oracle and MongoDB earnings came in pretty good but failed to satisfy investors. Broadcom shares jumped almost 23% Friday as it reported big AI-related chip sales Thursday, as reports emerged that Apple is working with it to build an AI chipset. Meanwhile, Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC posted strong revenue growth too.
General Motors gave up on Cruise, its self-driving car unit, causing an $800 million hit on Microsoft in the process.
TikTok asked for an emergency pause on a U.S. ban as it waits and hopes Trump saves it.
Next week theCUBE and partner NYSE will hold a Cyber Week event in New York and a CFO Summit in Palo Alto. As the year winds down, Micron and Blackberry will be the last tech companies to report earnings results.
You can hear more about this and other news on John Furrier’s and Dave Vellante’s podcast theCUBE Pod later today on YouTube.
Here’s the big enterprise and emerging technology news this week from SiliconANGLE and beyond:
AI and data: Google’s not-so-secret agents
Wrapping up re:Invent:
Breaking Analysis: AWS re:Invent 2024: Builder ethos embraces simplicity
At AWS re:Invent 2024, AI innovations fall across markets
Meeting at center ice: The NHL and AWS redefine hockey broadcasting and fan engagement
Controversy
Character.AI sued over slew of harmful chatbot messages sent to children
Chatbots are learning to lie (per Axios)
Will AI eat the browser? Om Malik makes a good case that it soon will do just that.
New models, services and products
Google unveils Gemini 2.0 including 2.0 Flash as the foundation for AI agent experiences
Google launches Agentspace to combine AI agents and enterprise search
Google Cloud moves its AI-focused Trillium chips into general availability
Apple brings ChatGPT integration to iPhone, iPad and Mac with Apple Intelligence update
Report: Apple working with Broadcom to develop custom chipset for AI
OpenAI makes its Sora video generator generally available
OpenAI finally launches screen and live video observation for paying ChatGPT users
Microsoft releases Phi-4 language model trained mainly on synthetic data
Red Hat expands AI model support in new release of Linux AI platform
Databricks introduces new API for generating synthetic datasets
Acceldata adds AI-assisted reconciliation to its data observability platform
Dataiku launches generative AI tool for dynamic data storytelling
Money matters
MongoDB crushes Wall Street’s targets and boosts annual forecast but stock sags
Liquid AI raises $250M led by AMD to build a new type of generative AI model
OpenAI backs $78M round for AI language learning startup Speak
C3 AI shares surge on strong second quarter and upgraded outlook
Together AI acquires CodeSandbox, adds code interpreter to its AI development platform
WaveForms AI raises $40M in seed funding to create more empathetic AI voices
Stainless Software gets $25M in funding to bring AI-generated SDKs to developers
Vapi secures $20M to advance AI voice agent platform and scale operations
RapidCanvas raises $16M to streamline data science projects with AI agents
Generative AI app testing platform Gentrace raises $8M to make LLM development more accessible
SkySQL nabs $6.6M for its AI-integrated cloud database
Embedded analytics startup Embeddable raises €6M in seed funding
AI context intelligence startup Wald raises $4M, debuts data loss protection platform
AIMon raises $2.3M to combat AI hallucinations with LLM judges
There’s even more AI and big data news on SiliconANGLE
Around the enterprise: An IPO for Christmas
Money matters
First tech IPO since Rubrik way back in April: Software maker ServiceTitan jumps 42% in stock market debut
Oracle’s rampant cloud growth wasn’t enough for Wall Street, and its stock slides after-hours
Shares of Broadcom jump on rising AI chip sales and ‘massive opportunity’
TSMC posts strong year-on-year revenue growth of 34% despite month-to-month slowdown, as foundry pulls in $8.5B in revenue for November
Adobe’s weak forecast stokes fears of AI disruption, sending its stock lower
AI keeps the data center boom going:
AI-focused data center startup Crusoe raises $600M at $2.8B valuation and AI data center builder Nscale nabs $155M investment
TeamViewer buys 1E, which detects PC software problems, for $720M
Optical chip interconnect startup Ayar raises $155M to bring light to AI workloads
Gigs gets $73M in funding to help any company spin up a mobile network offering
Digital accessibility design startup Evinced raises $55M
Software testing startup LambdaTest raises $38M in Qualcomm-backed round
Aampe raises $18M to scale consumer app personalization with AI agents
Stigg raises $17.5M to simplify SaaS platform and feature pricing models
Cofactr secures $17.2M to expand supply chain tools for high-compliance industries
New products and services
IBM touts fiber optic technology it says can cut AI training times and energy use by 80%
Microsoft previews new water-efficient data center design
We have more news on cloud, infrastructure and apps
Cyber beat: Shopping on your phone? Careful
Attack & response
Cloudflare 2024 report highlights internet growth and rising cybersecurity challenges
Now-patched macOS and iOS vulnerability allowed undetected access by bypassing data protections
Comparitech reveals widespread privacy gaps in mobile shopping apps ahead of holiday season
Money matters
Cohesity becomes world’s largest data protection software provider after completing combination with Veritas business
Citrix strengthens zero-trust security with acquisitions of deviceTRUST and strong.network
Email security provider Sublime Security raises $60M for platform growth
Astrix Security secures $45M to strengthen nonhuman identity protection in enterprise
New services
Extreme Networks launches Extreme Platform ONE to simplify enterprise networking and security And analysis from Zeus Kerravala: Extreme Networks rolls out its platform to simplify network operations
Rubrik introduces Turbo Threat Hunting for faster cyber recovery
Silverfort unveils Privileged Access Security to address enterprise identity security gaps
Elsewhere in tech: Google’s quantum breakthrough
Google debuts next-gen quantum computing chip with breakthrough error correction
Google debuts Android XR operating system for VR and AR devices
TikTok makes a last stand as it asks for emergency pause on US ban
General Motors ends Cruise robotaxi business in strategic industry exit It’s going to sting Microsoft too: Microsoft expects $800 million impairment charge in Q2 2025 over Cruise exit
Archer Aviation raises $430M, partners with Anduril to develop military aircraft
AI robotics inspection outfit ANYbotics raises $60M to drive expansion
DNA-based data storage company Biomemory raises $18M
And check out more news on emerging tech, blockchain and crypto and policy
Comings and goings
Virtuozzo founder Serg Bell is returning to become CEO and “chief constructor” of the platform for alternative cloud providers. So is co-founder Jan-Jaap Jager, who will be president and chief operating officer. Also joining the company is new Chief Automation Officer Oleg Melnikov, a co-founder of Parallels and chief technology officer at Acronis.
Network security and compliance assurance firm Titania named Victoria Dimmick new CEO.
William da Cunha, most recently a VP at Cloudflare, joined Seattle startup Statsig, which helps companies find ways to improve their applications and websites, as its new chief revenue officer.
What’s next
Events
Dec. 17: Cyber Week from theCUBE and NYSE Wired, streaming expert interviews and analysis live from the New York Stock Exchange.
Dec. 19: CFO Summit from theCUBE + NYSE Wired, streaming live from our Palo Alto studios with top financial leaders.
Earnings
Wednesday, Dec. 18: Micron
Thursday, Dec. 19: Blackberry
Image: SiliconANGLE/Ideogram
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