The Information

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Photo by Getty Images.

SpaceX Gives Musk Incentive to Hit $6.6 Trillion in Market Cap

By Valida Pau and Cory Weinberg · Apr 21, 2026 12:21am PDT

Elon Musk increased his stake in SpaceX last year by purchasing $1.4 billion of stock from current and former employees, part of a series of moves leading up to the company’s initial public offering that increased his sway over the company. The large secondary stock purchase was made through the mega-billonaire’s trust. It was disclosed in a... Elon Musk increased his stake in SpaceX last year by purchasing $1.4 billion of stock from...

Phononic founder, Tony Atti. Screenshot via YouTube/NYSE.

AI Data Center Startup Phononic Discusses Multi-Billion Dollar Valuation in Possible Sale

By Valida Pau and Anissa Gardizy · Apr 20, 2026 4:25pm PDT

The unrelenting demand for AI data centers is spilling over into lesser-known companies that supply components for essential tasks such as cooling chip servers. Phononic, a 17-year-old company whose semiconductor components prevent overheating in AI data centers, is hoping to cash in on that demand. The Durham, N.C., company is talking to... The unrelenting demand for AI data centers is spilling over into lesser-known companies that...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Google Creates Strike Team to Improve Coding Models

By Erin Woo · Apr 20, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Google has assembled a strike team of researchers and engineers to improve its AI coding models, according to three people with direct knowledge of the situation, as it looks to automate more of its own coding and ultimately its AI research. The push was prompted in part by Anthropic’s recent AI model releases, according to two of the people.... Google has assembled a strike team of researchers and engineers to improve its AI coding models,...

Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan rings the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange in November. Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Polymarket in Talks to Raise Money at About $15 Billion Valuation

By Yueqi Yang and Katie Roof · Apr 19, 2026 7:33pm PDT

Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan rings the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange in November. Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Polymarket in Talks to Raise Money at About $15 Billion Valuation

By Yueqi Yang and Katie Roof · Apr 19, 2026 7:33pm PDT

The predictions site Polymarket is talking to investors about raising $400 million in funding at a valuation of about $15 billion including the new money, according to two people familiar with the talks. The financing would add to the $600 million already invested in the funding round by Intercontinental Exchange, the parent of the New York... The predictions site Polymarket is talking to investors about raising $400 million in funding at...

Anthropic CFO Krishna Rao. Art by Mike Sullivan.

Anthropic’s CFO Wields Power Behind the Scenes

By Sri Muppidi, Valida Pau and Cory Weinberg · Apr 18, 2026 7:30am PDT · 3 comments

These days, Anthropic is a crowded place: a startup with its own in-house philosopher, researchers devoted to preventing Armageddon and a CEO willing to go toe-to-toe with the Pentagon. And then there’s Chief Financial Officer Krishna Rao, who has emerged as a key force within the company while staying far out of the spotlight. When Rao... These days, Anthropic is a crowded place: a startup with its own in-house philosopher,...

Art by Mike Sullivan

China’s DeepSeek is Raising Money for First Time, At $10 Billion-Plus Valuation

By Qianer Liu, Jing Yang and Juro Osawa · Apr 17, 2026 7:36am PDT

DeepSeek is in talks to raise outside capital for the first time, seeking to beef up its financial war chest so it can better compete in the costly battle to develop leading AI models, according to five people familiar with the matter. DeepSeek is owned by Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer Capital Management, which has financed the startup so far.... DeepSeek is in talks to raise outside capital for the first time, seeking to beef up its...

A Flock Safety license plate reader in Boulder, Colo. Photo by Getty.

Police Tech Startup Flock Safety Valued at $8.4 Billion Amid Civic Protests

By Cory Weinberg and Julia Hornstein · Apr 17, 2026 6:00am PDT

Flock Safety, which sells cameras, drones and AI software to police departments, was valued at $8.4 billion in a new round of funding completed in recent weeks, a modest bump from its financing last year, according to a publicly filed corporate charter and people familiar with the round. The company raised the new funds amid the largest... Flock Safety, which sells cameras, drones and AI software to police departments, was valued at...

Sam Altman (left) and Andrew Feldman (right). Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images.

OpenAI to Spend More Than $20 Billion on Cerebras Chips, Receive Equity Stake

By Anissa Gardizy and Valida Pau · Apr 16, 2026 6:19pm PDT · 1 comment

Sam Altman (left) and Andrew Feldman (right). Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images.

OpenAI to Spend More Than $20 Billion on Cerebras Chips, Receive Equity Stake

By Anissa Gardizy and Valida Pau · Apr 16, 2026 6:19pm PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI recently struck an unusual deal to lessen its dependence on Nvidia’s AI chips and potentially lower its computing expenses in the coming years. OpenAI has agreed to pay chip designer Cerebras more than $20 billion to use servers powered by the firm’s AI server chips over the next three years, according to multiple people with knowledge of... OpenAI recently struck an unusual deal to lessen its dependence on Nvidia’s AI chips and...

Art by Clark Miller

Google and Pentagon Discuss Classified AI Deal as Company Rebuilds Military Ties

By Erin Woo · Apr 16, 2026 6:00am PDT

Google is negotiating an agreement with the Department of Defense that would allow the Pentagon to deploy Google’s Gemini AI models in classified settings, according to two people with direct knowledge of the discussions. If the two parties come to an agreement, it would expand Google’s connection to the Pentagon as a tech contractor and... Google is negotiating an agreement with the Department of Defense that would allow the Pentagon...

Art by Mike Sullivan/Shutterstock

Apple Sends Siri Staffers to Coding ‘Bootcamp’ in Latest Shakeup For Organization

By Aaron Tilley and Amir Efrati · Apr 15, 2026 12:44pm PDT · 2 comments

Apple is sending a portion of its Siri programmers back to coding school just two months before the company is expected to unveil a major, AI-powered revamp of the voice assistant, people familiar with the team said. The company plans to send a significant chunk of people working on Siri—a group that totals in the hundreds—to a... Apple is sending a portion of its Siri programmers back to coding school just two months before...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

OpenAI Plans New Pricing for ChatGPT Ads, Explores Other Upgrades

By Ann Gehan · Apr 15, 2026 6:00am PDT

OpenAI plans to start pricing some ChatGPT ads based on whether people click on the ads rather than just how many people see them, an agency executive who spoke with OpenAI employees and works with ChatGPT advertisers said. At the same time, OpenAI has also indicated it plans to introduce ads aimed at getting people to take a specific action,... OpenAI plans to start pricing some ChatGPT ads based on whether people click on the ads rather...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Anthropic Changes Pricing to Bill Firms Based on AI Use as Demand Jumps

By Kevin McLaughlin and Aaron Holmes · Apr 14, 2026 3:10pm PDT · 7 comments

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Anthropic Changes Pricing to Bill Firms Based on AI Use as Demand Jumps

By Kevin McLaughlin and Aaron Holmes · Apr 14, 2026 3:10pm PDT · 7 comments

Businesses whose employees are heavy users of Anthropic’s Claude products are likely to pay significantly more for them after the company changed its pricing model to charge business customers based on the amount of AI they use. The shift, which which some customers started to notice in recent weeks, is the latest indication of... Businesses whose employees are heavy users of Anthropic’s Claude products are likely to pay...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Polymarket Reverses Course on Startups That Piggyback on Insider Trades

By Michael Roddan · Apr 14, 2026 6:00am PDT

Polymarket was already under pressure to curb insider trading when it launched a program late last year to support startups that sent trades to its prediction market. Those companies quickly began handing suspected insider trading accounts to their own customers, letting them copy those trades. Now Polymarket has launched an audit of those... Polymarket was already under pressure to curb insider trading when it launched a program late...

Ethan Swope/Bloomberg/Getty.

New SpaceX Numbers Show Reliance on Starlink

By Cory Weinberg · Apr 13, 2026 4:12pm PDT · 1 comment

A new set of numbers for Elon Musk’s SpaceX makes it clear that the success of its potential initial public offering will depend on investors embracing the growth of the company’s Starlink satellite internet business. The other two businesses inside SpaceX—rocket launches and AI—are burning cash and not generating the kind of growth... A new set of numbers for Elon Musk’s SpaceX makes it clear that the success of its potential...

Garrett Lord, Co-Founder and CEO of Handshake. Image via YouTube

Handshake, Mercor Revenue Surges on Demand for Human Contractors to Train AI

By Julia Hornstein and Cory Weinberg · Apr 13, 2026 2:13pm PDT · 1 comment

AI firms’ voracious appetite for more data has lifted sales for obscure startups doing the industry’s unglamorous work: contracting with lawyers, PhD holders and medical doctors who grade the answers AI models generate. The latest is Handshake, a 12-year-old startup that began as a job site for college graduates. Handshake’s gross... AI firms’ voracious appetite for more data has lifted sales for obscure startups doing the...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Getty Images.

Microsoft Plots New Copilot Features Inspired by OpenClaw

By Aaron Holmes · Apr 13, 2026 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Getty Images.

Microsoft Plots New Copilot Features Inspired by OpenClaw

By Aaron Holmes · Apr 13, 2026 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

As Microsoft faces growing competition for business customers from Anthropic, it is developing new features that would make its AI assistant Copilot function more like OpenClaw, the open-source AI agent that has taken the AI industry by storm in recent months. A newly created team under Microsoft corporate vice president Omar Shahine is “... As Microsoft faces growing competition for business customers from Anthropic, it is developing...

Jeetu Patel, president and chief product officer at Cisco Systems Inc..

Cisco in Talks to Buy AI Security Startup Astrix for at Least $250 Million

By Valida Pau and Stephanie Palazzolo · Apr 10, 2026 2:18pm PDT

Cisco Systems is in talks to acquire Astrix Security, a five-year-old Israeli cybersecurity startup that sells software to monitor and secure AI agents, for between $250 million and $350 million, according to people with knowledge of the deal. That would represent at least a 25% premium to the startup’s last valuation of around $200 million, one... Cisco Systems is in talks to acquire Astrix Security, a five-year-old Israeli cybersecurity...

Photo by Kyle Grillot/Getty Images

OpenAI Stargate Leaders Depart in Latest Shakeup to Data Center Strategy

By Anissa Gardizy · Apr 9, 2026 8:25pm PDT · 2 comments

Three senior OpenAI executives who helped launch the company’s original Stargate data center initiative have left or are preparing to depart the ChatGPT maker in the coming days, according to several people with direct knowledge of the matter. Peter Hoeschele, an OpenAI executive who played a key role in getting the Stargate effort off the... Three senior OpenAI executives who helped launch the company’s original Stargate data center...

Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images

xAI Spending Pushed SpaceX to a Nearly $5 Billion Loss

By Cory Weinberg · Apr 9, 2026 5:13pm PDT

SpaceX lost just under $5 billion last year while generating more than $18.5 billion in revenue, two people familiar with the figures said. The financial figures include xAI, the Elon Musk-founded artificial intelligence company that SpaceX acquired in February. The net loss, as well as other financial figures that consolidate SpaceX and... SpaceX lost just under $5 billion last year while generating more than $18.5 billion in revenue,...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

SpaceX Woos Investors As C-Suite Shakeups Continue

By Theo Wayt, Cory Weinberg and Valida Pau · Apr 9, 2026 10:53am PDT

Art by Mike Sullivan.

SpaceX Woos Investors As C-Suite Shakeups Continue

By Theo Wayt, Cory Weinberg and Valida Pau · Apr 9, 2026 10:53am PDT

Some of the biggest Wall Street fund managers are planning to trek to the southernmost tip of Texas, then about 950 miles to Memphis, Tenn, in two weeks, for exclusive visits to SpaceX facilities ahead of what could be the biggest initial public offering of all time, three people familiar with the matter said. The two-day trip is sure to inspire... Some of the biggest Wall Street fund managers are planning to trek to the southernmost tip of...