Recently, discussions have arisen regarding the early development of Silicon-based Fluid following reports of its completion of Pre-A round financing. A previous report by Venture Capital Daily stated that in the second half of 2023, DeepSeek's founder Liang Wenfeng expressed interest in investing in Silicon-based Fluid, with the condition of open-sourcing its self-developed LLM inference engine, which was reportedly rejected by Silicon-based Fluid's CEO Yuan Jinhui. In response, Yuan Jinhui denied these claims today, stating that his mention of not collaborating with Liang Wenfeng in 2023 was an expression of regret over his own lack of foresight.

Today, Baidu officially released its financial report for the fourth quarter and the entire year ended December 31, 2024. The data shows that in the fourth quarter of 2024, Baidu achieved revenue of 34.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year decline of 2%; total annual revenue reached 133.1 billion yuan, down 1% year-on-year. The net profit attributable to Baidu for the fourth quarter was 5.2 billion yuan, with a non-GAAP net profit of 6.7 billion yuan; the total annual net profit attributable to Baidu was 23.8 billion yuan, with a non-GAAP net profit of 27 billion yuan.

Japanese tech group SoftBank recently released its financial report, revealing a massive $2.4 billion loss over the past period. This loss primarily stemmed from poor performance of its Vision Fund investment portfolio. Despite facing challenges, SoftBank indicated its intention to make substantial investments in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), reflecting confidence in future technological trends. The latest financial report highlighted significant impairment of the Vision Fund's value, with many investment projects not meeting expectations. This situation has placed substantial financial pressure on SoftBank, as well as spurring market concerns.

Against the backdrop of increasing global competition in AI, the EU has officially announced an unprecedented artificial intelligence investment plan. Today at the AI Action Summit in Paris, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen formally unveiled a grand initiative called 'Invest AI', showcasing the EU's strong determination in global AI competition. This investment plan, with a total scale of €200 billion, notably includes a dedicated €20 billion European Fund for the construction of AI gigafactories. This decision marks the EU's official entry into large-scale AI development.

According to the latest data from analysis company Dealroom, funding for AI startups reached $110 billion in 2024, representing a 62% increase from last year. In contrast, the overall funding situation in the tech industry was less favorable, with the total amount of funding for private equity-backed companies (including startups and growth companies) amounting to $227 billion, a 12% decrease from 2023. Image source note: The image was generated by AI, image licensed from Midjourney. Dealroom founder.

Recently, the domestic artificial intelligence company DeepSeek has attracted widespread attention due to its outstanding performance. Interestingly, some netizens discovered that there seems to be a 'missed connection' story between DeepSeek and its upstairs neighbor - Beijing Baidu Investment Management Co., Ltd. (referred to as 'Baidu Venture Capital').

Recently, the UAE and France reached a significant agreement to jointly construct a grand AI park. This project will include a powerful data center, expected to have computing capabilities of up to one gigawatt, marking another important investment in Europe’s artificial intelligence sector. The agreement was signed in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Image source note: Image generated by AI, image licensed by Midjourney according to the agreement, this AI park

Alexander Beckman, co-founder and former CEO of Silicon Valley AI startup GameOn, and his lawyer wife, Valerie Lau Beckman, have recently been indicted by federal prosecutors on multiple fraud charges. They are accused of deceiving investors and the company by falsifying financial statements and other means from 2018 to 2024, involving more than $60 million.

In the context of the rapid rise of the global artificial intelligence sector, OpenAI is undertaking an important strategic restructuring aimed at transforming its charitable division PBC (Public Benefit Corporation) into a profit-making entity. According to insiders, OpenAI has initially valued this newly established charitable division at $30 billion, but there remains no clear answer regarding the stake Microsoft's $14 billion investment will represent. During these negotiations, the OpenAI board is busy discussing.

In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a crucial tool for companies to enhance their competitiveness. However, despite significant investments in hyperscaler AI products from major companies, AI leaders continue to face numerous challenges. Recently, DataRobot in partnership with CIO.com conducted a global survey, revealing that over 50% of AI leaders plan to increase their investments in cloud service providers.

The $100 billion Stargate project plans to source some of its electricity from solar energy and batteries. According to Bloomberg, the renewable energy facilities for this project will be constructed by SB Energy, a subsidiary of SoftBank, but this is not the only energy source for the project. Stargate is a collaboration between OpenAI, Oracle, and the SoftBank Group aimed at establishing a large number of new data centers to accelerate the rapid development of artificial intelligence applications. Image source note:

Recently, former U.S. President Trump announced a massive artificial intelligence investment project named 'Stargate', with a budget of up to $500 billion. The plan is jointly funded by OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank, with Trump appearing alongside the CEOs of these three companies—Sam Altman, Larry Ellison, and Masayoshi Son—at the launch event. Masayoshi Son will serve as the project's chairman, and the joint involvement of these three billionaires has attracted considerable attention. However, unexpectedly, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX...

According to Bloomberg, developer tool company StackBlitz Inc. is in discussions with investors and plans to raise funds at a valuation of $700 million. The company's CEO Eric Simons stated that the deal will be led by Emergence Capital and GV (formerly Google Ventures), with StackBlitz expecting to raise $83.5 million. The funding will also involve Madrona Venture Group, Con.