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.

Globally, various enterprises are striving to understand generative AI and explore the potential value it may bring. According to Deloitte's recent report on the state of generative AI, most organizations are performing well in achieving returns on their investments. This report is based on a survey of 2,773 leaders and covers the business conditions of companies in 14 countries, revealing the progress and challenges faced by organizations in the application of generative AI. Image source note: The image is generated by AI and authorized by Midjourney.

Microsoft recently announced that it will invest $3 billion in India to further expand its artificial intelligence and Azure cloud services. This plan aims to leverage the market potential of India, the world's most populous country, to drive the company's revenue growth. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated at an event in Bangalore that the company has been operating in India for over 20 years and will continue to increase its investments locally. Nadella emphasized that this investment is not only for infrastructure improvement but will also include providing services for 10 million people.

In 2024, the investment frenzy in generative artificial intelligence (Generative AI) remains unabated, with global investment reaching new heights. According to data from financial tracking firm PitchBook, generative AI companies raised a total of $56 billion in venture capital last year, with a total of 885 deals. This marks an impressive 192% increase compared to $29.1 billion in 2023. Prominent companies in this field include OpenAI and Anthropic.

In 2024, NVIDIA significantly increased its efforts in venture capital, investing as much as $1 billion across 50 different funding rounds and several corporate acquisitions. This figure marks a substantial rise from $872 million and 39 funding rounds in 2023. After profiting $9 billion from AI chip sales, NVIDIA is concentrating resources on 'core AI' companies that require substantial computing power, many of which are also NVIDIA's clients. The investment list for 2024 includes some well-known companies.

On the occasion of Baidu's 25th anniversary, company founder Robin Li sent a letter to all employees, reflecting on Baidu's development history and looking ahead to the future. In the letter, Robin Li emphasized that Baidu has always been at the forefront of technological development, firmly believing that technological innovation is the core competitiveness of the company. Robin Li pointed out that throughout its history, Baidu has consistently invested over 20% of its funds in R&D, aiming to transform cutting-edge technology into practical products to benefit more people. He stressed that the large-scale application of technology is key to realizing its value and achieving significant technological breakthroughs and disruptive innovation.

Chinese emerging AI large model company Jumps Star recently announced significant news, completing hundreds of millions in financing. This round was led by Fortera Capital, a private equity investment institution under the Shanghai state-owned capital investment and operation platform, with well-known firms such as Tencent and Qiming Venture Partners participating. Founded just over a year ago by former Microsoft Asia Research Institute Chief Scientist Jiang Daxin in April 2023, Jumps Star has already made breakthrough progress in the field of multimodal large language models.

In the field of artificial intelligence, ByteDance is ramping up investments at an astonishing pace. According to the latest report from Zheshang Securities, ByteDance's capital expenditure on AI will reach 80 billion yuan in 2024, nearly equaling the total of the three giants Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent. It is expected that by 2025, this figure will double to 160 billion yuan, with 90 billion yuan allocated for AI computing power and 70 billion yuan for data center infrastructure and networking equipment. This investment scale not only demonstrates ByteDance's ambition in the AI sector but also foretells a new development phase for China's AI industry.

Doug LeFevre, CEO of Advantest, the world's largest chip testing equipment supplier, stated that if investment in data centers slows down, the demand for AI smartphones may help certain areas of the semiconductor industry avoid a 'vicious' recession. LeFevre indicated that he is closely monitoring whether spending by large U.S. tech companies in the AI sector is slowing down. Meta, Google, and Microsoft have been major investors in data centers that provide significant computational power. LeFevre stated that the construction of data centers...

Against the backdrop of rapid development in artificial intelligence, iFLYTEK and several enterprises jointly established the 'Anhui Kexun Artificial Intelligence Venture Capital Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership)' on December 16. The fund has a total investment of 500 million RMB, aiming to support and promote innovation and development in the field of artificial intelligence. According to data from the Tianyancha App, the managing partner of this newly established investment fund is Hefei Kexun Innovation Information Technology Partnership (Limited Partnership). Its business scope is extensive, covering equity investment and investment management for private equity funds.

AI drug development company Genesis Therapeutics recently announced that it has secured additional investment from Nvidia's venture capital arm, NVentures, though the specific amount remains undisclosed. This move marks a further deepening of the collaboration between the two parties, aimed at accelerating the development of Genesis's AI platform GEMS (Genesis Exploration of Molecular Space), which focuses on utilizing physics-based AI for structure-driven drug design.

Recently, U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, alongside SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, announced a plan for SoftBank to invest $100 billion in U.S. projects over the next four years. This major investment is expected to focus on the development of artificial intelligence. Image source note: The image was generated by AI, with licensing provided by Midjourney. During the announcement, Trump stated that SoftBank's investment reflects tremendous confidence in America's future. He mentioned that since his election, many have expressed hopes to invest in...