AI Daily: Meta commits $600B by 2028 to support AI technology

Catch up on the top artificial intelligence news and commentary by Wall Street analysts on publicly traded companies in the space with this daily recap compiled by The Fly:

$600B BY 2028: Meta (META) said, “At Meta, we’re focused on creating the next generation of AI products and building personal superintelligence for everyone. Data centers are crucial to reaching these goals and helping America maintain its technological edge. That’s why we’re investing in building industry-leading AI data centers right here in the US. We’re committing over $600B in the US by 2028 to support AI technology, infrastructure, and workforce expansion – and our investments are already having an impact.” By building in the U.S., Meta said “We’re not only advancing AI technology and infrastructure, but also creating jobs, supporting local economies, and reinforcing America’s technological leadership. We’re strengthening the communities that host our data centers by building sustainably, investing in municipal infrastructure, and providing grants to local schools and nonprofits.”

IRONWOOD AI CHIP: Google’s (GOOG(GOOGL) seventh generation TPU, Ironwood, will launch in the coming weeks and is more than 4x faster than its sixth-gen TPU, CNBC’s MacKenzie Sigalos and Jennifer Elias report. Ironwood, comes in a 9,216-chip configuration, was initially introduced in April for testing, CNBC says. Google is competing with Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), and Meta (META) in the AI infrastructure space.

DATA CENTERS GUARANTEES: Sam Altman, the CEO of Microsoft-backed OpenAI, says the company doesn’t have or want government guarantees for data centers and expects to fund investments with revenues hitting “hundreds of billions by 2030.” “We do not have or want government guarantees for OpenAI data centers,” Altman wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “Taxpayers should not bail out companies that make bad business decisions or otherwise lose in the market.” Altman says OpenAI has only had discussions about “loan guarantees” about building semiconductor fabrication plants in the U.S., “where we and other companies have responded to the government’s call.” While the U.S. Chips Act set aside $39B in grants, $75B worth of loans and loan guarantees, and 25% tax credits to spur investment in semiconductor factories in the U.S., Altman added that “We did not formally apply.”

AI LAWS: The European Commission is proposing to pause certain parts of its AI laws amid pressure from tech companies and the U.S. government, Barbara Moens of The Financial times reports. On November 19, Brussels is set to water down part of its digital rule book, reflecting the EU’s efforts to make the bloc more competitive against the U.S. and China. Publicly traded companies in the space include Meta Platforms (META), Google (GOOG(GOOGL), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), and Apple (AAPL).

AI CHIPS: The White House has informed other federal agencies that it will not permit Nvidia (NVDA) to sell its latest scaled-down AI chips to China, The Information’s Qianer Liu reports, citing three people familiar with the matter. Nvidia has provided samples of the chip to several of its Chinese customers, according to the report, which adds that the chip, known as the B30A, can be utilized to train large language models when efficiently arranged in large clusters, a capability many Chinese companies require.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stated that there are currently no active discussions or plans to sell the company’s Blackwell AI chips to China, amid ongoing U.S. export restrictions, Reuters’ Wen-Yee Lee reports. Despite speculation that talks between Presidents Trump and Xi could lead to a limited sales deal, no agreement has materialized, with Huang saying the decision ultimately depends on China’s policy changes regarding Nvidia products.

AI HIRE CONTROVERSY: Google (GOOG, GOOGL) Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer clashed with colleagues on internal forums over topics like gender and Gaza, and moderators deleted some of his comments, The Information’s Sylvia Varnham O’Regan and Erin Woo report.