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A.I. Joe

Tech executives pivot to war

Tech execs are cozying up to the military industrial complex, seeking partnerships, contracts, and now actual military commissions.

Jon Keegan

6/23/25 2:12PM

Tech executives tend to have their fads: fasting, cold plunges, and vampiric transfusions of youthful blood are life hacks that have become popular within the C-suites of the Silicon Valley crowd. But now a new trend is gripping the tech bro set: straight-up war.

In the twilight of the Biden administration, the White House signaled it was down to clown with AI companies for national security applications.

Tech companies wasted no time lining up for juicy defense partnerships and contracts. Meta offered up use of its Llama models for national security use, followed by Anthropic partnering with Palantir to use its Claude models on the battlefield.

It wasn’t that long ago that OpenAI prohibited the use of its products for “activity that has high risk of physical harm, including: Weapons development; Military and warfare,” only to quietly remove such language in January 2024. By the end of last year, OpenAI was announcing a deal with defense contractor Anduril to use its models to identify airborne threats.

Earlier this month, OpenAI announced its first one-year $200 million contract with the Department of Defense, which described the work as a contract to “develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains.”

And the pivot to fighting is not just vague military contracts. It also includes prominent tech executives directly investing in weapons manufacturers and actually becoming active-duty members of the US Army:

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek is investing in German drone company Helsing, with his Prima Materia venture capital firm leading the $700 million investment round.
Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth is joining the US Army’s new “Detachment 201: Executive Innovation Corps” as an Army Reserve lieutenant colonel, along with...
...OpenAI Chief Product Officer Kevin Weil...
...Palantir’s CTO, Shyam Sankar...
...and Bob McGrew, former chief research officer at OpenAI.

Of course, former government employee Elon Musk’s SpaceX has long been one of the most visible defense contractors, receiving over $4 billion in launch contracts from the Department of Defense, assuming President Trump doesn’t cancel the contracts in a fit of pique.

Jon Keegan

57m

Apple announces extra-slim iPhone Air, iPhone Pro with longer battery life, updated AirPods Pro 3 with live language translation, and refreshed Apple Watch line

At today's "Awe dropping" Apple event, the company announced its yearly refresh of the iPhone lineup. The new iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max were joined by a brand new iPhone — the iPhone Air — a super-thin model with tougher glass, and faster processors.

Apple shares dipped on news of the products releases and is down about 1.4% on the day in afternoon trading.

The company also announced an updated Apple Watch line — Series 11, SE3, and Ultra 3 —with new features like 5G, high blood pressure detection, 24 hour battery life and satellite communication.

Apple launched new AirPods Pro 3 with AI-powered live language translation, a new heart rate sensor, and 8 hours of battery life with improved active noise cancellation.

The price of the iPhone 17 Pro’s $1,099 price is a $100 increase from its predecessor, but with double the iPhone 16 Pro’s base storage. The iPhone 17 starts at $799, the iPhone 17 Pro Max starts at $1,199 and the new iPhone Air takes the place of the now defunct iPhone Plus, starting at $999.

This is a developing story.

Rani Molla

Tesla could sell a record number of vehicles in the US this quarter

That won’t be enough to keep full-year global sales from falling.

Guy waving an American flag in a tiny Tesla Cybertruck

Claire Yubin Oh & Jon Keegan

Nebius soars after signing a 5-year deal with Microsoft to supply nearly $20 billion worth of AI computing power

Artificial intelligence infrastructure group Nebius jumped more than 50% in early trading on Tuesday after the company announced after the close on Monday a major deal to supply computing power for Microsoft’s AI operations.

Under the agreement, Nebius — which rose from the ashes of Russian tech giant Yandex — will provide Microsoft “access to dedicated GPU infrastructure capacity in tranches at its new data center in Vineland, New Jersey over a five-year term.” The New Jersey data center has a capacity of 300 megawatts. The total contract value through 2031 is $17.4 billion, though, if further capacity is required, the contract value could rise to $19.4 billion.

The deal represents a sizable portion of Microsoft’s proposed annual capital expenditure on AI, which is expected to reach $120 billion by the end of fiscal 2026.

Nebius and competitor CoreWeave are both on the short list of startups that Nvidia has invested in. Nvidia’s small stake in the former is now worth about $120 million.

Nebius announces multi-billion dollar agreement with Microsoft for AI infrastructure

The deal represents a sizable portion of Microsoft’s proposed annual capital expenditure on AI, which is expected to reach $120 billion by the end of fiscal 2026.

Nebius and competitor CoreWeave are both on the short list of startups that Nvidia has invested in. Nvidia’s small stake in the former is now worth about $120 million.

President Trump hosts tech executives and their guests to a dinner at the White House in the Oval Office.

Here are the Trump ties among the tech leaders who had dinner at the White House

Many of the attendees have donated to, vocally supported, or even worked for the president.

Jon Keegan9/8/25

Rani Molla

9/8/25

Tesla’s EV market share declined to 38% in August

In August, Tesla’s share of the US EV market fell to 38%, according to new data from Cox Automotive reported by Reuters. Tesla’s market share fell below 50% for the first time last year, as competitors’ EVs began hitting the market. Now, as Tesla’s own sales slip more drastically than they had last year, it’s giving up even more ground. Tesla’s market share fell from 48.7% in June to 42% in July to 38% in August, according to Reuters. That slide has come even as buyers rushing to take advantage of the federal tax credit that ends this month provide a near-term boon for sales at Tesla and other EV makers.